Leverage EdTech Pvt. Ltd, which operates university admissions-focussed startup Leverage Edu, has raised $1.5 million (approximately Rs 10.69 crore at current exchange rates) in a funding round from existing investors.
The round was co-led by DSG Consumer Partners and Blume Ventures. Saama Capital founder Ash Lilani and PayU chief executive officer Amrish Rau also participated in the round, Leverage Edu said in a statement.
The latest transaction takes the total funding raised by Leverage Edu to $3 million.
The company, which currently has a presence in Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai, said it will use the funds to expand its presence in Tier-II and Tier-III cities.
Akshay Chaturvedi, founder at Leverage Edu, said the firm is happy with the student experience on the LeverageEdu.com platform which has led to revenue growth in the last nine months.
Separately, DSG managing director Deepak Shahdadpuri said the firm was confident in increasing its bet on LeverageEdu because of the management team’s execution capabilities and positioning of the brand.
New Delhi-based Leverage Edu originally began operations as an education mentorship marketplace before becoming a full-stack university admissions advisor. Its services include providing mentor-led one-on-one workshops, portfolio build-up sessions, access to pre-programme internships and online courses.
The company uses its artificial intelligence-based platform to help high school students, collegegoers and professionals looking to pursue higher education outside India.
In January last year, the startup raised over $1 million (around Rs 7 crore) in its pre-Series A round, which was also led by DSG Consumer and Blume Ventures. Prior to that, it raised an undisclosed amount of money in seed funding from a clutch of investors, including serial entrepreneur Kashyap Deorah and Flexiloans.com co-founder Deepak Jain.
Deals in the ed-tech segment
The online learning and ed-tech segment has attracted considerable investor interest of late.
The valuation of ed-tech firm Byju’s crossed $5 billion after it raised $31.3 million in a funding round in March last year led by existing investors General Atlantic and Tencent Holdings Ltd. In December 2018, Byju’s announced that it secured $540 million (Rs 3,855 crore then) in a round led by South African tech conglomerate Naspers.
In August last year, ed AdmitKard raised $1 million (around Rs 7.15 crore) led by the Australia-based ed-tech fund Growth DNA and Dheeraj Bhatia, the founder of Kips Learning, a professional computer education firm. The firm helps students select and apply for higher education abroad.
Other players in different verticals in the segment include Gradeup, Unacademy, Toppr, Springboard, and Adda247.
