Edtech startup Springboard raises $9.5 Mn in Series A round

Edtech startup Springboard, which provides courses for professionals has raised $9.5 million in a Series A funding round led by Costanoa Ventures, with participation from Learn Capital and Appdynamics founder Jyoti Bansal.

The funding round also saw participation from existing investors including Blue Fog Capital, Rocketship.vc and Moneta Ventures.

The Bengaluru-based startup which has offices in California will use the fresh funding to expand into newer verticals and geographies in India and to upgrade its technology base.

Formerly known SlideRule, Springboard's last investment was $1.7 million (Rs 11.3 crore) in a seed round of funding from a clutch of investors in December 2015.

“Millennials are likely to have 15 jobs with four to five career changes through their working lives. But options to make those life-changing shifts either involve leaving your job to go to graduate school or relying on online classes with no support. Springboard allows the convenience of learning online, but with a robust project-based curriculum and human support,” said Gautam Tambay , chief executive officer of Springboard.

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Launched in 2013 by Parul Gupta and Gautam Tambay, Springboard offers online courses in data science and UX design. The startup claims to have trained more than 7,000 students till date, and has students and alumni in nearly 80 countries. The company also has more than 350 professional mentors on its platform from companies including Amazon, Airbnb Inc., and Uber Technologies Inc.

Over the next year, the company plans to double its headcount, which is currently at 40 across its San Francisco HQ and the India presence.

Of late, a number of edtech startup raised capital. In November online learning platform Meritnation raised Rs 38 crore from Info Edge. The company, which runs internet properties such as Naukri, Shiksha, 99acres, and Jeevansathi among others, also invested Rs 5.66 crore in Delhi-based edtech startup NoPaperForms.

In the same month Delhi-based Leverage Edu, an online platform for higher education, raised an undisclosed amount of financing from a clutch of investors including Indifi Technologies co-founder Alok Mittal, Innov8 founder Ritesh Malik, and others.

In the past months, established players like Toppr, Unacademy, and Byju's also raised capitals from investors.

Springboard: Website