Edtech Startup LIQVID Raises $1 Mn From Gray Matters Capital

Noida-based LIQVID eLearning Services, an educational software company has raised close to $1 Mn in Series A funding from social venture capital firm Gray Matters Capital.

LIQVID’s flagship product English Edge will use the funds to market and scale its product – an English language assisted-learning software for teachers and students. This software helps with language learning and basic soft skills.

Vivek Agarwal, Chief Executive Officer of LIQVID, said. “Our plan is to tie-up with schools, colleges, and centres who will deliver our programme.” It plans to tie-up with 10,000 centres in the next three to five years.

Started in 2002 by Vivek Agarwal, an IIM-Calcutta alumnus, LIQVID is a global elearning service provider with domain-specific expertise in custom elearning solutions, enterprise learning, blended learning solutions, elearning technology, and learning support through its flagship product EnglishEdge.

Robert Patillo, founder of US-based Gray Matters Capital said, “Language, especially English, still acts as a huge barrier to learning and job placement for individuals coming from the bottom-of-the-pyramid population across the world. We are happy to be associated with LIQVID, who are making the efforts.”

Since inception, the company claims to have created over 8,000 hours of elearning content and has tied-up with over 1,600 schools. LIQVID is a preferred offshore vendor for Hewlett Packard (HP), US and has executed several projects for organisations like Motorola, IBM, Hughes, American Express, BBC Learning, Harcourt, Oracle, Standard Chartered Bank, and Philips.

Prior to this in September 2015, LIQVID announced its plans to incubate and fund up to five mobile-first startups in the edtech space.

Edtech startups have gained a fair amount of funding in 2016. Earlier this month, Palo Alto-based edtech startup Stoodnt raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Rajan Anandan, Vice-President, Google, Southeast Asia and India. Also, Bengaluru-based edtech startup BYJU’s raised $50 Mn funding led by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), which was founded by Mark Zuckerberg and Dr. Priscilla Chan, along with Sequoia Capital. Sofina, Lightspeed Ventures, and Times Internet Ltd also participated in the round. Prior to this in March 2016, it had raised $75 Mn from Sequoia India and Sofina.

Other startups working in this segment include Curiositi, Eckovation, MeritNation; or players like Logicroots, Sigrid Education, and Flipclass, which reach out to students across the country through online platforms.