CENTA (Centre for Teacher Accreditation), a Bengaluru-based teacher accreditation platform, recently announced a funding round of $1 million (Rs 8.3 crore) from several angel investors. The startup intends to use the funds raised to launch a Teaching as a Service (TaaS) offering. The proceeds will also be used to improve the technological capabilities of its existing platform.
Prem Kumar (former HCL executive), Leo Puri (JP Morgan), Kabir Narang (B Capital Group), Bahram Vakil (AZB & Partners), and Govind Iyer (ex-Egon Zehnder International) are among the angel investors in this round.
Founded by Ramya Venkataraman, CENTA makes teaching an aspirational profession by assessing and certifying teachers’ competencies, connecting them to career opportunities, rewards and recognition, and supporting their professional development journey through the MyCENTA platform. The firm also assists schools and systems in attracting, developing, growing, and retaining excellent teachers. This creates a virtuous cycle in which more teachers are motivated to improve their competencies, and aspiring teachers see this as a viable career option, thereby fundamentally improving educational quality. The company runs three verticals: teacher training, teacher certification and skill-based training.
Speaking about the platform, Ramya Venkataraman, Founder and CEO of CENTA, stated:
Testing and training currently contribute nearly 45% each, while recruiting contributes the remaining 10%, with the hope that recruiting will eventually contribute 40%. While emphasizing teaching as a top priority for everyone. The platform aimed to include representation from various industries in this funding round.
Venkataraman added:
This funding represents a vote of confidence in our mission and underscores the power of teachers as both catalysts of social impact and engines of economic growth.
CENTA claims to have a presence in 7,000 locations across the country and to be improving the lives of over 1.5 million teachers. It works with several state governments and educational boards, including NCERT, CBSE, and State Education Boards, to empower teachers in government schools and improve overall academic quality.
Prem Kumar, former MD of HCL Infosystems, commented on the development, addressing CENTA’s growth as a natural outcome of a well-thought-out strategy that catered to the unmet requirements of the target audience.
