Leverage Edu, an EdTech startup which focuses on college admissions, has raised ₹47 crore in Series A funding round.
The round was led by early-stage investment firm Tomorrow Capital and participated by the existing investors Blume Ventures and DSG Consumer Partners.
According to a press statement from the company, Tomorrow Capital invested ₹26.5 crore, and the remaining capital was pumped in by Blume Ventures and DSG Consumer Partners.
The Delhi-based startup said that, apart from institutional financing, it had also received capital from an angel consortium led by Karan Khemka, which includes partners of the education consulting firm LEK. The startup also counts prominent angels like Goqii founder Vishal Gondal, Saama Capital managing partner Ash Lilani, Pine Labs chief executive Amrish Rau, and Sula Wines chief operating officer Chaitanya Rathi among its other investors.
Launched in 2017, Leverage Edu helps students select a higher education program based on mentoring workshops and apply to universities and colleges across the world through its student platform OneView. It also helps them with services like education loan, visas, and accommodation. For universities, Leverage Edu provides a Software-as-a-Service platform called Univalley.com, that helps universities find talent for their programs.
Speaking about the company and its future plans, Akshay Chaturvedi, Founder and CEO of Leverage Edu, said,
“We want to focus on a few things and do them really really well. There is also this myth around foreign education being expensive that we’ve been busting for last four years. 18 months from now, we want to be among the top study abroad companies in India, both by number of students and a roof-hitting NPS – because a happy student is why we are all really motivated everyday to do this.”
The CEO added “the latest round of funding will be used to accelerate the company’s strategic expansion into newer markets, bring in more product innovation, and deepen our student-first approach with more focus on pedagogy and student-first tools.”
Leverage Edu says it provides students with single-touch access to more than 2,500 personalized mentors and global universities and claims to have served more than 3,000 students this season. The startup also helps over 500 small and medium Study Abroad companies across 35 cities in India with the college application process by providing them access to its proprietary tech and access to more than 250 partner universities across the world.
Commenting on the funding, Rohini Prakash, Chief Executive of Tomorrow Capital, said,
“India is one of the largest global suppliers of international students and yet the biggest brands helping students in their admissions come from destination countries like the USA, Canada and Australia, who don’t understand the unique perspectives and problems that the Indian student faces. We believe it is inevitable that the next stellar brand in the global cross-border education space will be a home-grown one. We have a great believe in Akshay as a founder – he has a fantastic roadmap for scaling the business and the passion to build a truly global Indian EdTech brand – and are excited about working with the Leverage Edu team on this journey.”
Meanwhile, with this funding, Leverage Edu has raised a total of about ₹60 crore across three rounds.
