K-12 EdTech player LEAD School secures $30 mn in Series D round fundraise

LEAD School, a K-12 EdTech player, has raised $30 million in Series D funding round led by Global VC Fund GSV Ventures along with WestBridge, an existing investor. This is GSV Venture’s first major investment in an India-based EdTech firm.

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

The company’s Integrated System for schools has driven 3X growth in 2020 by helping schools deliver uninterrupted learning whether online, hybrid or in physical classrooms. Having reached a landmark milestone of 2,000-plus schools catering to over 800k students, LEAD is well on its way to cater to 25,000 schools in the next five years. This is in line with its mission of making excellent education accessible and affordable to every child in the country.

This funding round follows the Series C funding of $28 million led by WestBridge and Elevar Equity in August 2020 and the acquisition of student assessment startup QuizNext in December 2020. LEAD has grown at a rapid pace over the last 3 years and the current round is its fourth round of institutional funding since its first investment led by Elevar in 2017, who continues to be a major shareholder.

LEAD School Co-founder and CEO Sumeet Mehta said, “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. Globally, GSV is known as a specialised EdTech fund that backs innovation oriented education companies. We hope to benefit from their deep insights and leverage their network to bring more innovation to our students in India.”

GSV Ventures Managing Partner Deborah Quazzo said, “LEAD School is rapidly emerging as a paradigm for transforming K-12 education. Based in India and partnered with affordable school owners (a segment that is larger than the entire US K-12 system), LEAD serves over 800,000 students today. 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 honored to be investing in an organization that is changing the life trajectory of so many students.”

WestBridge Capital Co-founder Sandeep Singhal said, “In the last few months, the edtech sector has evolved rapidly, changing the trajectory of the Indian education system.  We see great potential in LEAD School, given their innovative and focused approach in ensuring accessible, quality school-level education for all. 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.”

Founded by Sumeet Mehta and Smita Deorah in 2012, the company initially began operations by running affordable schools and teaching middle-school students. The company then built its platform, the LEAD Integrated System, which it began offering in 2017 with a mission to make excellent schools accessible and affordable to every child.