Next Door Learning Solutions Pvt Ltd that owns and operates multilingual test preparation platform OnlineTyari has raised $750,000 from a group of angel and VC investors, including 500 Startups, TV Mohandas Pai, Tandem Capital, Vikram Chachra of Eight Capital and Aloke Bajpai, co-founder and CEO of IxIgo.
The funds will be used for expansion and to strengthen technology infrastructure, the company said in a statement.
OnlineTyari helps users prepare for job-oriented tests, including civil and banking services, UPSC, GATE and state government jobs via its mobile and web platform that offer test materials in Hindi and English. Users can purchase question banks, online tests, articles and e-books on the platform and also collate notes to prepare for competitive examinations.
“OnlineTyari aims to revolutionise the $20 billion market need for education services in India. This is our contribution towards bringing literacy and livelihood to everyone and towards achieving a truly inclusive digital India mission,” said Vipin Agarwal, co-founder and CEO of OnlineTyari.
OnlineTyari was founded in 2014 by IIT Kanpur alumni Agarwal and Bhola Ram Meena. Prior to starting OnlineTyari, Agarwal founded enMarkit.com, a customer intelligence platform to assist ecommerce companies. He was associated with Kotak Private Equity and Nexus Venture Partners before becoming an entrepreneur. Earlier, Meena launched GetMeCab, one of the first three taxi hailing apps in India. Prior to that, he was technology head at Microsoft’s India Development Center at Hyderabad for seven years.
The startup claims to have achieved an install base of over 2 million downloads and a daily active user base of more than 2 lakh users across India. The company plans to make the platform available in other languages soon.
“Online education is helping students and young professionals participate and excel in a knowledge-driven economy. A vital component of this wave of access to information is to ensure that our languages are respected and catered to with attention. Students familiar with Indian languages must not feel marginalised, and it is imperative that they have access to the highest quality content in any language they choose. This is why I believe OnlineTyari is a platform with a purpose. With its mission to deliver the highest quality content for competitive exams in Indian languages, they will provide a core value proposition that is fundamental to empowering our youth to build meaningful careers,” said Mohandas Pai, chairman, Manipal Global Education and former CFO, Infosys.
The education technology space has been generating tremendous interest among investors. Earlier this month, MockBank, a startup that provides online mock tests for government jobs, raised about $400,000 (Rs 2.6 crore) in seed funding from Blume Ventures and others.
Last week, Prozo.com, an online marketplace for buying and selling study material, secured seed funding of $205,000 (Rs 1.37 crore) from a group of investors.
US-based Coursera Inc, an education technology company that partners with universities to offer courses online, recently secured $49.5 million in the first closing of Series C funding from New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Times Internet (TIL) and others investors.
In June, Bangalore-based Suphalaam Technologies Pvt Ltd, which owns and operates online education marketplace CAKART.in, had raised an undisclosed amount in angel funding from Sunil Maheshwari and other unnamed investors.
Earlier this year, Info Edge (India) Ltd, which runs a slew of internet properties such as Naukri, 99acres, Jeevansathi and Shiksha, among others, invested an additional Rs 25 crore ($4 million) in Applect Learning Systems Pvt Ltd, which operates the online education and assessment venture Meritnation.
In April this year, Mumbai-based Haygot Education Pvt Ltd which runs digital ed-tech startup Toppr.com, acquired EasyPrep, an online entrance exam preparation platform, for an undisclosed amount. Toppr had raised $2 million in seed funding from SAIF Partners and Helion Ventures in May 2014.
Recently, Singapore-based XSEED Education Pte acquired online learning management business of PleoLabs, an Indian education technology startup, for an undisclosed amount.
In March 2015, Mumbai based ed-tech startup for competitive entrance test preparation, Embibe.com had acquired 100Marks, a student guidance platform for JEE main and advanced, in a cash plus stock deal.
