India-based online learning platform Vedantu has recently announced that it has secured $100 million in a Series E round led by ABC World Asia- a Singapore-based impact investing fund. It is the fifth EdTech startup in the country to enter the unicorn category, which reflects the growing investor interest in this segment.
The funding round also saw participation from its existing investors-Tiger Global, Coatue, and GGV Capital. Vedantu says that the funding round is mostly closed but minor participation from new investors is expected at the same valuation.
According to Sugandhi Matta, chief impact officer, ABC World Asia, “Vedantu embodies our investment themes of providing better access to quality education and using digital technology to improve lives and livelihoods. In India, online education has the potential to extend the scope of ‘Right to Education’ to students in the underserved community and capture the ‘Next Half Billion’ income group, representing over half of the country’s student population. With edtech experiencing meteoric growth in India, Vedantu as the pioneer and category creator in LIVE online tutoring is driving the tectonic shift towards online learning.”
Vamsi Krishna, CEO, and Co-Founder, Vedantu said in a statement, “Back in 2014, when we held our first LIVE class, nobody believed this would work. It is super satisfying to see this format becoming mainstream and Vedantu leading the way in innovative online delivery experiences. We will continue to innovate to reach as many students as possible and create 10x better experiences and outcomes for every child at Vedantu.”
About Vedantu
With this funding Vedantu’s valuation has soared to $1 billion from about $600 million last year.
Vedantu plans to use the fresh funding to grow its Kindergarten to grade 12 learning segment while diversifying its extracurricular courses and also will look at expanding internationally.
The Bengaluru-based online learning platform will also look at introducing vernacular language courses on its platform. Presently about 55-60 percent of the company’s revenue come from live tutoring lessons while the test preparation modules add another 30-35 percent of total revenues.
Vedantu offers live tutoring courses to students in the age group of 3-18 years of age. It also provides test preparations for competitive examinations and school boards in the country.
The startup has also partnered with popular telecom providers in the country to offer its courses on their respective satellite cable TVs which is free of cost to students.
Founded in 2011 by Pulkit Jain, Vamsi Krishna, Anand Prakash, and Saurabh Saxena, Vedantu has more than 35 million monthly active users and 200,000 paying customers as per its last academic year data. The startup’s revenue has also grown over four times in the last one year as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to provide tail-wind to the digital learning platforms.
The company is also looking for an IPO in 2024
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