Vedantu Innovation Pvt. Ltd, which operates a live tutoring-focussed education-technology platform, has raised $100 million (Rs 752 crore at current exchange rates) in a Series D funding round.
The round was led by the US-based investment firm Coatue Management, Bengaluru-based Vedantu said in a statement.
Existing investors also participated in the round. Vedantu did not disclose the identity of these backers.
As per VCCEdge, the data research arm of Mosaic Digital, other backers of the ed-tech firm include Tiger Global Management, Accel, GGV Capital and Trifecta Capital.
The Series D investment comes just three months after Vedantu secured $13 million in an extended Series C round of funding from Chinese venture capital firm Legend Capital, existing investor Omidyar Network and others.
Vedantu is now valued at $600 million (about Rs 4,510 crore), according to the statement, with the company having raised over $200 million since it was set up in 2011.
As part of this investment, Coatue managing director Rahul Kishore will join Vedantu’s board of directors.
Mumbai-based investment banking firm The Rainmaker Group acted as the exclusive financial adviser to Vedantu on the transaction.
This fundraising also marks Coatue’s first bet on a company operating in India’s edtech space.
The company will use the capital it has raised to invest in new categories, as well as increase the amount of content on its platform. It will also enhance its technological infrastructure.
“Vedantu has always believed in the concept of live interactive classes being a superior format for online learning which creates greater learning outcomes,” co-founder and chief executive officer Vamsi Krishna said.
Kishore said the investment in Vedantu was in line with Coatue’s strategy of partnering companies positioned for “high growth and scale”. Vedantu claims that it has recorded a growth of 220% following the nationwide lockdown, with over two million students attending live sessions.
It was founded by Krishna, Anand Prakash and Pulkit Jain in 2011. Early this February, the firm scooped up $24 million led by GGV Capital, the global venture capital firm with headquarters in the US.
Before that, it raised $42 million in August last year led by US-based investment firm Tiger Global and WestBridge Capital. It also counts Accel and TAL Education among its investors.
Last month, VCCircle reported that Vedantu had made an investment in an edtech startup based in the National Capital Region.
Deals in edtech
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 of startups to be valued at $1 billion or more.
Earlier this month, Lightbox Ventures led a $7.2 million (around Rs 53 crore) pre-Series B funding round in Flinto, a startup that offers activity-based education kits for children.
In June, the edtech arm of Sai Estate Consultants Chembur Pvt. Ltd raised funding from Bollywood actor-producer and entrepreneur Suniel Shetty.
Also last month, Inflection Point Ventures invested $150,000 in Edvizo Media Pvt. Ltd, a startup that acts as a marketplace for competitive examination institutes.
There have been acquisitions in the space too. Unacademy, which is backed by the likes of Facebook Inc., struck its third reported acquisition of the year earlier this week by picking up a majority stake in the K-12 learning-focused platform Mastree.
The other companies it has acquired are medical education platform PrepLadder and online exam preparation startup Kreatryx.
