K-12 Edtech Startup PlanetSpark Raises $13.5 Mn To Teach Children Communication Skills

Edtech startup PlanetSpark has raised $13.5 Mn in a Series B funding round led by Prime Venture Partners. Binny Bansal, Deep Kalra, Ashish Gupta, Gokul Rajaram and Shirish Nadkarni also participated in the round. 

The startup had previously raised $3.7 Mn from Prime Ventures, FIITJEE and some angel networks. This round takes PlanetSpark’s total amount raised to $17.2 Mn. According to the startup, it will use the funding for product development, hiring senior leadership and global expansion

Founded in 2017 by Kunal Malik and Maneesh Dhooper, PlanetSpark is an education platform that helps children improve their communication skills. It offers live one-on-one classes in public speaking and creative writing for children between the ages of 4 and 16. The curriculum includes storytelling, debate, podcasting, stand-up comedy and poetry etc.

“Communication skills are the most fundamental and desirable skills that parents wish to impart in their kids. However, these skills are rarely taught anywhere. Till now, parents never thought that a reliable and structured option to develop the communication skills of their children existed. With live learning coming of age in the past two years, we are the first global company to structure a program on new-age communication skills, for kids,” said Kunal Malik, cofounder of PlanetSpark.

According to an Inc42 Plus report, India’s edtech market opportunity is poised to grow from $2.8 Bn in 2020 to $10.4 Bn in 2025, at a CAGR of 39%. A National Sample Survey (NSS) on Household Social Consumption concluded that there was a 26% surge in out-of-pocket expenditure on education between 2014 and 2018. 

According to the report, the Indian edtech market will witness a 3.7x growth in the next five years with K-12 learning solutions set to account for 41% of the total market in 2025. K-12 learning solutions could have as many as 11.3 Mn paid users. 

“India offers a pool of 1.8 Million potential and current English teachers who can impart these skills to the entire globe. We plan to hire 50,000 teachers on our platform by the end of 2022. Overall, this is a golden opportunity to build the world leader in communication skills that didn’t exist till now,” said Maneesh Dhooper, cofounder of PlanetSpark. 

Last month, online-only school startup 21K Schools had raised $5 Mn in Pre Series A funding from Ronnie Screwvala, cofounder and chairman of upGrad.

Mumbai and Netherlands-based LessonLeap is another edtech platform that helps children develop communication skills. The startup uses fun activities to teach children, ranging from kindergarteners to sixth-graders, public speaking, language command skills and writing. LessonLeap began its journey after raising undisclosed pre-seed funding from Berlin-based Point Nine Capital and some angel investors. 

Delhi-based Kidzpreuner is a platform that helps kids build problem-solving, creativity, communication and storytelling, money management and design thinking skills among others. Apart from helping students build life skills, Kidzpreuner also supports them with initial funding and mentorship through a Noida-based accelerator program.