Mumbai: Education technology startup 3rdFlix Visual Effects Pvt. Ltd has raised $5 million, at an undisclosed valuation, in a pre-series A investment round led by Exfinity Venture Partners, a top executive at the startup told Mint.
The round also saw participation from other investors such as early-stage, technology focused venture funds YourNest Venture Capital, IDFC Parampara Fund, along with some high-net worth individuals. Investment banking firm Dexter Capital advised the startup on this transaction.
The Hyderabad-based software as-a-service (SaaS) firm uses visual effects and technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) to create life-like experiences for enhanced learning.
“Our mission is to make learning more fun and increase retention rates using immersive and experiential content. We aim to reach every student, teacher and education institute in this mission," said Charu Noheria, co-founder at 3rdFlix.
“In the next few months, we plan to open an office in Delhi to be closer to our clients in North India, and over the course of this year, we plan to expand further in India. We also have plans to expand internationally in the next 18 months. We are particularly targeting the USA, Africa, UAE and South East Asia," she added.
The firm was started in 2014 by Subbarao Siddabattula, Ilangovel Thulasimani and Charu Noheria. Since its inception, Noheria said, the firm’s sales have been growing at more over 100% each year.
“We have signed more education institutes each year, and have grown the user base to reach 1.5 lakh+ students last year. Our team has also grown from 15 members two years ago to reach 150 strong professionals today," she said.
The startup plans to use the capital raised to build content for 6-12th grade students.
“We plan to use a significant portion of the capital raised to complete science and math content for 6-12th grade levels. The content covers three-dimensional stereoscopic videos, simulations and AR/VR modules. The content is completely immersive and experiential," said Noheria.
The firm provides its services through an AI enabled learning platform under the brand name Corsalite. It plans to launch another immersive content product under the brand name 3rdFlix before 2019-end.
“Our AI-based adaptive learning tech platform, Corsalite, has been around for more than two years and has gained good traction during this period. We have some of the biggest education institutes in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana as our clients, including Dr. KKR’s Gowtham Educational Institutions with over 28 schools, Narayana Educational Institutions with more than 250 schools and Alphores Educational Institutions," said Noheria.
