Live tutoring platform Vedantu raises $100 mn from Coatue, other investors

Live tutoring platform Vedantu has raised $100 million from US-based investment firm Coatue with participation from existing investors, taking the total fund raised to $202 million. With this round, the valuation of the company has touched $600 million. Other investors in the Bengaluru-based company include Tiger Global, GGV Capital and Omidyar Network.

The amount would be utilised for brand building and creating more awareness towards live tutoring. “At a time when every school is talking about live tutoring, it’s the perfect time for us to push the pedal and invest more in creating the brand and look at new categories,” said Vamsi Krishna, CEO & Co-Founder, Vedantu.

It took the company a month’s time to close the latest $100 million funding, its largest so far. “There is no denying the fact that Covid-19 has obviously helped. The current situation has contributed to the growth of Vedantu and it is also one of the contributing factors to the fund raise,” said Krishna.

Vedantu has recorded a growth of 220 per cent during lockdown with one million students attending live classes every month now. The company expects the paid user base, which was 50,000 until the last year, to increase to 250,000 by year end.

“Online learning adoption in India is at an all-time high, setting a new benchmark for the rest of the world. As we continue to focus on driving high-growth ventures, our investment in Vedantu marks our entry into the Indian edtech market,” said Rahul Kishore, Managing Director, Coatue.

When started in 2014, a user had to pay Rs 500 for an hour-long class on Vedantu which has now gone down to Rs 60-70 per hour. As a long term goal, the start-up will be investing more in technology so as to make live classes on Vedantu much more affordable, said Krishna.

Vedantu, which had last month invested $2 million in doubt solving app Instasolv, is open to more inorganic growth and would look at entities synergetic to its operations, said the company.