Matrix, 021 Capital Back Stealth Mode Edtech Startup Crejo.Fun In $3 Mn Pre-Seed Round

Stealth mode edtech startup Crejo.Fun has secured INR 22 Cr (about $3 Mn) in a pre-seed funding round from Matrix Partners India and Flipkart cofounder Binny Bansal-backed venture capital firm 021 Capital.

According to Crejo.Fun’s LinkedIn profile, it is an upcoming digital extracurricular learning platform that aims to help children discover their passions and interests through creative learning. Its sessions are conducted live by expert instructors, who focus on fun and engagement to help children get comfortable and practice as they develop individuality around their unique expression of interests.

It plans to use this funding to develop extracurricular courses with a focus on SPICE — social, physical, intellectual, creative and emotional — development of children in order to promote holistic growth.

Crejo.Fun was founded by IIM Bengaluru alumni Vikas Bansal and Ankit Agarwal last year. Vikas has over 12 years of experience in product management and development spanning from hands-on software development to managing web-scale product portfolios. He has worked with companies like Google, NetApp, Flipkart, Cure.Fit and GlobalLogic. Agarwal has worked with Beceem Communications, Lehman Brothers, ChrysCapital, PineBridge Investments and ICICI Ventures.

Recently, Bengaluru-based online life-skill development platform Uable, which was founded by former Vedantu cofounder Saurabh Saxena in 2019, raised $3.5 Mn in a pre-Series A round led by JAFCO Asia and Chiratae Ventures. The company plans to use the funding to build a global team, scale the product globally and add more real-world domains for teenagers to explore.

According to Inc42 Plus estimates edtech startups raised more than $1.43 Bn across 100 deals in 2020, becoming the fourth biggest segment that year. Interestingly, edtech wasn’t even considered in the list of top five segments, when it came to fundraising amount or deal. Our estimates reveal that edtech was among the least funded segments across 46 deals in 2019.

The edtech market size had reached $2.8 Bn in 2020 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 39% to reach a market size of $10.4 Bn by 2025 as per our “The Future Of Edtech In India: Decoding the $10 Bn Market Opportunity” report. The report notes that some of the major factors driving the adoption of edtech apps in India will be convenience and cost-efficiency of the products and services, a surge in out-of-pocket expenditure on education and a rise in course fees.

Test preparation, K12 learning, online certification and skill development are expected to be the major drivers of demand for Indian edtech startups in the coming years.