Codeyoung, a Bengaluru-based edtech startup that provides live online coding classes to K12 students, has raised an undisclosed amount in a seed round of funding led by US-based VC firm Guild Capital.
Founded in 2019 by IIT Delhi alumni Rupika Taneja and Shailendra Dhakad, Codeyoung is on a mission to develop cognitive skills and creative thinking among children through coding. The startup offers coding courses to students between 5-16 years of age, which is in line with India’s new education policy. The amendment prescribes courses in programming and web development for students in class 6 and above.
Codeyoung’s curriculum is designed to instill creativity among kids and empower them to express their various interests and ideas through coding. It extends beyond the drag and drop environment and equips kids with skills to create industry-standard programs on popular languages like Python and Java.
Speaking about the company, Rupika Taneja, Co-founder of Codeyoung, said in a statement,
“Our main focus has been to develop the most hands-on curriculum with very distinct learning goals. We started our journey by making programs in coding as a way to impart necessary skills to school kids in an enjoyable and engaging way. Now we have more than 15000+ kids globally enrolled in our various programs. The funding will help us in reaching out to more students and launching more programs aligned with our vision.”
The raised funds will be used to scale up in international markets as well as strengthen academics research, technology and product teams, according to a press statement.
Commenting on the investment, Apoorv Gautam, Guild India Head and COO, said
“We at Guild Capital were quite inspired by the vision of the founders to democratize coding education globally. We see it as a critical enabler among K12 students to become future ready in today’s world. We believe coding will be as important as any other language skill in the coming days and introducing such courses at an early age will be crucial. We are proud to partner with the Codeyoung team and help them achieve their vision.”
According to Shailendra Dhakad, Co-founder of Codeyoung, the company has seen people finding value in introducing their kids to coding at an early age and seeing a lot of positive impact on a kid's creativity and confidence. He said the company is planning to launch several coding courses and engagement initiatives that will address the learning gaps, and that the trust shown by investors has further fueled their desire to make coding more fun and contextual for school kids across the world.
The company claims to have been able to generate massive traction by engaging 15,000+ students globally in less than a year.
