[Funding alert] MSME edtech startup MSMEx raises $1M in pre-Series A from Razorpay, TNF Investments

MSME edtech startup MSMEx on Friday said it raised $1 million in a pre-Series A round co-led by Razorpay and TNF Investments.

The edtech startup will use the funds to develop new intuitive technologies, including a deep learning-based recommender system, an intelligent LIVE chat system, and an AI-based behaviour analytics system. It will also use it to scale its operations.

MSMEx had earlier raised an angel round from leading angel investors, including Badri Pillapakkam (Partner at Omidyar Network), Krishna Kumar (Founder, SimpliLearn), Manoj Sharma (CTO, Cleartrip), and Heetesh Veera (Partner at E&Y), among others.

Founded in 2019 by Amit Kumar, Vishal Kumar, Dilip Kumar, Khushboo Arora, and Kumar Sambhav, MSMEx connects SMB owners with business experts, enabling access to digital transformation and business best practices in a cost-effective and efficient manner.

Speaking on the development, Amit Kumar, Co-founder and CEO, MSMEx, said,

“Only 0.5 percent of micro-businesses can scale up and graduate to the next level in India, while the comparative figures for China and the USA are at 25 percent and 45 percent, respectively... MSMEx is taking structured business education and advisory services to every corner of India to create future leaders of Indian economy.” 

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The online platform offers live business sessions for MSME owners, where they can ask queries to experts through a live chat community and can talk to experts through one-on-one video calls for mentoring and leadership advice.

Speaking about the future growth, Amit said, “Our investors understand the MSME space well, and we are, therefore, excited to achieve this aligned vision together of impacting 10 million MSMEs in the next five years.”

The startup claims to register 55 percent MAU growth since January.

The platform — which offers English language content — will shortly be launching content in Hindi and other regional languages to cater to a much larger non-English speaking user base. At present, MSMEx has over half a million users from over 1,200 cities across India. 

Commenting on the investment, Shashank Kumar, CTO and Co-founder, Razorpay, said, 

"We are excited about investing in a team like MSMEx, which has its mission and commitment strike a strong chord with ours — to serve and solve the problems faced by the inadequately serviced market, the small businesses. We look forward to supporting MSMEx’s continued growth and innovation in this under-serviced space.”

Samir Khosla, Managing Partner at TNF Investments added, “ MSMEx’s unique positioning addresses the core challenges faced by the entrepreneurs leading these enterprises – access to high-quality business advice, focused mentorship, actionable business education — all within a tight budget and available on-demand. We envision MSMEx evolving into an integral and indispensable part of tens of millions of entrepreneurial journeys in India and internationally."