Hyderabad-based Math-learning platform Bhanzu has raised $15 million (Rs 119.76 crore) in Series A round, led by venture capital firm Eight Roads Ventures.
B Capital and existing investor Lightspeed also participated in the round. The company did not disclose its valuation after the fundraise.
In the current round, Eight Roads Ventures invested Rs 87.82 crore, while B Capital and Lightspeed invested Rs 15.97 crore each, according to the company’s filings with the Registrar of Companies.
Bhanzu aims to use the funds to expand across geographies, build its team and enhance its tech infrastructure.
“We are driven towards understanding how we can develop, grow into multiple geographies, operationally scale and productise delivery (of content),” co-founder Neelakantha Bhanu Prakash told VCCircle in an interaction. He says he wants to change the way math is taught through Bhanzu.
The Hyderabad-based firm was founded in 2020 by Neelakantha Bhanu Prakash, popularly known as the World’s fastest human calculator, Prachotan D L, Uday Kiran, JSS Krishnakanth and Srinivas Jonnalagadda.
Bhanzu uses a curated curriculum - designed on the basis of Prakash’s journey of fastest human calculator - to help students between the age of 6-16 years learn Mathematics.
Currently, Bhanzu has a team of 400 employees, including teachers. The startup says it has about 30,000+ active learners and is adding about 1,000-1,500 students every month.
“Low math proficiency is a deep problem driven by lack of skilled teachers, poor engagement and math anxiety in students. Bhanzu’s proprietary pedagogy and curriculum results in superior learning outcomes, cognitive development and future readiness,” said Aditya Systla, partner, Eight Roads Ventures, in the statement.
The current funding round comes at a time when ed-tech sector has come under scrutiny, with startups laying off employees in the last quarter as the funding environment tightened.
Bhanzu had last raised a seed round of $2 million from Lightspeed and a few angel investors, which it used to scale up its online classes. The startup has presence across India, South Asia and Middle East Asia