Edtech Startup Oliveboard Raises Funding From India Educational Investment Fund

Bangalore-based edtech startup, Oliveboard, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from India Educational Investment Fund (IEIF), an early-stage impact investment fund established by the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation.

Started in 2012 by former Inmobi employees Satish Kumar and Abhishek Patil, Oliveboard is a learning and test preparation platform for premier entrance examinations. It is an adaptive platform that provides personalised learning and remedial content for MBA and job oriented competitive exams such as SBI PO, IBPS PO & SSC CGL, based on each student’s requirements.

After having noticed a lack of high-quality test coaching centers in Tier II and Tier III cities, the duo decided to create a learning and test preparation platform that has universal access. Oliveboard was started with an aim to use technology and data to personalise education.

Abhishek Patil, CEO and co-founder of Oliveboard, said, “With most competitive exams being conducted online, young adults preparing for these exams are increasingly looking at online courses as an alternative to books & institutes.  We provide these aspirants with a one-stop place for all learning & practice with their study synchronized across mobile & PC. We’re excited about working with IEIF and will continue to use technology to deliver education in newer, more effective ways while still keeping it affordable. The funds will be utilized to increase our marketing efforts, build content and further strengthen our mobile technology.”

The startup has a unique ‘Gamified group study platform’ which allows users to collaborate and compete with friends in live group study sessions in a game-like environment. It claims that over 12 million questions have been attempted on the platform with most of the questions created by alumni of IIM and XLRI. It currently supports 15 competitive exams and has over 260,000 registered users with customers from 28 states and 680+ cities and towns across India.

The online test prep market is estimated to be pegged at $40 Bn by 2017. It has players like MockBank, Testbook, Toppr, Plancess, Embibe and OnlineTyari in the domain.

Dell Foundation backed India Educational Investment Fund (IEIF) aims to support early-stage investment, incubation and mentoring in the educational sector. It has invested in multiple startups in the edtech space which includes test prep startup Avanti Learning Centres, a skill training startup iSTAR Skill Development, a cloud-based deep learning portal Report Bee Edusys Pvt Ltd, and a gamified platform for teachers Guru-G Learning Labs (India) Pvt Ltd.