Ed-tech startup Kyt Technologies Pvt. Ltd and remote employee engagement software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform Let’s Dive have received funding led by Sequoia Capital’s accelerator programme Surge.
Bengaluru-based Let’s Dive and India- and Singapore-based Kyt are two of the 17 startups selected by Surge for its fourth batch that was announced last week. The specific amount raised by the startups was not disclosed.
Kyt raised $2.5 million (Rs 18.5 crore) led by Surge, media reports said, citing a company statement. Titan Capital, the venture capital firm floated by Snapdeal founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, also invested.
Pine Labs CEO Amrish Rau, Jupiter Money founder Jitendra Gupta and Cred founder Kunal Shah also contributed to this funding round. Allen Penn, the former global head of operations at Uber Eats, and Martin Li, a partner at family office ZF Holdings, also pooled in capital.
Kyt is an online platform that focuses on extracurricular learning for children. It says it has partnered with global educators who are trained in delivering classes online.
The startup was founded in June 2020 by husband and wife duo Bhavik Rathod and Tripti Ahuja. Rathod was a founding leader for Uber India and the Head of Uber Eats in India and South Asia. Ahuja has spent 10 years designing customer experiences for top companies globally.
Meanwhile, Let's Dive has raised $1.7 million (Rs 12.5 crore) led by Surge, The Economic Times said, citing a company statement. Early-stage venture capital firm Village Global and fintech startup Khatabook's co-founder Ravish Naresh and gaming startup Mobile Premier League's co-founder Sai Srinivas also participated in this funding round.
The company will use the funds to increase sales and build a cross-border product team.
Let's Dive was founded in August this year by Nitesh Agrawal and Om Prakash Shanmugam, who've both had entrepreneurial stints before. Agrawal, an IIT Bombay graduate, was co-founder at IREF, a sister concern of property listing firm Housing.com, and founder of Indiez, a remote organisation. He was also an early employee at Ola. Shanmugam had previously founded technology company FA Labs and live trivia quiz show startup MyKarma.
Surge
Sequoia had launched Surge last year to sharpen its focus on early-stage funding. It launched its fourth batch last week consisting of 17 startups headquartered in India, Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia. It also added a startup from Australia for the first time.
The startups come from various sectors including ed-tech, fintech, health-tech and business-to-business (B2B) marketplace among others. Over half of the 17 startups selected are SaaS companies, it had said.
Surge founders typically receive $1-2 million so they can start hiring and building their product right away.