SUMMARY
The Series B funding round has been closed at $10.5 Mn
CEO Sahil Sheth said the fresh funds will be used towards scaling the tech infrastructure
Lido Learning said it is hiring over 100 teachers a week right now
Mumbai-based edtech startup Lido Learning has now raised $7.5 Mn in its ongoing Series B funding round led by BAce Capital. Founder and CEO Sahil Sheth said that the company has closed Series B at $10.5 Mn funding with participation from existing investors.
Sheth said that the funds will be used for scaling up existing infrastructure and hiring employees across functions as well as new teachers. “We are hiring over 100 teachers a week right now,” Sheth told Inc42. The company will also focus more on curriculum-based learning modules.
In terms of further expansion, Lido Learning has plans to strengthen Tier 2 and 3 presence. Sheth added that the company has established solid presence in Tier 2 cities such as Pune and Indore among others and would like to penetrate deeper into Tier 3 cities as there is a supply-demand mismatch for quality education.
Lido Learning’s investors include Rocket Internet founder Alex Samwer-backed Picus Capital, Paytm president Madhur Deora, Medlife CEO Ananth Narayanan, MD JK Tyres Vikrampati Singhania, CEO, Shaadi.com Anupam Mittal and MD of Patni Wealth Advisors Arihant Patni, among others.
Founded in April 2019, Lido Learning offers year-long online tutorials in math and science for students of class 5 to 9. Lido enables students to connect online with live teachers who offer maths and science tutorials. Parents pay a subscription fee for their kids to attend small group classes through real-time interactions with teachers.
Lido Learning: Over 2K Customers, 50% M-o-M Growth
Sheth told us that the company has over 2K paying customers and had close to 400 teachers by the end of March 2020. Lido Learning has over 1000 employees, which includes teachers and other active roles besides the technology team.
Sheth told us that till now the company has seen an average growth rate of 50% M-o-M, The platform also provides students access to offline content to practise classroom lessons.
Besides maths and science, Lido said it would be launching English learning in the first quarter of 2020. Sheth told us that the product is under the pilot phase and should have a full roll out in May.
Benny Chen, managing partner at BAce Capital said, “In just a couple of months, Lido has built a community of students, tutors and parents leveraging its technology to make education more accessible, and improve the interaction between students and tutors significantly through measuring learning results.”
Sheth says that Lido’s vision is to build 250 Mn unique learning journeys for 250 Mn unique Indian students.
Talking about the pandemic-hit education system, Sheth said, “With high-speed internet penetration, the tech infrastructure is ready; and as more students and parents experiment with online learning in the current pandemic, the customer mindset is ready.”
“During the tough season of a global pandemic and in the years after, BAce is committed to supporting Lido to deliver the best quality tutoring services to Indian families,” said Chen.
Edtech In India
According to DataLabs by Inc42, in 2019, K-12 and test prep startups such as BYJU’s, Unacademy and Vedantu attracted the most amount of venture capital funding. The combined capital inflow into the three startups for the year 2019 was more than $274 Mn.
Overall the dominance of these sub-sectors in the funding landscape of edtech startups has declined a little. The share of online test preparation startups to the total funding amount in 2019 was 66% ($284 Mn) out of the total $433 Mn plus in total funding amount for the year. With a huge demand for tech intervention in the school curriculum, hiring the right fit of teachers is the toughest task for most K-12 focussed startups.
