ImpactAlpha, April 27 — Mumbai-based LEAD School launched in 2012 to provide management services to schools serving low-income students. Its mobile app, which offers live and recorded classes, chat with teachers, homework and quizzes, is used in more than 2,000 schools with 800,000 students.
LEAD has raised $30 million Series D financing, bringing its total raise at $69 million to date. LEAD School’s latest round was led by edtech investors GSV Ventures and WestBridge. Early investor Elevar Equity re-upped in the round (see, “The Rise Fund, Elevar Equity back LEAD’s “school in a box” for low-income students in India”).
LEAD will use the investment for acquisitions and aims to reach 25,000 schools in five years. The company in December acquired the AI-powered edtech startup QuizNext.
Red-hot edtech
Edtech raked in $1.4 billion in venture capital was the most active M&A sector in India last year, according to data from Inc42.
“The edtech space is seeing consolidation, there is no doubt about it,” Elevar’s Sandeep Farias told ImpactAlpha.
Online learning platform Unacademy snapped up six other edtech ventures in 2020 and added TapChief, a professional networking startup, in February. Personalized learning company Byju acquired kids coding startup WhiteHat Jr for $300 million in August and is reportedly in advanced talks to buy several other companies.
Byju raised more than $1 billion in the past year, as COVID fueled demand for remote education. Online tutoring platform Vedantu raised $100 million and Unacademy secured $260 million.
