[Funding alert] INSEAD Angels, IIT Kanpur Angels and VCats invest in edtech startup Pariksha

Pariksha, a Pune-based edtech startup, has raised an undisclosed amount of investment in an extension of its Pre-Series A round of funding from a clutch of angel investors. 

This round was led by INSEAD Angels, IIT Kanpur Angels, Nikhil Vora - CEO and Swati Mehra - Partner at Sixth Sense Ventures, Saahil Bhatia - Director at Temasek Holdings India Pvt Ltd, Sitanshu Shah - Principal Bain & Company, Gurinder Ratra, Gautam Khanna - CEO of Hinduja Hospitals, Ameya Chandavarkar - Director FDC, Akshat Birla - CEO Finovate Capital, Sheetal Birla - Director at Falkonry, Deepa Bhatia - General Manager of YouGov, and existing investor Venture Catalysts (VCats). 

Karanvir Singh, Founder of Pariksha, said, 

“This investment will help us in strengthening our product offerings and expanding our reach across the country.”

ALSO READ

4 IIT-Kanpur graduates start Pariksha to help students ace the placement test

Akshat Birla of INSEAD Mumbai Angels said, 

"This is the first investment of INSEAD Mumbai Angels. The group's thesis is to invest in exceptional founders and high-growth startups, preferably founded or backed by INSEAD alumni, but we are very impressed with the Pariksha founders’ vision, market knowhow, execution capabilities and the size of the opportunity.” 

Founded in 2015 by Karanvir Singh, Utkarsh Bagri, Vikram Shekhawat, and Deepak Choudhary, Pariksha is a vernacular test preparation startup, with operations across 11 states, in six languages and serves over two million users with over 65,000 paid subscribers. 

“We are solving the problem of accessibility for 90 percent of these 75 million aspirants who do not have access to good test preparation options, Pariksha is a great equalizer, it helps students from Bharat prepare for state government job exams in the language of their choice through VOD, Live Streaming Classes, in the most affordable, convenient and enriched manner,” Singh added.

Nikhil Vora, CEO and Swati Mehra, Partner at Sixth Sense Ventures said, 

“As in many sectors, there will be lag between awareness, adoption and monetization. However, we believe Pariksha - with their solid team, credible ecosystem tie-ups and focused on-ground execution – has strong potential to lead the vernacular online education space.” 

In 2019, the startup had secured Rs 4 crore in a Pre-Series A round led by VCats.