Community live learning platform Growth School has raised $5 million (around Rs 37.5 crore) as a part of its seed funding round led by Sequoia Capital India and Owl Ventures, the company said in a statement on Thursday.
More than 80 angel investors including Kunal Shah of Cred, Nikhil Kamath of Zerodha, Ritesh Agarwal of Oravel Stays Ltd, and Tanmay Bhat, also participated in the funding round, the statement said. Global angel investors including Austen Allred of Lamda School, Shaan Puri, and Eric Siu also contributed to the investment round, it added.
Growth School plans to use the funds to expand its team and build a tech platform, it said. The company also plans to venture into newer markets and explore metaverse for education, it added.
Growth School, operated by Sisinty Pvt Ltd, offers programmes relevant to the job profile of users, by partnering with professionals, who are influencers in their respective fields, the company said. The duration of the programmes is four to 12 weeks, the company said. Sisinty Pvt Ltd is a subsidiary of Singapore based Sisinty Singapore Pvt Ltd.
Growth School was founded in 2020 as a six-member team. Vaibhav Sisinty, Founder, Growth School, explained that the startup was started with the mission of helping people get the best skill upgradation from top professionals in the industry, over the shortest period of time.
"We aim to be the go-to platform for learners all over the world to acquire skills from the top 1% of industry experts,” added Sisinty.
The company claims that 2 lakh users have accessed its programmes to date. The platform said it offers programs such as UI (user interface), UX (user experience), performance marketing, and courses on freelancing, building and selling NFTs (non-fungible tokens), investing in cryptocurrencies, and on how to start a direct-to-consumer (D2C) business among others.
Growth School said it now aims to expand the range of the programmes it offers. The startup also aims to expand its reach beyond India, as it believes most of these programmes have a universal appeal and relevance.
The broader education space in India has attracted significant investor interest across stages in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic since 2020. Just earlier this month, school edtech platform LEAD raised $100 million as a part of its Series E funding round led by WestBridge Capital and GSV Ventures. With this funding round, LEAD became the sixth edtech unicorn of India, or a private company with a valuation of over $1 billion.
