India-focused early stage investor Unitus Seed Fund has led a seed funding round worth Rs 60 lakh ($94,000) in Hubli-based LabInApp Technology Pvt Ltd, the firm behind students' virtual library tool LabInApp. The funding amount was not disclosed.
Other investors in this round include ed-tech veteran Madan Padaki’s education-focused business accelerator Sylvant Advisors, as per a press statement.
LabInApp will utilise the money to expand its addressable market by targeting more institutions.
“We are focusing on secondary school (CBSE), physics & biology subject lab experiments. The scope of this segment is huge since there are more than 15,000 such schools in India & abroad,” said Pavan Shinde, co-founder and CEO at LabInApp.
“With the support of Unitus Seed Fund and Sylvant, and little modification in the current product, we can even serve state boards and ICSE syllabus,” he added.
Founded in 2012 by Shinde, Girish Shirigannavar, Pramod Ramdurg and Vinayak Hulabutti, LabInApp is a 3D interactive virtual laboratory tool that allows students and teachers to perform science experiments on computers and mobile devices.
The startup says it has so far enrolled 35 institutions in tier two cities such as Hubli, Dharwad, Davangere and Gulbarga.
According to the firm, in India, 75 per cent of schools lack proper science laboratory facilities.
"As part of the curriculum, schools have experiments for physics, chemistry and biology, but most often these are done in groups and the time spent for each experiment by the student is very little leaving limited ability to tweak and learn. LabInApp addresses this gap, and enables the student to experiment directly with each concept without the need for a physical set-up," the firm said.
Meanwhile, Unitus Seed Fund has launched StartEdu3, a nationwide programme that seeks to identify, mentor, incubate and invest in early-stage education startups. StartEdu3 winner will be awarded a cash price of Rs 500,000, as per the statement.
The winner and the runner-up will pitch to Unitus Seed Fund for a seed investment of Rs 1 crore.
Founded in 2012, Unitus Seed Fund is part of the Unitus Group, a financial services group operating in India and other emerging markets since 2000. It has offices in Bangalore and Seattle (the US). Till date, the company has made 16 investments in India across sectors such as healthcare, education, mobile, e-commerce, retail and agriculture.
