Startup incubator and accelerator Venture Catalysts, one of the most active early-stage investors, has made its latest bet on 7Classes, a competitive exams-focussed education-technology platform.
Mumbai-based 7Classes was founded by Anup Raaj, Arun Kumar Gupta, Ranjan Kumar Soni and Arvind Patel. The startup says it uses a proprietary model to help aspiring IIT, engineering, medical and Olympiad students.
This model includes features such as seven students in one batch, two-teacher education modes and confidence diagnosis-based learning. It also makes use of individual growth tracking systems and self-determined learning.
The startup will use the capital it has raised to expand to interior parts of the country, Raaj said. It will also use some money to build out its confidence-diagnosis model. The company didn’t disclose the amount it raised.
7Classes will initially target students between the 9th and 12th grades, and will focus on markets in India, Dubai and the United States.
“We are confident that their unique teaching model will receive a positive response from both students and parents across India, Dubai and the US,” Venture Catalysts co-founder and president Apoorva Ranjan Sharma said.
The startup incubator and accelerator was set up in 2015 by Sharma, Anuj Golecha, Anil Jain and Gaurav Jain. It invests between $250,000 and $1.5 million in early-stage startups and provides networking and mentoring to its portfolio companies.
It has made several bets despite the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic. At the start of this month, it hit the first close of its maiden vehicle – the 9Unicorns Accelerator Fund – at Rs 100 crore (around $13.7 million).
Some of its bets this year include influencer marketing platform ClanConnect.ai, chit-fund platform The Money Club, herbal products brand Green Cure, robotics startup Peppermint, blue-collar-focussed recruitment platform MyKaam, dietary supplement brand Power Gummies, and insure-tech startup Insurance Samadhan.
Venture Catalysts said its network of high-net-worth individual investors had struck 60 investment deals and 27 exit transactions in 2019. Last year marked the largest number of exits since its inception in 2015; it had made only three portfolio exits in 2018 and none prior to that.