B2B edtech startup Classplus is in late-stage talks to raise $80 million in a new round co-led by existing investors, said two people aware of the details of the discussion. This is the fifth funding round for the Noida-based venture in the past two years.
“Alpha Wave Global and Tiger Global will lead the Series D round along with the participation of other existing backers and a Middleeast fund,” said one of the people requesting anonymity.
Sequoia Capital’s Surge, Times Internet, Blume and GSV Ventures are among its existing backers. Classplus enables tutors to run all their coaching, communication, assessments, payments, and student engagement programmes through a full-stack mobile solution.
“The term sheet has been signed and Classplus is likely to be valued at around $600 million,” said the person quoted above. This will be a 2X jump in the company’s valuation as compared to the previous round. According to Fintrackr, it was valued at $250 million in June 2021.
As of now, Classplus has mopped up about $90 million in total funding. In June, it had raked in a $65 Series C round led by Tiger.
Queries sent to Classplus, Tiger and Alpha Wave didn’t elicit any immediate response. We will update the story in case they respond.
Founded by Mukul Rustagi and Bhaswat Agarwal, Classplus is a mobile platform for educators and content creators to launch their online teaching businesses. It claims to have digitised over 1 lakh tutors across 1,500 cities serving 20 million students. According to the company’s website, more than 80% of its user base comes from tier II and III cities.
Besides India, Classplus is set to expand in Southeast Asian markets including Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia.
2021 was great for edtech segment in terms of funding as it saw 141 deals worth close to $5.8 billion, according to our data tracking platform Fintrackr. The segment also saw 25 deals in the first two months of 2022.
Update: The post has been updated to reflect that Classplus will be valued at $600 million (post-money).