Invact Metaversity, an EdTech startup built to intersect education and Web 3 founded by former Twitter India head, announced that it has raised $5 million in a seed round led by Arkam Ventures.
The funding round was also joined by Antler India, Picus Capital (Germany), M Venture Partners (Singapore), BECO Capital (Dubai) and 2amVC (the US), which values the startup at $33 million.
According to the company’s statement, the fresh funding will be utilized to build a virtual university town with multiple colleges. The university is being built in the metaverse in order to foster an immersive environment conducive to learning.
Started by Manish Maheshwari and Tanay Pratap, who previously worked as a Senior Software Engineer with Microsoft, Invact Metaversity provides employability-focused training for securing jobs in tech companies. It allows students to communicate with one another and their teachers via animated avatars regardless of their physical location. By enabling students to hang out together in virtual spaces, the platform also facilitates peer-to-peer learning adding a community layer that was missing on online learning.
Speaking about the fundraise, Co-founder and CEO of Invact Metaversity, said in a statement,
“Metaverse is a concept that stands at a cusp where it will be a lead factor in transforming the educational landscape. We will use this investment to bolster the product and technology team for the Metaversity platform, build a virtual-first curriculum and expand into Europe and the US.”
The startup aims to make education more accessible and inclusive, providing the real-time experience of attending a university in a virtual world. With emphasis on creating a social and community layer, the platform is built to help give students a real university feel in the virtual world like entering a classroom, hanging out with peers at the campus, and more
Adding further about the investment, Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Invact Metaversity, said,
“I’ve always believed that education, rather than being a privilege, should be a right. Our vision at Metaversity is not only to democratize education but also to provide high-quality learning at an affordable cost. I am grateful that such well-known names are helping us on our journey.”
Nitin Sharma, General Partner and Co-founder of Antler India, added:
“We are excited to be one of the first believers in Manish and Tanay’s vision. We believe it is time for a new generation of edtech platforms built in India for the world, and especially ones that will offer life-altering outcomes through upskilling and premium employability with a superior pedagogical approach.”
Apart from raising $5 million in the seed round, Invact Metaversity has parallelly raised capital from over 70 notable individuals such as Balaji Srinivasan (former CTO of Coinbase and GP at Andreessen Horowitz), Caesar Sengupta (former VP and General Manager of Payments & the Next Billion Users initiative at Google), Nithin Kamath (founder, Zerodha), Kunal Bahl (founder, Snapdeal), Benjamin Ampen (Managing Director Twitter MENA) and influencer Gregory Orosz (author of ‘The Pragmatic Engineer’), Punit Soni (former CPO of Flipkart and Founder of Suki) and Akshay Kothari (Notion).
