With a fresh $10 mn cheque, Lido Learning eyes new markets

Online tutorial platform Lido Learning, which is looking at the US and Canada market to fuel its next phase of growth, has secured $10 million in a financing round led by Ronnie Screwvala’s Unilazer Ventures.      

The company said that the fresh capital will be deployed for its expansion in India and abroad as well as for its first TV advertising campaign.      

“We’re going to use this new round of capital to ensure that our classes are accessible to students from every corner of India as well as the world. We’re going to double down on our efforts to connect students with India’s exceptionally well-qualified and dedicated teaching talent,” Sahil Sheth, founder and CEO, Lido Learning, said.     

Lido Learning further said it will enter into the US and Canada with its flagship coding programme using the ‘Pair Learning’ methodology, with two students per teacher.   

It offers live online tuition classes to students from KG to 9 in maths, science, English and coding from CBSE and ICSE boards. Its subscription ranges from Rs 50,000 to Rs 140,000.   

The company had also announced its plans to launch in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia by early 2022, in addition to its existing operations in Middle-East.  

Lido Learning said it is currently on track to reach a $100 million run rate by end of the financial year.

Read: Lido Learning closes Series B round at $7.5 mn with fresh infusion from Alibaba-backed BAce Capital 

“The company has differentiated itself from the start from all other players that primarily offer self-directed learning or large-group classes. 

Lido’s strategy of immersive learning and rewarding positive learning outcomes has ensured that it is best-positioned to consolidate the $15 billion neighborhood tuition market,” Ronnie Screwvala said. 

Lido, owned by Quality Tutorials Pvt. Ltd was founded in April 2019. It is a platform that sets up live tuition online for students between classes five and nine. It offers features such as interactive sessions, quizzes and games.

So far, Lido Learning has raised $20 million from institutional investors such as Alibaba-backed BACE Ventures, Rocket Internet-backed Picus Capital, and 9 Unicorns along with Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of PayTM, Mukesh Bansal, co-founder of Cure.fit, Anupam Mittal, founder of People Group and founder of Mensa brands Ananth Narayanan have invested in the company. 

Byju’s-owned WhiteHat Jr claims to be the default leader in this space, well-funded startups including Uable, Coding Ninjas, Vedantu, Toppr, also offer coding classes for kids.

The edtech sector has been attracting many investors' attention as well as mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activities after the Covid-19 pandemic sparked a surge in demand for online learning platforms and solutions. 

This week, Byju’s, which is India’s most valued startup, acquired the online exam preparation platform Gradeup, marking its eighth acquisition since January this year.  

In August, Accel US and Softbank Vision Fund II led $650 million in Series E funding round in Executive education platform Eruditus. 

In June, Quizizz, which gamifies quizzes and interactive lessons, raised $31.5 million last month in its Series B round of funding led by Tiger Global Management.