Samreen Ahmad · · 2 min read🇮🇳 edtech startup joins 🦄 class with $100m funding
Lead (formerly Lead School), an India-based edtech startup focusing on schools, has raised US$100 million in a series E round at a valuation of US$1.1 billion. This makes Lead the country’s first edtech unicorn for 2022.
Lead co-founders Smita Deorah (left) and Sumeet Yashpal Mehta
The round was led by WestBridge Capital in participation from GSV Ventures.
The startup will use the funds to build on its product and curriculum, grow its footprint, and hire talent across functions. In the long term, the company plans to go deeper in India to serve students in lower fee schools and expand internationally in similar geographies.
Founded in 2012 by Sumeet Yashpal Mehta and Smita Deorah, Lead focuses on transforming core schooling in India with its tech-integrated solutions. The company said that, beginning in April, it serves 5,000 schools across 500 cities with an annual revenue run rate of US$80 million. It aims to serve close to 2 million students in the next financial year.
Lead’s vision is to provide quality and affordable education to 25 million students with an annual revenue run rate of US$1 billion by 2026.
See also: Indian edtech startup hopes to shake up lifelong learning in Southeast Asia
“A child spends six hours in school and only one hour in tuition. Transforming schools, when done right, has massive potential to alter our country’s future,” said Mehta and Deorah in a statement.
Editing by Collin Furtado and Lorenzo Kyle Subido
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