The LEAD school is an ed-tech startup that helps private schools digitalize their curriculum. They have raised $28 million in a Series C funding round led by Westbridge Capital along with existing investor Elevar Equity.
The latest round of funding will be used by the company to accelerate the development and roll-out of new product offerings, increase its school network in Tier 2-3 cities, and hire talent across domains.
The eight-year Mumbai-based firm was co-founded by Sumeet Yashpal Mehta and Smita Deorah.
It started off as a full-fledged school focused on middle school students. Later in 2017, the firm began offering an ‘integrated system’ for schools by helping them digitize the entire curriculum. It also provides affordable online teaching tools to both students and teachers.
More than 800 schools are being served by the company and it claims to serve more than 3 lakh students across the country with a focus on cities in two, three, and four geographies.
Sumeet Mehta, co-founder, and chief executive of LEAD School said that the firm’s partner schools have seen class averages improve from below 60% to above 70% after they adopted digitized curricula.
“During this pandemic too, our Integrated System has enabled schools to deliver an uninterrupted learning experience for all students. The new round of funding will help us bring more innovation and reach more students and schools,” Mehta added.
“In the new world order, the lockdown ensuing the pandemic has given a massive boost to online education. In the last few months, the ed-tech sector has evolved rapidly, changing the trajectory of the Indian education system multifold. As a firm, we believe in investing in ventures that have a large scale impact and are convinced LEAD School will create a strong positive impact on the educational outcomes of millions of young minds”, said Sandeep Singhal, managing director, WestBridge Capital.
Amidst the lockdown, many ed-tech startups have witnessed an increase in capital in forms of funding, investments etc., Byjus, Vedantu, Unacademy, to name a few. Its time for LEAD to shine now!