Kae Capital Infuses Funds In Edtech Startup Learntron

Edtech startup Learntron has raised an undisclosed amount of funding in its Pre-Series A round from Mumbai-based Kae Capital.

Learntron, with tech operations in Chennai, and sales operations in Mumbai was launched in 2016 by serial entrepreneurs Subbu Viswanathan and Kuljit Chaddha. Subbu is an alum of IIT-Madras, ISB and a former McKinsey executive, whereas Kuljit who is also an alum of ISB has worked with startups like Cleartrip and consulting companies like E&Y earlier. Learntron caters to the learning needs of both educational institutions and enterprises.

Commenting on the development, Shubhankar Bhattacharya, Venture Partner, Kae Capital said, “What we saw in Learntron was a productivity enhancement and engagement product with global appeal and a clear validation of product-market fit.”

Learntron is conceived as a platform company and it does not develop any content. It claims to have built a platform that makes content companies its potential customers and not competitors.

“We have reinvented the virtual classroom experience to make it activity-based and interactive, as opposed to boring screen-share webinars. Our technology is resilient and works in bandwidth as low as 100 kbps, which despite the 4G revolution, is the reality of internet infrastructure in India,” said Kuljit, COO and co-founder, Learntron.

The USPs of  Learntron’s  platform includes the latest learning design principles like bite-sized learning, social learning, gamification and micro-learning and created a solid, feature-rich product. A key element of Learntron is live learning which works in low-bandwidth conditions.

Enterprises like Mahindra Group, Britannia, Scope International, and Delhivery are customers of Learntron. In education space, they serve companies like TalentEdge, DPS Doha, Birla Schools Kolkata and GD Goenka Schools. “We have built a good network of partners in the Middle East. We have also entered the Thailand market and will be expanding to other markets in Asia soon,” Kuljit added.

In December 2016, Learntron launched sports courses in partnership with Baseline Ventures, the sports management firm that manages P V Sindhu’s and Ravindra Jadeja’s endorsements. In this arrangement, Baseline manages the faculty and Learntron manages the technology and delivery operations.

According to the edtech funding report by Inc42, India is becoming one of the largest markets for e-learning after the US. The report indicates that since 2014, around 125 startups were funded between 2014 and 2016, with a total investment of $256 Mn. Startups like Simplilearn, Toppr, BYJU’s and EduPristine have raised significant amounts of funding.

Other players in this segment include Avagmah, iProf, Meritnation, Englishleap etc.