Oliveboard, an edtech platform in the government exam preparation space, has raised a pre-series A funding of Rs 23 crore led by IAN Fund, the company said in a statement.
The round also saw participation from Education Catalyst Fund and Yukti Securities.
The platform claims to have over eight million users spanning across 2,500 plus cities and towns in India.
The funding will enable Oliveboard to expand its number of national-level courses and to add state-level categories. It will also use the proceeds for interactive data-driven products which will lead to customised learning at a more granular level for individuals.
Founded by Abhishek Patil and V Satish Kumar, the platform aims to bridge the gap in accessibility to coaching and test preparation for government and quasi-government jobs in Tier II and III cities.
“The market size of the government job entrance exam preparation industry in India is estimated to be nearly Rs 40,000 crore. Before March 2020, a large portion of this market was dominated by offline coaching institutes and the pandemic has been a catalyst in the adoption of online solutions. This market is bound to grow as the demand for test preparation has been stimulated by increasing internet penetration in Tier II and Tier III cities in the country,” said Sudipta Gautam, managing partner, IAN Fund.
LetsDressUp (LDU), India's version of the Stitch Fix platform, has raised a $300,000 pre-series A round of funding from Titan Capital and other marquee groups of investors, the company said in a statement.
The funding saw participation from Sequoia Capital, Lykke Capital, Hauz Khas Ventures, and Sweta Rau (a serial investor across multiple startups).
Existing investors including KaushikaMadhavan (managing partner and country head, Kearney India), Abhishek Malhotra (senior partner, Mckinsey & Co), Anshuman Maheshwary (COO, IIFL Wealth & Asset Management), Saurabh Singh (senior partner, Kearney India), and Gautam Midha (VP, Blackwatch), also participated in the round.
The startup will use the funds to refine the tech product, build the leadership team, and significantly scale up the business.
Founded by Aditya and Drishti, LDU is a D2C brand empowered by technology. For the users, LDU provides a platform where they can get outfits of their size and their style with the click of a button.
Bengaluru-based luxury chocolate brand SMOOR has raised growth financing from revenue-based financing platform Klub.
The amount raised will be primarily used to sustain SMOOR’s current growth momentum as it gears up for geographical and product expansion.
The funds raised from Klub will act as a bridge for SMOOR until it raises Rs 50 crore by the end of 2021.
“Our industry is at an inflection point where we are seeing a stark rise in the popularity of our products. As chocolates become a preferred snacking option for consumers, the demand is set to skyrocket across the country,” said Vimal Sharma, founder-director & CEO, SMOOR.
Founders of GoodWorkLabs Vishwas Mudagal and Sonia Sharma today announced the launch of GoodWorks Angel Fund - an early-stage venture capital (VC) fund and investing venture.
The duo aims to invest in at least 8-10 high-potential startups across the globe every year. Depending upon the nature, requirement and future prospects of the respective startups, the investment ticket size per company will vary from $20,000 to $200,000.
While investment and funding are the core aspects of GoodWorks Angel Fund, the entrepreneur-duo will additionally provide startups and young entrepreneurs with a wide range of professional service offerings. They aspire to create a plug-and-play work ecosystem for startups, by taking care of their office space, technology, operations, marketing, and other support services that are critical to scaling up businesses.
Edtech startup Little Leap has raised a seed round of funding of Rs 2.67 crore led by ah! Ventures with participation from First Cheque VC, LetsVenture and Good Capital VC.
This is ah! Ventures’ 79th investment (in 62 startups), taking its total investment portfolio to Rs 214 crore with 11 exits till date (two more exits are in process).
Little Leap is a live online holistic development platform with a vision to democratise top-tier International, IB standard education for every child helping them build strong learning foundations and helping them develop essential soft skills, life skills, leadership skills and creativity.
Little Leap claims to offer an outcome-driven curriculum with bite-sized content offered in gamified and interactive group sessions designed by an in-house team of expert child psychologists and counsellors.
It also claimed that in just 12 months since launch, Little Leap has developed and field-tested its research-backed curriculum with a large number of parents and children through its programmes.
