Bharti Airtel Ltd on Wednesday said it has acquired a 10% stake in edtech startup Lattu Media Pvt. Ltd, in the telecom operator's fourth bet on a new-age company.
The investment was made as part of Bharti Airtel's Airtel Startup Accelerator Program, said Bharti Airtel in a stock-market disclosure without disclosing the financial details of the transaction.
The programme is focused on supporting the growth of early-stage Indian startups.
The investment will help Bharti Airtel to add edtech to its premium digital content portfolio, it said. It has over 160 million monthly active users across its digital platforms.
Lattu Kids, which was founded by Vivek Bhutyani (CEO), Vivek Lath (COO) and Arvind Kumar (CTO), specialises in digital learning tools for children. Its app focuses on English vocabulary, English reading and maths skills for children under the age of 10.
Bharti Airtel's investment in the edtech startup gains significance as the pandemic and closure of schools has accelerated the adoption of virtual classrooms and digitally enabled learning.
Other three startups that Bharti Airtel has invested under its ed-tech programme are conversational AI tech startup Voicezen, fitness-focused startup Spectacom Global Pvt. Ltd and tech firm Vahan Inc.
Deals in ed-tech
The larger ed-tech segment in India has been the object of investor attention over the last few years. The most heavily funded startup is Byju's, which is part of the unicorn club.
Toppr and Unacademy are among other edtech startups that have also raised significant funding. Online tutoring platform Vedantu also raised fresh capital from new investors in April as part of its extended Series C funding round.
Also in April, online tutorial platform Lido Learning raised around $13.5 million as part of its Series B financing, and venture capital firms Matrix Partners and SAIF Partners invested $4 million (Rs 30 crore) in ed-tech platform Camp K12.
Other ed-tech startups which raised early-stage funding in the past few months of the lockdown include Any Time Classes, Qin1 nabs and Expertrons.
Earlier this week, the edtech arm of Sai Estate Consultants Chembur Pvt. Ltd raised funding from Bollywood actor-producer and entrepreneur Suniel Shetty.
