Edtech startup IMAX program secures $13.5 Mn from Dell Foundation, others

Bengaluru-based education technology startup IMAX program has bagged $13.5 million from the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation (MSDF). LGT Impact Ventures and its existing investor Aspada also participated in the round.

The fresh capital will be used for product innovation and expanding customer base through several delivery channels.

IMAX offers learning materials and training methods to students as well as teachers. It also provides textbooks, personalised remedial worksheets to make learning more efficient and conducts school exams.

The company caters to students ranging from Kindergarten to grade 9. The platform which currently has 3,50,000 students across 800 schools in the country, plans to reach out to a million students by 2020.

The brainchild of Varun Kumar and Naveen Mandava, IMAX claims to have conducted 70 lakh exams and distributed 14 lakh personalised worksheets since its inception in 2009.

Also Read: Edtech startup CollPoll secures pre-Series A funding led by Manipal Global Education Services

The company serves to schools in states including Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. It aims to expand its school base to other states including North India -- Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.

Over the past one year, several ed-tech startups had raised capital. Last month, CollPoll raised an undisclosed amount in pre-Series A round. In November last year alone, four edtech platforms had secured capital. Info Edge had invested about Rs 44 crore in online learning platform Meritnation and Delhi-based NoPaperForms.

Also Read: With 1.3 Mn YouTube subscribers, Unacademy crosses 1 Mn app download

Five months ago, Unacademy has raised $11.5 million in a Series B financing led by Sequoia Capital India and SAIF Partners.

According to a joint report by Google and consultancy firm KPMG, India’s online education industry is expected to grow almost eight times to hit $1.96 billion by 2021, with the number of paid users rising six-fold from 1.6 million now to 9.6 million.

The funding news was first reported by ET.