Toppr to raise US$ 50 million in Series D to expand, launch two products

Toppr, an edtech start-up, plans to raise US$ 50 million in a Series D round from existing and new investors to scale up operations and launch two products, Toppr Codr and a learning platform for schools.

Mr Zishaan Hayath, CEO and co-founder Toppr, said that the company is in talks with new investors and will close the round before the end of the September quarter. Existing investors will contribute about 10-30 per cent of the funding, he added.

The company is backed by Saif Partners and Helion Ventures and joined bigger edtech players that have successfully raised capital despite the COVID crisis. Byju’s raised about US$ 100 million from US technology investor Bond in May, while Unacademy raised US$ 110 million from Facebook and General Atlantic in February 2020.

“The funding will fuel development and distribution of all three products, the Toppr learning app that is our core app, Toppr Codr and an online platform for schools which will be launched in about six weeks’ time," said Mr Hayath.

In December 2018, Toppr had raised US$ 60 million as part of its Series C led by Kaizen PE, along with existing investors Eight Roads Ventures, Helion Ventures and SAIF Partners.

Since then, the startup has been putting in more efforts to reach new students. Its entry into coding by launching Toppr Codr is one such initiative.

“Coding is an essential skill for the 21st century and helps kids with logical thinking, concentration, creativity and even maths. There is a clear gap in demand and supply and this starting point should fit in nicely with the start of a school year," said Mr Hayath.

Toppr Codr offer specially designed curriculum for children between 6-18 years of age, on-demand and self-paced modules, adaptive paths, and personalised live classes. It will be working along 100 plus experts as coding tutors - including those from IIT Bombay, IIT Madras, IIT Delhi and IIT Kanpur.

“So far the learning apps have been focused on children, with this platform for schools we will close the gap and children will be able to learn what is taught in schools," he added.

The work of teachers will be reduced by the help of automatic assignments and tests among other things.

The company has seen an increase like other ed tech platforms because of the lockdown when the coronavirus outbreak had forced educational institutions to suspend classroom teaching in March.

Mr Hayath claims that there has been a 150 per cent growth in paid users after the lockdown was imposed, with revenue growing 2.5 times. Subscribers of Live Classes grew by 125 per cent while there was a 100 per cent growth in Free user engagement overall. Daily active users spent 110 minutes per day on the Toppr app, the highest user-engagement in the segment.

Currently, Toppr has 1,500 employees and 60,000 educators on its platform and is not worried about competition from the big players. “With 300 million school children in India, the ed tech space is not crowded," added Mr Hayath.

It is expected that edtech adoption in India is being driven by the COVID-19 outbreak and even after the crisis is contained, it will be one of the key technology themes to look out for in the country’s education sector, said Mr Nidhi Gupta, technology analyst at data firm GlobalData.