Chatbot-enabled edtech startup EdMobile secures Rs 5.5 Cr from Unitus Seed Fund, others

Mobile learning platform EdMobile has raised Rs 5.5 crore from impact investor Unitus Seed Fund and some angel investors.

The Pune-based startup will use the proceeds to ramp up its flagship product Utter App (formerly called Sling App). It also plans to build a global B2B pipeline of business and generate revenue.

Incorporated in November 2014, EdMobile's product Utter is an English learning app that allows learners to pick topics of their interest and converse with chatbots and live tutors.

The startup claims to build the world’s first mobile platform that enables English and Workplace Skills training for freshers and digital blue collar workers. Powered by multilingual chatbots, the app has been used by 500,000 institutional and about 100,000 retail users.

The app can be used for industries including e-commerce, logistics, cabs and food services today employing thousands of entry-level staff to carry out operations using smartphones.

Starting with a plan of as low as Rs 30 per month, the application uses a combination of chatbots and live tutors to offer small packets of content in English as well as in regional languages.

EdMobile has also on-boarded institutional clients such as Reliance Retail, Hippocampus Learning, and IL&FS Education, and formed partnerships with telecom operators in some East Asian countries for the service.

Founded by Amit Bhadbhade and Ninad Vengurlekar, the startup earlier raised a seed funding of $150,000 from Indian and Silicon Valley investors.

Unitus Seed Fund is a venture capital arm of Unitus Labs, specializing in early stage, growth capital seed, and startup investments. It typically invests in a wide range of business sectors including livelihoods, education, B2B commerce, e-commerce, social enterprises, agriculture, healthcare, fintech, among several others.

Of late, Unitus Seed Fund invested an undisclosed amount in Series A round of Bengaluru-based Predible Health. Prior to that, it infused Rs 5 crore in outsourcing solution providing platform Awign.

The development was first reported by Mint.