INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Vedantu, a Bangalore-based startup that operates a learning app aimed at students aged between 12 to 18, has secured an additional $24
million as part of its Series C financing round
With the infusion of cash, Vedantu looks to serve more students and make its brand a household name.The fresh infusion to its Series C,
which Vedantu first unveiled in August last year, was led by global VC firm GGV Capital
Some existing investors also participated in the round
million.Vedantu offers live and interactive courses for students in grades 6 though 12
Students who have enrolled for the interactive sessions are required to answer questions every few minutes by tapping on their smartphone
They also can raise their doubts at the end of the session.Some of these sessions are free for students, but a selection of it requires a
paying subscribers, a figure that Krishna expects to surpass 100,000 this year
The cost of these subscriptions can vary from Rs 100 ($1.4) for students looking for sessions around a particular topic, to Rs 50,000 ($700)
for long-term courses that focus on training students for undergraduate-level courses
About a million students look to pursue undergraduate courses each year, for instance.But the quality of education and its affordability are
two major challenges that millions of students, especially those living in smaller cities and towns, have to confront
An offline coaching centre can have as many as 100 students sitting in the room, with most not getting a chance to engage with the teacher
valued at $8 billion in its most recent fund raise last week, have emerged to tackle these challenges as low-cost Android handsets flood the
Indian market and mobile data prices become incredibly affordable.Vedantu allows students to interact with their teachers through the
microphone and camera on their smartphone or desktop and also through a chat box on the app
A paid session may have as many as 600 students while the free lessons could have 2,000, said Krishna, who is a teacher himself
stake to Mumbai-based K-12 tutoring and test preparation firm MT Educare.Running a tech platform has also enabled Vedantu to offer its
subscription service at a more affordable price than a typical offline coaching equivalent that can cost users anything between a few
hundred dollars to a few thousand.To ensure that students are paying attention and identify their weaknesses, Vedantu says it has built a
patented system called WAVE that evaluates about 70 parameters, including whether the student is looking at the screen
board of Vedantu as part of the investment, said he thinks Vedantu has reached the inflection point with its WAVE product
beginning to spend some money to better market its brand
In December, the startup ran some commercials on TV channels
In addition to that, Vedantu has also started to add courses to serve even younger students
The new courses are in pilot stage and would be broadly launched in a few months, he said.
