Unitus Seed Fund invests in education startup Curiositi, Cuelearn

Unitus Seed Fund (USF), India’s leading venture seed fund supporting startups innovating for the masses, has announced an undisclosed amount of seed round investment in two education startups Curiositi and Cue Learn.

Curiositi is a Bangalore-based experiential education startup. The firm partners with schools to affordably transform their science curriculum into an exciting, activity-based experience. Curiositi maps the school’s science curriculum to its portfolio of over 80 Science Activity Kits, and delivers these kits so that students explore activities related to the topic they are currently studying.

Started by Manoj Thandassery and Vinod Abraham, the 17-month old startup began marketing its program in January 2014 and since then has tied-up with 26 schools across 6 locations, delighting over 6,000 students and receiving commitments for over 9,000 kits. 

“When doing early trials, the excitement from teachers and students convinced us that science has to be learnt by exploring. The challenge was to do it in a manner that delivers impact, affordability and convenience to schools, while being scalable as a business model," said Manoj Thandassery, Co-Founder, Curiositi. 

Curiositi is the first of USF's four education portfolio companies focused on delivering improved learning outcomes for APS (Affordable Private School). India’s more than 3 lakh APS's that currently serve more than 40 percent of India’s school age children represent a significant market opportunity. “While the APS segment grows in numbers, it also needs to grow in quality. We’re excited to back Curiositi and help them put their affordable and effective science kits in the hands of millions of students over the coming years,” said Srikanth Iyer, Venture Partner, Unitus Seed Fund.

On the other hand, Cue Learn caters to the huge but highly-fragmented Rs 150 lakh crore ($14 billion) “tuitions” after-school instruction market in India. With over 25 learning centers operating after only 12 months of operations, Cue Learn plans to use the raised funds to expand its operations to multiple states across India and to introduce additional offerings to its product line.

Launched in 2013 by Manan Khurma and Jagjit Khurma, Cue Learn provides the after-school learning programmes for Math and English with a unique distribution model: tapping the incremental efforts of women and senior citizens with basic academic backgrounds, and backing them with by custom-designed learning materials, both paper-based and technology-driven. Cue Learn centers are small, home-based setups, with no more than 8 students in each session, ensuring personalized attention to the needs of each learner.

“Our students get a branded and high-quality experience that’s fun and produces better results. Additionally, teachers earn income on a flexible schedule, and parents can be confident their children have what they need to learn, at a price their family can afford,” said Manan Khurma, co-founder and CEO of Cue Learn.

“Unlike traditional classroom-based tuitions providers, Cue Learn is capital efficient and highly scalable, enabling rapid growth everywhere from tier-1 metros to the smallest rural village,” said Srikrishna Ramamoorthy, partner at Unitus Seed Fund.

Unitus Capital was the financial advisor and Impact Law Ventures was the legal advisor on this transaction, advising Unitus Seed Fund.