EdTech start-up Vedantu raises $5M from Accel Partners and Tiger Global

Vedantu, a Bangalore based EdTech start-up and provider of live online tutoring has announced that the company has raised $5 million in a Series A round of funding from Accel Partners and Tiger Global Management.

Vedantu is a live online tutoring platform which uses technology to bring together teachers and students to enable live learning between them. Vedantu currently provides live online tutoring sessions for students from grade 6 to 12. Offerings range from Monthly Tuitions, IIT Foundation to preparation for exams like NTSE, PSA, KVPY, IMO & JEE Mains.

“Vedantu`s focus is on live online 1-to-1 tutoring between a teacher and a student which is its key differentiator from other traditional online education sites that focus on recorded content and tests. The tutoring at Vedantu is a complete live personalized interaction between a student and a teacher using their custom built whiteboard, audio and video technology,” said the official release.

Vedantu is the second venture of four IITian friends Vamsi Krishna, Pulkit Jain, Saurabh Saxena & Anand Prakash. Previous to this their first venture, Lakshya, also in the education field, was started in 2006. At Lakshya, in their role as teachers, the founders taught and interacted with more than 10,000 students. Lakshya was acquired by a listed company, MTEducare in 2012.

“We see huge potential for personalized online live tutoring in India. We know the Vedantu founders for a few years now and very impressed with their domain expertise in education combined with strong technology skills.  We believe in the founding team’s vision to positively impact millions of young minds with personalized online live tutoring and excited to partner with them on this journey,” said Anand Daniel, Partner, Accel Partners.

“Vedantu is the early innovator in online tutoring and believe its LIVE online platform is uniquely positioned to become the leading, trusted provider of online tutoring services to the more than 250 million K-12 students in India.  We were impressed with the quality of the team and their vision to raise industry standards and make learning more personalized for students across the country,” said Lee Fixel, Partner, Tiger Global Management.

"Vedantu`s medium being online gives us an ability to source the best teachers from across the country for our students. Our technology simulates a live session across the desk interaction between a teacher and a student giving them an experience as if they were sitting across each other. Being an online platform gives the convenience to both teacher and student to teach and learn from their own different locations across India thus breaking down demographic barriers," said CEO & Co Founder, Vamsi Krishna.

“With the funding received, we want to create a system where a student can choose a suitable teacher in real time. We want to extend the experience to tablets and mobile form factor devices with scalability which can seamlessly run 100s of live learning sessions concurrently,” he added.