Inflection Point Ventures, an investment initiative floated by a group of chief financial officers and finance professionals working at Indian startups, has invested $400,000 (approximately Rs 3 crore at current exchange rates) in ed-tech platform Pedagogy.
Ahmedabad-based Pedagogy, operated by WeColab Edusystem Pvt. Ltd, helps students purchase and consume books while preparing for engineering and medical entrance exams.
The platform has a Netflix-like single subscription model that allows its users access to the most popular books and digital courses from trusted publishers and coaching centres across the country along with a personalized study and a practice platform.
Archin Shah, co-founder at Pedagogy, said the startup enables publishers to offer their physical books in a digital smartbook format, allow coaching institutes to conduct live lectures, generate personalised tests and provide students with an e-library.
The startup has achieved 50,000 registered users already since its inception, he said.
Shah, an alumnus of Purdue University, had launched the firm in early 2017 along with Abhilash Sonwane, an IIM Bangalore graduate. Both had worked in Cyberoam Technologies in the past.
The community is a sub-initiative of CXO Genie. It was founded in 2017 by nine CFOs and finance professionals hailing from startups such as Myntra, BookMyShow and Grofers. The by-invitation-only network connects the investor community with startups. It largely makes early-stage bets and goes up to the pre-Series A levels.
Its portfolio includes NCR-focussed digital payments platform Escrowffrr, Kolkata-based rural health-focused startup iKure, Delhi-based virtual assistant provider Wishup, Noida-based sports app Sportido and Singapore-based retinal diagnostic startup Leben Care Technologies.
In January, it invested $150,000 in Trustmore Technologies Pvt. Ltd, which operates escrow-focussed digital payments platform Escrowffrr.
In October last year, co-founder Ankur Mittal told VCCircle it that had invested in 22 companies over the past 18 months. Most investments have been made in India while some have been made in Singapore, the UK and the US.
In July last year, the firm invested an undisclosed amount in Internet of things-based logistics startup Intugine Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
Deals in ed-tech segment
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.
Earlier this month, online tutoring platform Vedantu Innovations Pvt. Ltd has secured capital from two Asian investors- South Korea's KB Global and Chinese VC firm Legend Capital as part of its extended Series C round of fundraising.
Online tutorial platform Lido Learning has just raised around $13.5 million as part of its Series B financing.
Toppr and Unacademy are among other ed-tech startups that have also raised significant funding.
Early this month, venture capital firms Matrix Partners and SAIF Partners invested $4 million (Rs 30 crore) in ed-tech platform Camp K12.
In January, Gurugram-based DoubtNut raised $15 million in its Series A round of funding led by Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings. Sequoia's Surge was an early investor in DoubtNut.
In the same month, growth-stage investor Iron Pillar led a Rs 60-crore (around $8.3 million) Series B round in Testbook, which operates a platform focused on government examination preparations.