Adda247 Raises $35 Mn Led By WestBridge Capital, Adds Google To Cap Table

Vernacular government test prep platform Adda247 has raised $35 Mn in a round led by WestBridge Capital. The funding round also saw Google joining as a new investor and participation from existing investors Info Edge and Asha Impact.

The edtech platform plans to use the fresh capital to enhance its tech and product profile, expand its student counselling team, and hire for some key leadership roles. The aim is to go deeper into the vernacular test preparation category, the startup said in a statement.

The announcement comes weeks after Info Edge said that it was infusing INR 80 Cr (approx $9.7 Mn) in Adda247. The funding seems to be a part of the latest round.

Prior to this, Adda247 had raised $20 Mn in total funding.

Founded in 2016 by Anil Nagar and Saurabh Bansal, Adda247 provides online coaching for government job entrance tests and caters to the learning needs of millions of students from Tier-2, 3 cities in India. The edtech platform offers content in over 12 vernacular languages, including English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Assamese, Bengali, Malayalam and Bhojpuri,  for more than 500 government exams. 

Expressing the firm’s trust in the startup, Sandeep Singhal of WestBridge Capital said that Adda247 is one of the “rare profitable edtech companies in India” to grow at such a rapid pace.

Speaking about the latest investment, Kitty Agarwal, Partner at Info Edge Ventures, said, “Adda247 is one of the very few scaled-up tech companies which is profitable and growing very fast. We are confident of the team’s ability to accelerate growth from hereon in their massive category.”

Adda247 currently claims to have 22 Mn monthly active users (MAUs), and a total of 2 Mn paid users to date.

In FY22, it reported a turnover of INR 64 Cr as against INR 46.7 Cr in FY21 and INR 40.5 Cr in FY20.

With the new fundraise, the startup plans to further bolster its vernacular test preparation category by building new courses and setting up faculty for other state-level exams. 

Besides, it will also explore a few strategic acquisitions in the coming months that can complement its offerings in the government job preparation category, Adda247 said in the statement. 

“All our offerings focus on ‘Building for Bharat’ as 85% of our user base comes from Tier 2, 3 & 4 cities. We want to help create a level playing field by providing all kinds of learning solutions to students from all backgrounds,” Adda247 CEO Nagar said. 

The edtech startup has plans in its long-term pipeline to work beyond government test preparation and solve unemployment problems at a broader level, the statement added.

Adda247 acquired Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exam-focused edtech startup StudyIQ in a $20 Mn (INR 150 Cr) deal in December last year.

The funding announcement comes at a time when edtech startups in the country have been hit hard by the funding winter. As a result, many startups have taken cost-cutting measures, including layoffs, to tide over the fund crunch. While startups like Udayy, Crejo.Fun, and Lido have shut down over the past few months, Indian edtech startups have laid off 4,268 employees in 2022 so far, according to Inc42’s layoff tracker.

As per an Inc42 report, Indian edtech startups raised $2 Bn in the first half of 2022, a decline of 41% compared to the funding in the second half of 2021.