Splashstar Technologies Pvt Ltd which runs FrontRow, a learning platform for non-academic skills, said it has raised $14 million (Rs 103.4 crore) led by Eight Roads Ventures and GSV and joined by existing investors Lightspeed, Elevation Capital and others.
The round also saw artists Vishal Dhadlani and Raftaar; Cred founder Kunal Shah; Unacademy co-founder Gaurav Munjal; and ShareChat co-founder Farid Ahsan.
The company plans to use the funds to scale its offerings across 10 categories over the next year.
The nine-month-old startup focuses on providing non-academic courses, including singing, music composition, cricket, photography, and film-making from top influencers.
FrontRow provides skill-based paid courses with the help of celebrity instructors. It offers 10 courses in genres such as cricket, music and comedy.
Currently, the platform has more than 100 courses live and follows a community and cohort-based approach for learning.
The company said it has over 50,000 paid learners across 2,000 plus cities worldwide. They had earlier raised a $3.2 million seed round led by Lightspeed, Elevation, and Deepika Padukone’s family office.
“As investors, we’ve been a big champion of the role technology will play in disrupting multiple sectors, including education. We believe the market is highly underserved with strong secular trends in digital adoption of non-academic learning driven by the limited availability of qualified instructors, flexibility in scheduling, and the lack of access to structured curriculum," said Aditya Systla, partner, Eight Roads Ventures.
Edtech startups with a focus on non-academic skills are gaining investor attention.
This month, online music learning and community platform Artium Academy raised $750,000 (Rs 5.5 crore). Last month, extracurricular edtech startup Spark Studio secured financing from Y Combinator.
