Bengaluru-based edtech start-up Newton School has raised $5 million in a Series A round led by RTP Global.

The funding round saw participation from existing investors Nexus Venture Partners, Prophetic Ventures, and Unacademy co-founders Gaurav Munjal, Roman Saini and Hemesh Singh. Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CRED’s Kunal Shah, Freshworks’ Girish Mathrubootham, Udaan’s Sujeet Kumar and Razorpay founders Harshil Mathur and Shashank Kumar, along with a slew of angel investors, also participated in the round.

Founded in 2019 by serial entrepreneurs and college friends Nishant Chandra and Siddharth Maheshwari, Newton School is an edtech platform that enables people to be highly skilled software developers.

Improving employability

“On one side, you have a million-plus college graduates every year with low single-digit employability rates, and on the other side, there are thousands of companies struggling to find talent. We aim to bridge this massive gap through Newton School’s personalised learning platform. We are building an online academy and solving the deep problem of employability of graduates” said co-founder Chandra.

The funding capital will be used to expand the team and develop products utilising Artificial Intelligence (AI) to streamline and personalise the learning journey of students.

The start-up claims its students are hired by more than 100 companies ranging from top start-ups such as Zomato, Unacademy, Nykaa and Affle, to MNCs such as Publicis Sapient, ThoughtWorks, Motorola and Nutanix. Newton and has grown its students intake 10 times in a year with its latest cohort having 300+ students, it added. With an aim to bridge the gender gap in the workforce, it recently launched a women-led all-women tech programme to help women re-enter the workforce, equipped with industry-ready skills.

The students are required to pay zero fees upfront and only start paying once they get into a job. Already profitable, the start-up plans to help companies hire a qualified and job-ready workforce of 10,000+ people.

Newton School’s six-month-long cohort-based course includes 1,000+ hours of coding, 50+ hours of soft skills training, live projects and mentorship oversight — designed by reverse-engineering industry requirements and taught by industry professionals.

Published on February 8, 2021