NEW DELHI: Edtech startup Toppr aims to raise $50 million in a Series D round from existing and new investors to scale up operations and launch two products, Toppr Codr and a learning platform for schools.
Zishaan Hayath, CEO and co-founder Toppr, in an interview, said the company is in talks with new investors and will close the round before the end of the September quarter. Existing investors will contribute about 10-30% of the funding, he added.
Backed by Saif Partners and Helion Ventures, Toppr joins bigger edtech players that have successfully raised capital despite the covid crisis. Byju’s raised about $100 million from US technology investor Bond in May, while Unacademy raised $110 million from Facebook and General Atlantic in February.
“The funding will fuel development and distribution of all three products, the Toppr learning app that is our core app, Toppr Codr and an online platform for schools which will be launched in about six weeks time," said Hayath.
Toppr had raised $60 million as part of its Series C, in December 2018, led by Kaizen PE, along with existing investors Eight Roads Ventures, Helion Ventures and SAIF Partners.
Since then, the startup has been ramping up its efforts to reach new students. Its entry into coding by launching Toppr Codr is one such initiative.
“Coding is an essential skill for the 21st century and helps kids with logical thinking, concentration, creativity and even maths. There is a clear gap in demand and supply and this starting point should fit in nicely with the start of a school year," said Hayath.
Toppr Codr will have specially designed curriculum for children between 6-18 years of age, on-demand and self-paced modules, adaptive paths and personalised live classes. Toppr will be onboarding 100 plus experts as coding tutors - including those from IIT Bombay, IIT Madras, IIT Delhi & IIT Kanpur.
“So far the learning apps have been focused on children, with this platform for schools we will close the gap and children will be able to learn what is taught in schools," he said.
The tech-based platform will reduce the work of teachers by automating assignments and tests among other things.
Like other ed tech platforms, Toppr too has benefited from the lockdown when the coronavirus outbreak had forced educational institutions to suspend classroom teaching in March.
Hayath claims that there has been a 150% growth in paid users after the lockdown was imposed, with revenue growing 2.5 times. Subscribers of Live Classes grew by 125% while there was a 100% growth in Free user engagement overall. Daily active users spent 110 minutes per day on the Toppr app, the highest user-engagement in the segment.
Toppr has 300 employees and 60,000 educators on its platform and is not worried about competition from the big players. “With 300 million school children in India, the ed tech space is not crowded,"says Hayath.
The covid-19 outbreak is expected to drive widespread edtech adoption in India even after the crisis is contained, making it one of the key technology themes to look out for in the country’s education sector, said Nidhi Gupta, technology analyst at data firm GlobalData.
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