India's Vedantu raises $100m round Series D
Indian online tutoring service Vedantu has raised $100 million in a Series D round led by US hedge fund Coatue Management.
The company received $24 million earlier in the year in an extended Series C round led by GGV Capital. It has now raised $200 million in total funding and achieved a valuation of $600 million.
Certain existing investors have also committed capital in the current round. Vedantu's other backers include Omidyar Network, Accel Partners, LGT Group, and China-based education technology developer TAL Education. The funding comes in the same week as exam preparation-based technology start-up Unacademy's announcement of a fifth acquisition.
Founded in 2011, Vedantu operates a live tutoring platform where students can pay for personalized teaching with membership programs of varying durations. The company offers both one-on-one and group classes. Tutoring sessions cover educational material for grades one through 12 and competitive pre-university exams. It launched courses for kindergarten and primary school students this year.
Vedantu, which claims to have pioneered the concept of in-class quizzes to boost learning through gamification, has seen a significant increase in traffic as a result of COVID-19. More than two million students attended its online classes during the 10-week nationwide lockdown earlier in the year.
"As we continue to focus on driving high-growth ventures, our investment in Vedantu marks our entry into the Indian edtech market. This move underlines our strategy to partner with companies that are strategically positioned for high growth & scale," said Rahul Kishore, a managing director at Coatue, according to a statement.
Other Indian start-ups that offer live paid online teaching sessions for school-age students include Vidyakul and Toppr. Meanwhile, Byju's, an educational video platform, stands out as the domestic educational technology platform that has received the most PE backing this year.
Coatue's India portfolio features investments in BharatPe, a digital payment services provider for offline businesses, and Rebel Foods, formerly a food delivery firm that has since switched to providing cloud kitchen services. It has also previously invested in English language tuition specialist VIPkid in China.
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