Chaudhry's Sparkl bags $4 mn from Zomato, Zerodha founders and others

Chaudhry, whose previous firm Aakash Educational Services (AESL) was bought by Byju's in 2021, has secured a seed investment of about $4 million for his new edtech venture Sparkl

Zerodha founder Nithin Kamath and Zomato’s Deepinder Goyal were among a host of investors who have pumped close to $4 million in educationist and entrepreneur Aakash Chaudhry’s new venture Sparkl, an online learning platform launched two months ago.

 

Sparkl is Chaudhry’s biggest project since his previous firm Aakash Educational Services (AESL) was taken over by Byju’s in a $1 billion deal in 2021.

 

“Our vision at Sparkl is to empower students with personalised, one-on-one learning that adapts to their individual needs. With the support of visionary leaders like Nithin Kamath and Deepinder Goyal, we are poised to revolutionise the tutoring landscape,” said Chaudhry, founder and managing director of Sparkl, in a statement.

 

Chaudhry founded Sparkl along with Pavan Chauhan, a top leader in the education sector and co-founder of meritnation.com alongside Ritesh Hemrajani.

 

Zerodha and Rainmatter founder Kamath said, “I’ve been wondering for a long time if students will have different outcomes than they do now if they have access to education that is more personalised and customised.”

 

“When I heard what Aakash and his team were planning, I was convinced that something like this should be available for students. We are happy to join them in this journey,” Kamath said.

 

Sparkl co-founder and CEO Pavan Chauhan said the firm is at the forefront of personalised education, blending AI with expert pedagogy to deliver one-on-one tutoring experiences.

 

“By focusing on IB, IGCSE, and A-level students, we aim to meet the growing demand for specialised and effective learning solutions. The support from Nithin (Kamath) and Deepinder (Goyal) strengthens our resolve to expand our impact globally,” said Chauhan.

 

Aakash 2.0

Chaudhry led Aakash Educational Services’ (AESL) growth and successful exit. As managing director of AESL, Chaudhry’s role was to manage the overall operations of the brick-and-mortar test preparation (prep) leader.

 

In 2021, Byju’s (Think & Learn) acquired 35-year-old brick-and-mortar coaching centre AESL for nearly $1 billion in a cash-and-stock deal.