Indian online exam prep start-up Toppr raises further $6.9m
Indian edtech firm Toppr has raised $6.9m in a series B funding round led by SAIF Partners, Helion Ventures and FIL Capital Management, taking its total funding to $12m. Toppr provides tailored educational content for children aged between five and 12, and exam preparation materials. Toppr has a presence in many cities in India and the funds will be used to increase user numbers and support plans to open centres in 30 cities by December. CEO Zishaan Hayath said he expected the investment would take the company to "full profitability". Toppr has more than two million registered users.

Toppr Will Use The Funding To Accelerate User Acquisition And Expansion

Mumbai-based personalised elearning solutions provider and online test preparation platform, Toppr has raised $6.92 Mn (INR 45 Cr) in its Series B funding, led by its existing investors SAIF Partners, Helion Ventures, and FIL Capital Management.

So far, Toppr has raised a total of $12 Mn funding. Last year in May, Toppr had raised about $10 Mn in the second round of funding led by Fidelity and its existing investors which includes Saif and Helion. Post that, in October, it had raised $2 Mn round from Venture Debt provider Innoven Capital. The startup has used the funds to fuel growth of the adaptive platform with over 2 Mn registered users and over 1 Mn app downloads.

Commenting on the funding round, Zishaan Hayath, CEO & Founder, Toppr stated, “This is the second round of series B funding by our existing investors. It is the reflection of our healthy unit economics and a reinforcement of the belief that the investors have in us. This capital will be used to expand the geographical footprint and accelerate user acquisition. We expect this capital to take us to full profitability.”

A brainchild of IIT alumni, Zishaan Hayath and Hemanth Goteti, the elearning platform was founded in 2013. It is personalising education for students from classes 5 to 12, across CBSE, ICSE, and various state boards. The startup provides tailored content that helps students learn better. It is also enhancing the way they prepare for board and competitive exams like IIT JEE and NEET, among others.

Till today, the platform’s community of 8000+ educators from across the country has contributed 1 Mn learning pieces, including questions, solutions, concepts, and videos for the students signed up on the app. Users spend nearly two hours a day on the elearning platform and 90% students renew their subscriptions when going to a new class, as claimed by the Toppr team. Toppr also claims to have cleared 1.1 Mn doubts, provided 9 Mn tests, and 110 Mn practice questions answered.

The elearning platform has a strong presence across Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune, Nagpur, Jaipur, Kota, Vijayawada, Indore, Bhopal, Lucknow, Gurugram, and Baroda.

In February 2016, Toppr also acquired edtech startup Manch. The company is pursuing aggressive expansion plans, to reach out to students across the country and open centres in 30 cities by December 2017. Toppr projects 20x growth in its junior grades and 15x growth in its senior grades subscription by 2021, making it a company with over $500 Mn in revenue in the next four years.

Other startups in the online test preparation space include Embibe, Examify, TestBook among others. Last year, Amazon India also announced launch of Exam Central bookstore, to provide exams related information, preparation books and other study material to students and job aspirants on its portal.

In India, elearning will see approximately 8x growth in the next five years, says a recent report by Google, KPMG. This will have a significant impact on the edtech market that has a potential to touch $1.96 Bn by 2021 from where it stands now i.e. $247 Mn. As per Ken Research’s report, during the period FY’ 2010 – FY’2015, the online test preparation market grew at an unprecedented CAGR of 17.8%. In the same report it was highlighted that the online test preparation market is expected to have around 19-26% share in the total market (about $100 Bn) by FY’ 2020-21. Thus, with the recent funding, Toppr has a great opportunity ahead to cash upon the burgeoning elearning market in India as well as globally.