Edtech startup Adda247 raises $35 million led by WestBridge Capital, Google

Anil Nagar and Saurabh Bansal, Co-founders, Adda247

Government test prep platform Adda247 on October 12 said it raised $35 million in a round led by WestBridge Capital. Adda247 said the round also saw the participation of Google as a new investor and existing investors including Info Edge and Asha Impact.

This comes at a time when edtech startups are witnessing a funding dry-out as growth stagnates for new-age technology companies providing online education with offline classes opening up.

Also Read: Edtech Consortium firms spend Rs 3,500 crore to boost learning ecosystem

In a statement, the company said it will invest the raised fund in enhancing its tech and product profile, expanding its student counselling team, and hiring for some key leadership roles. Interestingly, Adda247 said it also aims to explore a few strategic acquisitions in the coming months to complement its offerings in the government job preparation category.

Founded by Anil Nagar and Saurabh Bansal in 2016, Adda247 is an edtech startup that offers prep courses for exams in public sector banks, government departments, and Indian Railways and caters to the learning needs of students from tier-two and lower-tier cities in India.

“The company’s genesis lies in solving education problems in towns and villages. We come from a rural background and have seen people suffering due to a lack of guidance and quality education. All our offerings focus on ‘Building for Bharat’ as 85 percent of our user base comes from Tier two, three, and four cities. We want to help create a level playing field by providing all kinds of learning solutions to students from all backgrounds,” said Nagar, who is also the chief executive officer of Adda247.

The move comes at a time when India witnesses a push towards startups in tier-two and lower cities.

Adda247 said the new fundraise will also support its plans to go deeper into the vernacular test preparation category by building new courses and setting up faculty for other state-level exams. The startup added that it offers over 12 vernacular languages for more than 500 government exams.

Adda247 courses are available in 12 languages including English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Bengali, Odia, Punjabi, Gujarati, Assamese, Malayalam, and Bhojpuri.

"Anil and Saurabh have worked tirelessly to build a category leader in the govt exam preparation space which is a very large market. It is one of the rare profitable ed-tech companies in India and is also growing at a rapid pace,” said Sandeep Singhal of WestBridge Capital.

In FY21, the startup recorded Rs 37 crore in revenue while making a loss of Rs 15.2 crore. However, Adda247 has not made its FY22 financials public yet. Adda247 said it currently has about 22 million monthly active users, and a total of 2 million paid users to date.

Earlier in November 2021, Adda247 raised $20 million in a funding round which was also led by WestBridge Capital.

Also Read: Edtech Consortium firms spend Rs 3,500 crore to boost learning ecosystem