Indian Edtech Company ‘Lead School’ Raises $28 Mn From WestBridge Capital

Mumbai-based education technology startup Lead School has raised $28 Mn in Series C funding round led by WestBridge Capital. The company’s existing investor Elevar Equity has also participated in this round.

The company, which offers integrated curriculum and technology solutions to affordable private schools, is targeting the private school market in tier 2 cities and beyond and will utilize the capital to grow its sales channel and sign up new customers. It will also seek to enhance its technology offerings to help schools better monitor and improve student learning outcomes.

Previously, in 2019, Elevar Equity had infused $7 Mn in Lead School’s Series B round and $1 Mn in Series A funding round in 2017. The Edtech startup is planning to use the latest funding to target more private schools in Tier 2 cities and beyond. Currently, 80-85% of its customers include affordable private schools in Tier 2, 3, and 4 towns.

Lead School was founded in 2012 by Sumeet Mehta and Smita Deorah. It offers integrated curriculum and technology solutions to affordable private schools enabling them to impart better and advanced education.

Lead School has developed its own high-quality learning content for students, teaching resources for teachers, technology integrations for schools to monitor the performance of students, and a platform where parents can monitor their child’s academic performance.

“Affordable schools in small towns are where the problem is. In metros, the teachers are doing a great job. But in small towns, the parent aspiration is high, but teacher skill is low, and that’s the sweet spot where we work,” co-founder and CEO Sumeet Mehta told ET.

The company claims to have grown its network of schools from 150 to 800 in the past one year and expects to maintain the same growth momentum in 2020 as the pandemic has strengthened its position in the market with schools are looking for more options to digitize. “Previously, schools were hesitant to adopt technology, but Covid-19 has shown people that the age-old ways are not going to work,” Mehta added.

“We see great potential in Lead School, given their innovative and focused approach in ensuring accessible, quality school-level education for all,” Sandeep Singhal, managing director of WestBridge Capital said. WestBridge Capital is also an investor in Edtech giant Vedantu.

According to Inc42 Plus, the Indian online learning market is expected to be worth $1.96 Bn by 2021. According to the report, before Covid-19 lockdown, seven out of 10 top Edtech players were focussed on school-level online learning. Vedantu, Learn CBSE, BYJU’S, Toppr, Tiwari Academy, Meritnation and Gradeup collectively captured 51.25% of the traffic share.