Bengaluru-based edtech startup, Newton School building a neo-university for aspiring software developers, has raised $25 million in a Series B funding round led by Steadview Capital, a global investment firm whose portfolio includes Indian unicorns Nykaa, Polygon, Zomato and Freshworks.
Making the announcement Newton School’s founders Siddharth Maheshwari and Nishant Chandra, said, “This fundraise will enable us to build a strong brand and leadership team while investing in innovative technologies like AI to transform education. In India, you have more than a million college graduates every year who fail to get relevant employment opportunities, and yet there are thousands of companies struggling to find talent. Newton School’s learning platform aims to bridge this gap.”
Newton School to Expand its Team
Founded in 2019 by IIT batchmates Nishant Chandra and Siddharth Maheshwari, Newton School was built to democratise higher education. It provides outcome-oriented learning experiences to freshers and working professionals, while enabling people from across India to become highly skilled software developers and have high-paying careers in technology.
Existing investors Nexus Venture Partners and RTP Global also participated in the round. The capital raised will be used to accelerate the startup’s growth and expand its team, technology, and brand building initiatives.
In over two years, the neo-university has placed 1,500+ aspirants in over 600 companies including Google, Lenskart, Razorpay, Flipkart, Zomato, Deloitte, Meesho and Target. With an aim to provide flexible learning to working professionals, it recently launched a Master’s degree program for people from non-tech backgrounds. Newton School is on the trajectory to reach 100 million in annualized run rate by 2023.
Puneet Kumar, Managing Director at Steadview Capital, added, “We’re thrilled to support Siddharth, Nishant and the Newton School team in realizing their vision of a technology-driven neo-university. In a country where graduates are left with single-digit employability rates despite spending significant amounts of money on education, Newton School’s unique model and platform will support the aspirations of millions of Indians by removing location barriers and lowering costs.”
Newton School’s Series B round follows just a year after it raised $5 million in a Series A round led by RTP Global and angels such as Flipkart’s Kalyan Krishnamoorthy, CRED’s Kunal Shah, Freshworks’ Girish Mathrubootham, Udaan’s Sujeet Kumar, and the founders of Unacademy and Razorpay.
Bengaluru-based tech-focused investment bank, IndigoEdge, served as the exclusive transaction advisor to Newton School.
