GSV makes India debut with Tekie bet; 9Unicorns backs LegalPay

Bengaluru based EdTech startup Tekie has raised $1.5 million in a seed funding round which was co-led by Silicon Valley based GSV Ventures and early stage venture capital firm Multiply Ventures. 

The round also saw participation from Better Capital.  

The company said that this is the first seed investment made in India by women-led, multi-stage venture capital firm GSV, which had previously invested in Coursera, Masterclass and Outlier.    

Tekie, a live coding platform, was founded in 2017 by IIT Delhi graduate Naman Mukund and SRCC alumnus Anand Verma. The company claims it has created the world's first animated series on coding to teach text-based coding to kids. The company said it currently has over 12,000 students learning on its platform and said it will utilize the funds to scale its operations and workforce. 

Separately, Mumbai based litigation finance platform LegalPay has secured an undisclosed amount in a seed funding round led by 9Unicorns. Other participants in the round included early-stage investment platform LetsVenture, and angel investor Ambarish Gupta, founder cloud telephony company Knowlarity.  

LegalPay, founded in 2020 by Kundan Shahi, aims to tap into an estimated $20 billion legal expenses market in the country. The third-party litigation finance platform helps businesses with their shareholder and IPR related disputes. It gathers data from government-based websites and focuses on late-stage cases which have financial requirements in the range of Rs 20 lakh and Rs.3.5 crore. 

LegalPay charges a two percent management fee and a 20% carry for the transactions made on the platform.