India’s community-driven EdTech platform BlueLearn has raised $450,000 (INR 3.25 Crore) in a pre-seed round led by US-based Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from 100X.VC, Titan Capital, and 2am VC.
The round also saw participation from other angel investors such as Rahul Mathur, Gaurav Mandlecha, and Surabhi Randev. This is in addition to the first round led by 100X.VC.
The fresh funds will be used to build their core team, hire new talent, and further develop their product to cater to their growing community of users.
BlueLearn provides a platform for students to learn new skills, network with like-minded peers, and get exposure from top industry experts.
The Bengaluru-based startup was founded earlier this year by Harish Uthayakumar and Shreyans Sancheti, who are currently in their final year of electrical engineering at BITS Pilani, and aims to provide access to knowledge and opportunities for individuals from across backgrounds.
Talking about the company and the fundraise, Co-founder Harish Uthayakumar said,
“We started building the BlueLearn community in August 2020. In our conversations with them, we realised there was a huge gap in the industry exposure and opportunities students in tier-2/3 colleges received. Through BlueLearn, we want to democratise access to knowledge and bring back the ‘human’ element in the age of virtual learning. We are thankful to Lightspeed, Titan Capital, 100X.VC, 2am VC and our angel investors who have shown faith in our vision. We are confident that with their support and guidance we will be able to build a valuable and iconic product for our users.”
At present, the BlueLearn community has organically grown to 42,000 members with 20,000 monthly active users from 14 countries across the globe including India, the US, UK, Singapore, and others. With a team of 13 members spread across the country, BlueLearn is gearing up for the next phase of its growth.
Vaibhav Agrawal, Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, commented on the investment,
“There is a gaping need for clutter-breaking new experiences in higher education — while the world has moved to social communities, byte-sized content, and hyper-specific skills, our education systems are still stuck in classrooms (now zoom-rooms!), static curricula and rote learning of the 1900s industrial era. Lightspeed is excited to work with the imaginative, creative founding team of BlueLearn that sees this gap clearly and wants to create a big dent in this space.”
The founders of BlueLearn want to bridge the gaps left by the traditional college education system in India that is inadequate for Gen Z and millennials. To address this, they built their platform where like-minded people come together and build a productive community to learn new skills, network, and connect with industry experts.
The platform offers courses on the stock market, game designing, blockchain, front-end development, python, and more. It also provides community-based learning solutions, live classes, and clubs, among others.
Ninad Karpe, Partner at 100X.VC, also commented,
“We at 100X.VC are elated to see our portfolio companies growing and making an impact in the industry and the entire ecosystem. Bluelearn’s concept is unconventional and that’s what interested us the most. We are confident that BlueLearn will scale rapidly in the coming future.”
BlueLearn plans to roll out a membership model for members who need additional perks like one-on-one mentorship, access to exclusive events, projects, and specific courses.
