Kyt, an online-first, global academy for extracurricular learning for kids, has raised $2.5 million in a funding round led by Sequoia Capital India’s Surge to expand its platform.
Other participated in the round include Titan Capital and several angel investors, including Allen Penn (Former Global Head of Operations at Uber Eats), Amrish Rau (Co-founder and CEO of Pine Labs), Kunal Shah (Founder of Freecharge), Jitendra Gupta (Founder of Jupiter Money and Citrus Pay), and Martin Li (Partner at family office ZF Holdings).
Founded by husband-wife duo Bhavik Rathod and Tripti Ahuja in 2020, Kyt leverages technology to provide online-only, live lessons to children aged between 5 to 15 years old, in extracurricular activities such as vocals, dance, yoga, language, and others. Its workshop’s short duration courses are designed for curious minds and ideal for kids who want to try multiple classes and explore different activities, which include baking, art, magic, animation, doodle, and more. The startup claims that more than 1000 students have so far taken courses or attended workshops on its platform. It currently has more than 20 teachers onboard.
Kyt believes that supporting a child’s inclination to learn new things isn’t additional or extra, but is essential to all-round development. It believes that nurturing interests outside the world of academia equips children with essential life skills.
Speaking about the company, Bhavik Rathod, Co-founder and CEO of Kyt, said,
“Tripti and I started Kyt to build something for our daughter. After speaking to several parents, we realized that there is a much larger need to provide high-quality courses that focus on the holistic and all-round development of the child, beyond just academics. With a strong team of curriculum designers, pedagogy experts and education consultants, we embarked on this vision to build an online-first, global academy for extracurricular learning for kids.”
Kyt partners with distinguished institutes, teachers, and artists, world over, to help students excel in their chosen fields. Its curriculum planning course design, assignments, and revision material are strategically developed with proven methods. Its educators are trained in delivering classes online, so students benefit from real-time interaction allowing for immediate feedback and personalized attention.
“The future of education is a hybrid of online and offline learning, and the market size for primary and secondary extracurricular learning is estimated to be $10 billion in India alone, and around $200 billion globally. While most learning used to happen in physical spaces, there will be rapid adoption of online learning even beyond COVID-19, as these well-structured curriculums will build strong global communities, encouraging children to remain engaged over time,” Rathod added.
The company plans to increase its teacher base to 500 over the next 12 months and add more courses, including chess, various musical instruments, public speaking, creative writing, and how to be a content creator, according to a statement.
Kyt is part of the fourth cohort of Surge, Sequoia’s biannual scale-up program for startups across South-east Asia and India. The program provides startups $1 million to $2 million in seed capital, as well as company-building workshops and mentor support.
