Interactive online tutoring platform Vedantu on Thursday said that it has raised $24 million funding as part of its Series C extension round. The funding was led by global venture capital firm GGV Capital. Existing investors also participated in the latest funding round which was in addition to the $42 million raised in August 2019 in a round led by Tiger Global Management and WestBridge Capital. Till date, Vedantu has raised a total funding of $85 million.
The Bengaluru-based company known for its K-12 interactive online tutoring says it has more than 25 million users every month across 1,000 cities and over 40 countries accessing its learning content and videos on its platform and channels on YouTube. The company plans to utilise the fund in brand building activities and expanding to newer categories such as providing learning content ranging from kindergarten to children studying in the fifth standard. It plans to create fun and engaging new content for young learners across metros and small-towns in India.
“Impact at scale is our singular driver. As we continue to grow our student enrolments by 4.5x year on year, we are gearing to invest in brand and entering in new categories of age group (4-10) years. We want to further our mission to make this new format of live interactive classes the answer to the current engagement gaps in online education,” said Vamsi Krishna, CEO and co-founder, Vedantu.
The company points out that its platform sees 25 million users accessing free content every month. It has over 500 teachers providing live classes to 6 million learners per month.
“We look for teams that deliver technology-enhanced education that fits the local needs,” said Hans Tung, managing partner, GGV Capital. Tung will also join the board.
Early last month larger rival Byju’s raised $200 million from New York-based investment firm Tiger Global Management. Analysts say, Byju’s latest funding round took its valuation to about $8 billion. The Bengaluru-based education-technology company has over 42 million registered users and 3 million paid subscribers. In FY19, Byju’s almost tripled its revenue to ₹1,480 crore from a year ago and turned profitable. The company expects to double its revenue to ₹3,000 crore in the current fiscal.
The other key players in the Indian education-tech space are Toppr and Unacademy.
