Education-technology platform Classplus has raised a little over Rs 75 crore (around $10.2 million) at current exchange rates) as part of a new funding round.
Classplus, operated by Bunch Microtechnologies Pvt. Ltd, secured the funding from investors including Alpha Wave Incubation and existing backers RTP Global and Blume Ventures, Entrackr reported, citing regulatory filings.
The coaching centre-focussed startup raised over Rs 56 crore from Alpha Wave in the new round. Blume and RTP committed Rs 11.26 crore and Rs 7.5 crore, respectively, according to the report.
VCCircle has reached out to the ed-tech firm on the details of this fundraise and will update this report accordingly.
This round comes after the Noida-based company mopped up around Rs 73 crore in May in a Series A round. RTP Global led the infusion, with other participants including Blume, Spiral Ventures, Strive and Sequoia Capital India’s startup accelerator platform Surge.
Previously, Classplus had raised around Rs 17.8 crore in a pre-Series A round from Blume and Surge. Angel investors including Kunal Shah, Alvin Tse, and Locus Ventures partner Eric Kwan also participated.
Classplus had mobilised Rs 11 crore in May last year in a funding round led by Times Internet Ltd, a subsidiary of media house Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd, and Strive (then known as GREE Ventures).
The startup, which was formerly known as XPrep, was founded in 2018 by Mukul Rustagi and Bhaswat Agarwal. Prior to setting up Classplus, Rustagi was a derivatives analyst at stock market research firm Futures First. Agarwal was a technology strategist at software giant Microsoft.
The ed-tech company operates a mobile-first, software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform for private coaching centres. It helps these centres take their business online and streamline their business functions including communication, content distribution, payments and online assessments.
Investors
Alpha Wave Incubation is managed by the New York-based global alternative asset manager Falcon Edge and is backed by ADQ, formerly known as Abu Dhabi Developmental Holding Company.
ADQ said in May it had launched the fund with a corpus of 1.1 billion UAE Dirham (nearly $300 million). At the time, ADQ chief executive H E Mohammed Hassan Alsuwaidi said the fund would look to invest in companies pioneering in cutting-edge technologies.
Some other portfolio companies of Alpha Wave include customer support automation platform Verloop.io, e-commerce platform Foxy, video-based customer experience platform Hippo Video, and emotion analytics startup Entropik.
RTP Global, is a Russian venture firm that in March launched its third fund with a targeted corpus of $650 million (around Rs 4,748.6 crore). This new vehicle is expected to be more than triple the size of its predecessor.
At the time, firm partner Kirill Kozhevnikov told VCCircle in an interview that it would continue to scout for quality companies and not worry about the pace of its deal making.
RTP Global’s domestic portfolio companies include consumer lending platform MoneyTap, credit cards-focussed fintech platform Cred, cloud kitchen Faasos’s operator Rebel Foods, and the SME-focused fintech firm Khatabook.
Blume Ventures is one of India’s most well-known venture firms. It was originally set up by Karthik Reddy and Sanjay Nath in 2010, with Ashish Fafadia joining in 2012.
According to a VCCircle analysis of the performance of its funds, Blume is one of the most active investors in the country. It has made over 145 deals since its inception and has scored over 22 exits.
Some of its portfolio companies include ed-tech firm Unacademy, car servicing platform Pitstop, e-mobility startup Yulu, and space-technology startup Pixxel.