ETtechEdtech startup Lead School, which helps private schools digitise their curriculum, has raised $30 million in a Series D funding round led by Silicon Valley-based GSV Ventures. Focused on the education sector, GSV’s portfolio firms include Coursera, which went public last month, Course Hero, and ClassDojo, among others.
Existing investor Westbridge Capital participated in the fresh round backing the Mumbai-based company with almost half of the new capital being raised.
“The proceeds will be used for curriculum and product innovation. Our goal is to continue to reach more schools and students,” said Sumeet Mehta, CEO and co-founder, Lead School, in an interview with ET. Last year in August, the company had picked up $28 million in a funding round led by WestBridge Capital and Elevar Equity. WestBridge is also an investor in Vedantu, an online tutoring platform.
Lead School has partnered with over 2,000 schools. “The goal is to reach 25,000 schools in the next five years,” Mehta said. It has been focused on cities in tier two and three geographies so far. That will continue to remain their focus. The platform claims it is able to show a visible improvement in student learning with its curriculum. Class averages improved from below 60% to above 70% after adoption of their offering, Mehta told ET.
Offline tuition centers have pivoted to the online medium amid the year-long Covid-19 pandemic, according to Mehta. Once schools reopen, students may prefer to study in an offline environment. "We are not trying to ride that wave. We want to ensure that we provide the same level of quality schooling online which students expect offline," he said.
Lead acquired student assessment and practice platform QuizNext for an undisclosed sum in December. They are open to making more acquisitions. "If there are people who have great solutions for students but are unable to build reach, we can do that for them," Mehta said. It will continue to be in the K-12 segment. "There's so much to be done in K-12," he said.
The edtech sector has seen a major rush of investments in the past year with the likes of Byju’s leading the pack. Both funding deals and consolidation moves have kept the sector busy. ET reported on Monday that upGrad raised $120 million led by Singapore’s sovereign fund Temasek.
Existing investor Westbridge Capital participated in the fresh round backing the Mumbai-based company with almost half of the new capital being raised.
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“The proceeds will be used for curriculum and product innovation. Our goal is to continue to reach more schools and students,” said Sumeet Mehta, CEO and co-founder, Lead School, in an interview with ET. Last year in August, the company had picked up $28 million in a funding round led by WestBridge Capital and Elevar Equity. WestBridge is also an investor in Vedantu, an online tutoring platform.
Lead School has partnered with over 2,000 schools. “The goal is to reach 25,000 schools in the next five years,” Mehta said. It has been focused on cities in tier two and three geographies so far. That will continue to remain their focus. The platform claims it is able to show a visible improvement in student learning with its curriculum. Class averages improved from below 60% to above 70% after adoption of their offering, Mehta told ET.
Offline tuition centers have pivoted to the online medium amid the year-long Covid-19 pandemic, according to Mehta. Once schools reopen, students may prefer to study in an offline environment. "We are not trying to ride that wave. We want to ensure that we provide the same level of quality schooling online which students expect offline," he said.
Lead acquired student assessment and practice platform QuizNext for an undisclosed sum in December. They are open to making more acquisitions. "If there are people who have great solutions for students but are unable to build reach, we can do that for them," Mehta said. It will continue to be in the K-12 segment. "There's so much to be done in K-12," he said.
The edtech sector has seen a major rush of investments in the past year with the likes of Byju’s leading the pack. Both funding deals and consolidation moves have kept the sector busy. ET reported on Monday that upGrad raised $120 million led by Singapore’s sovereign fund Temasek.