[Funding alert] Edtech startup Lead School raises $30M in Series D led by GSV Ventures

Lead School, the Mumbai based edtech startup has raised $30 million in Series D funding round led by global VC fund GSV Ventures along with WestBridge Capital, an existing investor.

According to a statement by Lead School, this is GSV Venture’s first major investment in an India-based edtech firm. The startup had last raised $28 million in Series C round in August 2020 which was led by WestBridge and Elevar Equity. It had also acquired the student assessment startup QuizNext in December 2020.

The latest funding round will be used by Lead School to accelerate growth by building a pan-India brand, rollout of new product offerings, strategic acquisitions and hiring top talent across domains.

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Founded in 2012 by Sumeet Mehta and Smita Deorah, LEAD School combines technology, curriculum, and pedagogy into an integrated system of teaching and learning to create affordable private schools.

In 2020, it claims to have witnessed 3X growth, catering to over 2,000 schools with around 8 lakh students. It aims to reach out to 25,000 schools in the next five years.

On the funding received, LEAD School Co-founder and CEO Sumeet said, “Smita and I set up LEAD School to bring excellent education to small towns and affordable schools in India. We are impatient to reach out to the 1.5 million schools and 260 million school going children in India so that we can transform the arc of education in this country.”

The new investor in Lead School – GSV Ventures is a specialised EdTech fund that backs innovation-oriented education companies. It manages over $400 million in global edtech investments through its GSV Funds I and II and its GSV Special Purpose Vehicles.

GSV Ventures Managing Partner Deborah Quazzo said, “LEAD has experienced tremendous growth because of its consistent delivery of high academic outcomes to students and high ‘return on education’ to teachers, school owners and parents. GSV is honoured to be investing in an organisation that is changing the life trajectory of so many students.”

WestBridge Capital Co-founder Sandeep Singhal said, “As a firm, we believe in investing in ventures that have a large scale impact and are convinced LEAD School will create a strong positive impact on the educational outcomes of millions of young minds.”