Ed-tech startup Illumnus Education raises seed funding

By Narinder Kapur

  • 19 May 2020
Credit: Pixabay

Illumnus Education Technologies Pvt. Ltd, which operates an eponymous education technology startup focussed on developing collaborative learning management systems, has raised $100,000 (approximately Rs 75.61 lakh at current exchange rates) in seed funding.

The company has raised this capital from a clutch of high net-worth individuals and angel investors from Dubai, Illumnus said in a statement. However, it did not disclose the identity of its backers.

The Pune-based startup will use the funds to expand its services to four countries by the end of this year, Akash Deep Singhal, co-founder at Illumnus, said.

“We have already doubled our team to build a scalable software-as-a-service-based LMS platform that educational institutions have always deserved but never got,” he added.

Illumnus was set up last year by Singhal and Akshaya Singhal. Before the ed-tech firm, Singhal had co-founded Medd, which was acquired by 1mg in 2016.

Illumnus says its C-LMS platform provides educational institutions with internal digital learning networks, allowing for simpler communications and workflows between students and teachers.

Separately, the investor group said they were confident of their bet on Illumnus because of the company’s end-to-end offering and the larger potential of the B2B ed-tech space. Apart from its student-teacher suite, the firm also provides tools to school administrations and parents for real-time monitoring and performance tracking.

Deals in the ed-tech segment

This investment in Illumnus is the latest example of investor attention to the ed-tech space. While startups such as Byju’s and Unacademy have made the headlines for the large-ticket investments by marquee investors and global corporations, there is a steady stream of early-stage startups raising funding as well.

On Monday, VCCircle reported that Any Time Classes Educational Services Pvt. Ltd, which operates an eponymous education startup focussed on app-based visual content, had raised funding from the Mumbai Angels Network.

Last month, the government exam-focussed Pariksha raised an undisclosed sum of funding as an extension of its pre-Series A round. The extension exercise was led by INSEAD Angels, with participation from IIT-Kanpur Angels, Nikhil Vora and Swati Mehra of Sixth Sense Ventures, among others.

That month, online tutorial platform Lido Learning raised around $13.5 million as part of its Series B financing. Also in April, venture capital firms Matrix Partners and SAIF Partners invested $4 million (Rs 30 crore) in ed-tech platform Camp K12.