Exclusive: Vedantu scoops up $10 Mn from Legend Capital

Edtech startups in India are on the upswing and witnessing unprecedented interest from venture capitalists, hedge funds and strategic investors. BYJU’s, Unacademy, Doubtnut and Vedantu have successfully raised back-to-back rounds in short intervals. 

Vedantu had announced its Series C round worth $42 million led by Tiger Global in November 2019. Soon, it was in the press for topping up the round with $24 million from the Chinese VC heavyweight GGV Capital. Now, the company has bagged another $13 million (Rs 96.1 crore) in its Series C1 round led by Legend Capital, another Chinese VC.

According to regulatory filings, the Beijing-based early and expansion stage VC firm has invested $10 million (Rs 74 crore) while existing investor Omidyar Network has joined the round with an investment of $3 million (Rs 22.17 crore).

Beijing-based Legend Capital manages more than 450 portfolios and has $7 billion worth assets under management across seven funds. It has become the third Chinese investor in Vedantu after this round. 

The decade-old venture already counts GGV and Tal Learning as its backers. Tal or ‘The Advanced Learning’ is a Beijing-headquartered public company worth $35 billion. While GGV has invested in several Indian companies such as Udaan, KhataBook and Rupeek, among others.

In India, the edutech space is broadly dominated by 2-3 companies where BYJU’s has a natural lead for being the poster boy followed by Unacademy. However, Vedantu has been able to create its own space despite strong competition from BYJU’s and Toppr. Its core business is live classes for grade one to 12th. 

Founded by Vamsi Krishna, Pulkit Jain, Saurabh Saxena, and Anand Prakash, Vedantu also offers live streaming and interactive sessions for NTSE, PSA, KVPY, IMO, JEE Mains and other competitive exams.

In terms of the business metrics, the Bengaluru-based company had recorded an increase of 97.35% in operating revenue to Rs 10.44 crore in FY19 from Rs 5.3 crore in FY18. Meanwhile, its expenses grew by 40.3% from Rs 13.05 crore in FY18 to Rs 18.32 crore in FY19.