Clever Harvey, one of India’s leading career acceleration platforms for teenagers, has raised $1.5 million in pre-series A round led by TechNova Ventures along with Tom Varkey & Multiply Ventures. Existing investor Education Catalyst Fund also participated in the round.
According to a press statement, with the fresh capital, the company plans to expand its product portfolio, onboard key talent, strengthen its marketing outreach, and build distribution channels within and beyond India.
Clever Harvey serves students in the 14-18 age group. Its offerings include curated case studies in business strategy, marketing, technology, data analysis, UX design, and social media. The programs are offered in small groups, enabling individual attention for students with batch sizes of 1:10. Driving the next phase of expansion, the platform allows students to explore their future careers with the help of intense 10-day training programs in various roles.
Founded by Sriram Subramanian and Madhu Agrawal in 2020 as a D2C division of Callido Learning, the Mumbai-based startup has introduced several new industry-certified programs in conjunction with brands including ‘JuniorMBA Marketing’ in collaboration with PUMA, ‘JuniorMBA Strategy’ in partnership with Samsonite, and ‘JuniorMBA Technology’ together with Infinity Cars.
Talking about the raise, Sriram Subramanian, Founder & CEO of Clever Harvey, said:
“We are making career discovery easier by giving teenagers a ‘behind-the-scenes’ exposure of various industry roles through short, immersive, and fun cohort-based programs. Students meet online in small groups of ten, with focused teacher/facilitator interaction and collaborate with peers from across the country to solve live case studies. Our programs guide teenagers in making academic and career choices that are better aligned with their interests and passion.”
Since its inception in April 2020, the startup claims to have graduated over 6,000 students from 15 countries and seen strong acceptance from parents for this new category.
Sheena Parikh, Founder of TechNova Ventures & Joint MD of the TechNova Group, said on the funding:
“We are excited to partner with Clever Harvey as they offer a truly unique proposition in the EdTech ecosystem. They are tapping into a blue ocean with high-quality, differentiated, value-added products. The Junior MBA programs have received tremendous response and we are very optimistic about future growth.”
Raveen Sastry, Founder, Multiply Ventures, added,
“Digitisation and new tech are creating new opportunities and career streams. Clever Harvey’s vision is to bridge the gap between academics and the real world. Their programs help students develop essential skills for success, like critical thinking, decision making, planning & having an entrepreneurial mindset. This resonated well with our fund’s EdTech thesis.”
In the next six months, the company will introduce a wider range of Junior MBA subjects and industry-partnered programs for teenagers, scale its reach through multiple distribution channels and expand to global markets.
