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An Indian-based startup that has built a Shopify-like platform for training centers to digitally accept student fees and provide online classes and study material has received the go-ahead, and capital, from various investors. high profile.
The business-to-business startup, called Classplus, said Monday that it has raised $ 9 million in its Series A funding round led by RTP Global, a prolific investor in early-stage startups. Existing investors Blume Ventures, Surge from Sequoia Capital India, Spiral Ventures and Strive also participated in the round, the two-and-a-half-year startup said.
As dozens of companies bet on hundreds of millions of students, and their parents, to adopt digital learning applications, Classplus, also backed by Times Internet, believes that tens of thousands of teachers and training centers that have earned a reputation in their neighborhoods are here to stay.
“We serve these hyperlocal tutoring centers that are present in almost every corner of India. Anyone born into a middle-class family here has likely attended these instructional classes, ”Mukul Rustagi, co-founder and CEO of Classplus, said in an interview with TechCrunch.
“These are typically small and medium-sized configurations that are directed by the teachers themselves. These teachers and training centers are very popular in your locality. They rarely do marketing and students learn about them through word of mouth, ”he said.
Rustagi described Classplus as “Shopify for training centers.” Like Shopify, the service has a market that offers discovery capabilities for these teachers or training centers. Instead, it offers a way for these teachers to leverage their technology platform to interact with customers (in this case, students).
Classplus has boarded more than 3,500 training centers on its platform, Rustagi said, more than 500 of which started using the service in April after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government ordered to close schools and other public meetings. in an attempt to stop the spread of coronavirus disease.
Training centers use Classplus to digitally communicate with students, teach video classes and other study material, and accept payments. These training centers can interact with their students through the Classplus mobile app and website. “Joining the platform is as easy as subscribing to a team collaboration application. The whole process takes less than 30 minutes,” said Rustagi.
“According to the Varkey Foundation’s Global Teacher Status Index in 2018, India was among the top 10 in the world in respecting teachers, although it was in the last 10 in paying them. Classplus is closing this imbalance by empowering tutors with comprehensive mobile solutions, while maintaining and further enhancing tutors’ high reputation. We are happy to support the company with this important mission, and we have Classplus as our first edutech bet in India, ”said Kirill Kozhevnikov, partner at RTP Global, in a statement.
The startup, which employs around 200 people, aims to have 10,000 training centers join its platform by the end of the year. It currently has a sales team and other members in approximately 70 cities in India. Classplus also plans to introduce additional features for training centers on its platform.
