Adda247, a government test prep platform, has raised $35 million in a round led by WestBridge Capital. The company revealed that Adda247 would use the funds to raise the prominence of its technology and products, grow its staff of student counsellors, and fill a few important leadership positions.
Anil Nagar and Saurabh Bansal founded Adda247 in 2016 to meet the educational needs of millions of students from Tier II and Tier III Indian cities. It is the largest edtech startup in the government exam preparation sector and provides content for more than 500 government exams in 12+ vernacular languages.
Anil Nagar, Founder & CEO, Adda247, says “The company’s genesis lies in solving education problems in towns and villages. We come from a rural background and have seen people suffering due to a lack of guidance and quality education. All our offerings focus on ‘Building for Bharat’ as 85% of our user base comes from Tier 2,3 & 4 cities. We want to help create a level playing field by providing all kinds of learning solutions to students from all backgrounds.”
Adda247 Plans strategic organic and inorganic growth
The company intends to expand its vernacular test preparation offerings after this latest round of fundraising by creating new courses and preparing its staff for additional state-level exams. The company disclosed that it also intended to investigate a few strategic acquisitions in the upcoming months to enhance its government job preparation services.
Sandeep Singhal of WestBridge Capital said, “Anil and Saurabh have worked tirelessly to build a category leader in the government exam preparation space, which is a very large market. It is one of the rare profitable edtech companies in India and is also growing at a rapid pace”
Kitty Agarwal, Partner, Info Edge Ventures, commented, “At Info Edge, we are really excited to be doubling down on our investment in Adda247 as it has emerged as a dominant leader in the government exam preparation category with significant improvement in learning outcome for its students. Adda247 is also one of the very few scaled-up tech companies which is profitable and growing fast. We are confident of the team’s ability to accelerate growth from hereon in their massive category”
Pramod Bhasin, Co-founder, Asha Ventures, added, “Anil & Saurabh continue to demonstrate how to build a world-class edtech company, with students and outcomes at the centre. At Asha Ventures, we are proud to be early believers and continue to back the company in its journey to transform the education landscape of the country”.
The round also saw the addition of Google as a new investor and participation from existing investors, including Info Edge (India) and Asha Impact.
