Ed-tech startup Eupheus Learning secures capital from Sixth Sense Ventures

Education technology firm Eupheus Learning has raised an undisclosed sum from consumer-focused venture capital firm Sixth Sense Ventures, a company statement said.

This is the second time that Sixth Sense is investing in the Delhi-based company. In March this year, the fund put in money in the firm and picked up a significant minority stake.

With the current investment round, Eupheus Learning has received total funding worth Rs 15-18 crore, the statement added. 

The startup will use the capital to grow its revenue from Rs 22 crore to upwards of Rs 75 crore by the end of this financial year, Sarvesh Shrivastava, co-founder and managing director of the venture, said in the statement. 

“We shall have a pan-India reach with over 5,000 schools and upwards of 4 million students through our diverse curriculum and digital solutions from April 2019 onwards,” Shrivastava added.

Run by Proficiency Learning Solutions Pvt. Ltd, the ed-tech venture was founded in 2017 by Shrivastava, Rohit Dhar, Ved Prakash Khatri and Amit Kapoor. The co-founders all previously worked at education company Encyclopaedia Britannica and set up Eupheus Learning by investing their own capital.

The startup creates textbooks in 10 subjects—English, Maths, general knowledge, environmental science and others—for students of classes one to eight and digitises them.

It offers its service to schools on a subscription-based model. It claims to be present in over 1,500 schools, including Narayana Group of Educational Institutions, GD Goenka Group and Delhi Public School Society.

To boost its presence in the K-12 learning space, the startup has tied up with several global institutions such as World Book Inc., RoboGarden Inc., Sanako, Fiction Express and Primo Toys.

“We like the edutech space as it offers perpetual demand with a very high perceived value associated to it,” Nikhil Vora, founder and chief executive Sixth Sense Ventures, said in the statement.

Sixth Sense Ventures

Founded by Vora, the VC firm was looking to raise around $54 million (about Rs 350 crore) from its second fund and planned to mark the first close in March this year. It will deploy money in 12-15 companies from Fund-II.

Besides Eupheus Learning, the company’s other investments from its second fund include third-party logistics provider AVG Logistics  and sports nutrition firm Fullife Healthcare Pvt. Ltd, which sells products under the brand Fast & Up.

The VC firm’s first fund had raised Rs 125 crore and had backed 10 companies, including gaming arcade operator Smaaash Entertainment Pvt. Ltd, Hindustan Foods Ltd, JHS Svendgaard Laboratories Pvt. Ltd and hyperlocal logistics service provider Grab.

Deals in the space

The ed-tech sector has attracted considerable investor attention over the past few months.

This month, TechCircle reported that Mumbai-based test preparation platform for students Toppr was close to raising $20 million (Rs 147 crore) from its existing investors.

Last week, online learning platform Unacademy acquired Jaipur-based online education and career portal WiFiStudy. In June, the startup had raised $21 million (Rs 144 crore) from existing investors Sequoia Capital, Nexus Venture Partners and SAIF Partners.

Last month, a media report stated that Bengaluru-based Think and Learn Pvt. Ltd, which operates ed-tech unicorn Byju’s, had raised $100 million from growth equity firm General Atlantic at a valuation of $2 billion.

In the same month, Jaipur-based experiential learning startup SRJNA raised an undisclosed amount from social-impact investor Gray Matters Capital’s edLABS initiative, angel network Keiretsu Forum and SucSEED Venture Partners.

Despite growing investor interest in the space, a recent TechCircle analysis showed that scalability, profitability and unit economics remain challenges for ed-tech startups.