Leverage Edu, an overseas-focused higher education counselling platform run by New Delhi-based Leverage EdTech Private Limited, has raised $22 million (Rs 167 crore) in its Series B round of funding from a bunch of funds, family offices and HNI (high networth individual) investors, besides existing backers.
The new investors included UAE-based NB Ventures and 9Unicorns. Chona Group (behind Havmor ice cream brand), FMCG player Vicco, Mankind Pharma, and few other family offices have also joined the round.
Blume Ventures, DSG Consumer Partners, Tomorrow Capital among the existing investors also participated in this transaction. The said transaction is said to have valued the company at $120 million.
““We have grown over 12x in revenue between February 2021 & 2022, and are at a $20 million annualised revenue crossed milestone now. The team has done this while cutting CAC by crazy 2/3rds - thanks to over 20% of our business now coming from referrals,” said the startup’s founder and CEO Akshay Chaturvedi.
Chaturvedi added that 35% of the sales are being generated from a bunch of slick product-channels like virtual fair platform UniConnect, IELTS-prep product Leverage Live and the uber-popular AI Course Finder.
Founded in 2017 by Chaturvedi, Leverage Edu provides full-stack services to students pursuing international education and careers. It also launched the ‘Study Abroad with LeverageEdu' app last month, which has over 50,000 downloads already.
“We have been looking at various companies in the overseas student mobility space and are happy to have partnered with LeverageEdu, a company with the right product positioning, traction & stage to work together with on the growth journey,” said Kaizen Private Equity’s Gaurav Jain.
Leverage Edu also announced its foray into financial services early this year. It is now awaiting an FFMC license from RBI, which will further boost its foreign remittance business. While the company doesn’t give out loans on its own balance sheet, it has been growing fast as it aims to hit a Rs 500 crore loan book soon.
In September last year, the firm had raised an undisclosed amount of growth capital from Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Oyo India and Southeast Asia CEO Rohit Kapoor and others.
In early 2021, the startup had raised $6.5 million in a Series A funding round led by Tomorrow Capital and joined by existing investors Blume Ventures and DSG Consumer Partners.
According to Research and Markets, the worldwide education technology business is undergoing a digital transition, with up to 130% growth forecast by 2027, which would benefit people from all socioeconomic and geographic origins.
India's edtech sector is expected to grow at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of over 15% from $2.8 billion in 2020 to $30 billion in 2030, making it the world's most active edtech market, as per a BLinC Investment Management report,
