Edtech start-up Vedantu has raised $100 million Series E round from Singapore-based impact investing fund ABC World Asia.
The round also saw participation from existing investors – Coatue, Tiger Global, GGV Capital, Westbridge among others. With this round of funding, Vedantu has touched $1-billion valuation. The company will continue to innovate further on the LIVE teaching format and penetrate deeper in the K-12 segment by reaching more students. The funds will be primarily used to strengthen product engineering functions and expanding into newer categories through both organic and inorganic routes.
Vedantu offers tutoring courses to young students from 3 years old to 18 years old, as well as preparation for competitive exams such as IIT-JEE, NEET, Commerce, CBSE, ICSE, and state exams such as Maharashtra boards. Through its new vertical, SuperKids, it also offers extracurricular classes like English Speaking, Reading, and Coding.
Vamsi Krishna, CEO, and Co-Founder, Vedantu said, “Back in 2014, when we held our first LIVE class, nobody believed this would work. It is super satisfying to see this format becoming mainstream and Vedantu leading the way in innovative online delivery experiences. Our vision is simple: Unleash the potential in every child. We will continue to innovate to reach as many students as possible and create 10x better experiences and outcomes for every child at Vedantu.”
“Even though we have made quality teaching affordable and enabled it to reach masses since our inception, it’s still very early, much more transformation is still to come which we wish to drive forth. Fundamentally, I believe education has a long cycle, and changes take time to manifest. Seeing any significant change requires patience and the tenacity to sustain long term.With that in mind, we want to create a company that outlasts our lives and continues to innovate for decades to come,” Krishna added.
Sugandhi Matta, Chief Impact Officer, ABC World Asia, said, “Vedantu embodies our investment themes of providing better access to quality education and using digital technology to improve lives and livelihoods. In India, online education has the potential to extend the scope of ‘Right to Education’ to students in the underserved community and capture the ‘Next Half Billion’ income group, representing over half of the country’s student population. With EdTech experiencing meteoric growth in India, Vedantu’s innovative platform empowers teachers who have delivered excellent results to offer personalized education to many students at once, creating the potential for impact at scale. ”
Each month, over 35 million users’ are said to access Vedantu through its app and web for free. Its YouTube channel gets 65 million views, the highest in the K-12 segment. Students also access Vedantu through its dedicated Channels on Airtel TV and TATA Sky. Vedantu catered to over 200,000 paying students last year, a 300 per cent growth over the previous year. This growth was accompanied by a revenue increase of 4.5x over the previous year.