3rdFlix Visual Effects Pvt Ltd, which operates education-technology platform Practically, has raised $4 million (about Rs 29 crore) in a pre-Series B fundraise.
The round in Hyderabad-based Practically, focussed on science, technology, engineering and mathematics, has been led by Siana Capital, a Bengaluru-based fund that invests in companies during their early to middle stages of growth.
This is the second announced investment by Siana Capital in a week. Last month, the firm led a Rs 25 crore (around $3.4 million) exercise in agricultural-technology platform Gramophone.
Other participants in the $4 million pre-Series B round in Practically include YourNest Venture Capital and Exfinity Ventures, both of which are existing investors in the company. Prior to this, 3rdFlix raised $5 million (around Rs 36 crore) in a Series A round led by Exfinity.
3rdFlix was set up in 2018 by Subbarao Siddabattula, Charu Noheria, and Ilangovel Thulasimani.
The company says Practically’s business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C) offering allows schools and teachers to access an app that provides learning solutions through features such as immersive videos, interactable augmented reality, and 3D simulations. The app is focussed on children between the sixth and twelfth grades.
Practically will use the capital it has raised to expand operations, with a focus on regions including Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. It will also increase its presence across India, West Asia, and the United States over the next year.
“We have seen a perfect blend of robust technical expertise, understanding of the industry, and a strong business acumen in the Practically team,” YourNest Venture Capital managing director Sunil Goyal said.
“To us, Practically is a very carefully crafted product that can create a niche for itself in the booming edtech industry due to its focus on experiential learning,” he added.
Practically says teachers can access over 3,000 videos and 1,000 simulations and similar features for use-cases including virtual classes, test preparation, assessments, and analytics. It claims that more than 130 schools across the country are currently using its services.
Deals in edtech
The pre-Series B announcement at the start of January shows the accelerated pace of investments in the larger edtech space.
For companies, the Covid-19 pandemic has meant a jump in both user numbers and revenue projections, leading to larger funding rounds from investors.
Last month, vernacular test-prep platform Pariksha raised around Rs 13.16 crore ($1.8 million) in a round led by Bharat Inclusive Technology Fund. Other participants included LetsVenture, Venture Catalysts accelerator fund 9Unicorns, Innercircle One Consulting, and Sixth Sense Ventures founder and CEO Nikhil Vora.
Also in December, civil service aspirants-focussed Habitat raised Rs 5 crore (around $676,700) in a seed funding round from impact investment firm Unitus Ventures and Whiteboard Capital, a sector-agnostic venture capital firm set up by Freecharge co-founder Sandeep Tandon.
There have been several acquisitions in the space as well. ICICI Bank last week said it would pick up a 9.09% stake in Myclassboard Educational Solutions Pvt. Ltd for Rs 4.5 crore (about $613,460) in cash.
In November, VCCircle exclusively reported that Mumbai-based upGrad – founded by Ronnie Screwvala, Mayank Kumar and Phalgun Kompalli – had acquired test-preparation firm The Gate Academy.