Edtech Startup Braingroom Raises INR 1.5 Cr from IAN, Social Alpha and Startup Oasis

Braingroom will use the funding to add more components to the application-oriented learning approach and develop Micro-Entrepreneurship courses

New Delhi, July 19th, 2021: Braingroom, a multilingual online learning platform focused on students from lower and middle-income families, has raised INR 1.5 Crores from IAN. Social Alpha and Startup Oasis joined the round.

The Chennai-based startup will use the funding to develop new courses and content in different languages and new product features. The company is also eyeing market expansion with a vision to train one million rural students and make them job-ready in the coming 3 years.

Three engineering graduates, Madhula Sathyamoorthy, Naliene Ramasamy, and Kalaiarsi Periasamy identified the need to develop impactful EdTech solutions that can bridge the employability gap between urban and rural youth. This prompted them to launch Braingroom in 2017. Through this multilingual online learning platform, the co-founders aspire to create high-impact technical tools to facilitate quality learning outcomes for everyone.

 

Braingroom follows a hands-on learning approach with a focus on application-oriented learning. It is one of the very few multilingual online learning platforms in India to use AI Chatbots and Gamification to create a completely personalized learning experience.

The startup partners with various expert training providers across the globe and provides customized online learning solutions for both B2C and B2B markets with a multilingual flavour.

Speaking on the development, Madhula Satyamoorthy, Co-Founder of Braingroom said, “Through Braingroom, we are creating high-quality technical and skill training with the right combination of vernacular content, Bots and gamifications. These will help us make learning more hands-on, interactive, personalized, and engaging for millions of students from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, and most importantly for those from middle and lower-income families. In the next three years, we are aiming to train one million rural students and make them job-ready. We are grateful to have received the funding from IAN, Social Alpha, and Startup Oasis as we are also are looking to invest in expanding our brand to new markets.”

So far, Braingroom has trained around 35,000 students across India. It also works with various Corporate CSR Teams and NGO Foundations to train rural students across the nation.

Further adding, Pradeep K Jaisingh, Lead Investor at IAN said, “Around 100 million students from middle- and lower-income families, especially from tier-2 and tier-3 cities are seeking upskilling and cross-skilling opportunities. Braingroom is the new-age multilingual platform to make online learning more affordable and accessible for students from all backgrounds. All power to Braingroom founders to bring innovative technologies with their educational expertise to make learning personalized and engaging, and contributing to employability in small-town India.”

Manoj Kumar, Founder and CEO of Social Alpha, said, “We invested in Braingroom seeing their commitment to democratize online learning and making it accessible to students in tier 2 and 3 cities. Braingroom’s model of integrating new-age technology into learning and skilling to uplift a student’s career trajectory and making them job-ready is the need of the hour as we see a huge number of youngsters entering the workforce in the coming years. We are proud of our association with Braingroom and support them in their journey to unleash the potential of millions of students.’’

Going forward, the company is planning to build end-to-end training solutions for its B2B partners. Braingroom will add more components to the application-oriented learning approach for students and develop women-focussed Micro-Entrepreneurship courses.

About Indian Angel Network

Indian Angel Network is India’s first and world’s largest business angel network with close to 500 members across the world, comprising the who’s who of successful entrepreneurs and dynamic CEOs. With investors from 12 countries, IAN’s presence spans 7 locations, which includes cities in India and the UK. The network is sector agnostic and has funded start-ups across 17 sectors in India and 7 other countries growing global footprint companies. With an excellent track record, IAN has been giving excellent cash exits year-on-year to its investor-members, for the last 11 years. Some of its marquee investee companies include Druva, Box8, Sapience Analytics, WOW Momos, Consure, Fareye amongst many others.

IAN has also launched the IAN Fund, an INR 375 crore fund, is a uniquely differentiated seed/early stage Fund which aims to transform India’s entrepreneurial landscape. The fund invests in innovative companies in sectors including healthcare and medical devices, VR, AI, software as a service, marketplaces, fin-tech, big data, artificial intelligence, agritech, and hardware. With this, IAN has created the single largest platform for seed and early-stage investing, enabling entrepreneurs to raise from Rs. 25 lakhs to Rs. 50 crores.

Jaipur's Startup Oasis Invests Rs 1.7 Crore in 6 Social Startups

Jaipur based incubation centre Startup Oasis has finally announced the names of the six social startups it has invested a whopping 1.7 crore in, under its Innovative Ventures and Technologies for Development (Invent) programme.

The six selected startups that have received funding are: Krimanshi Technologies, KBSS, Merapaper, Multibhash, Carmel Organics and Khadigi. While the first four have taken birth in Rajasthan, the last two hail from Madhya Pradesh.

For the uninitiated, started last year by the UK government's Department of International Development and Technology Development Board, Invent aims to lend support and fund social impact startups sprouting from eight low-income states of the Indian subcontinent. While Chennai-based Villgro has taken up the responsibility of being the lead incubator for the programme, Startup Oasis has started implementing the programme in the states of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Krimanshi Technologies: Operating under the brand name, Cattle Mettle, the Jodhpur-based startup makes available innovative and high quality cattle feed and nutrients made from waste.

Merapaper: It is a digital solution for newspaper distributors and their customers for the billing and payment need. A typical newspaper distributor works 17 hours a day for 360 days. The startup aims to reduce this manual work in generating monthly bills and collecting payment door to door. According to the startup, it is formed with the purpose of promoting a less cash economy in India.

KBSS: It partners with profit, non-profit organisations and government agencies on imparting skill training in seven key sectors including; Construction & heritage, healthcare, handicrafts, textiles, gems & jewellery, media & entertainment and tourism & hospitality, ensuring sustainable and equitable growth. They conduct research and develop skill gap assessment in these sectors, thus ensuring placement and retention.

Multibhashi: It is an app (Android & Web) to learn languages most effectively and effortlessly. It is basically a free language learning platform which focuses on learning outcomes of a user while keeping the learning process fun and intuitive. The current version has audio visual courses and quizzes to learn English from Hindi, Bangla, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada, you can also learn Tamil, Kannada and Hindi through English.

Carmel Organics: The Neemach-based startup supports a social cause by enabling small and marginal farmers to organically grow medicinal herbs, herbal tea and spices which are bought back and supplied to large customers and are exported.

KhadiJi: Launched in 2016, the startup is the first online luxury store creating products made exclusively from khadi Cotton and Silk. The startup’s main aim is to reinvent khadi’s image by marrying the best of tradition and technology. This way, they’re enabling increasing in demand and income for the khadi weavers. Their designs combine contemprary cuts and silhouettes with pure hand-spun, hand-woven fabric, to create unique products which are the epitome of class, comfort and originality.

According to a statement given by Chintan Bakshi, CEO of Startup Oasis, this is just the beginning as they intend on investing in more social startups as a part of the Invent programme. He said, “As part of the Invent programme, Startup Oasis intends to seed-fund another 25 high impact social startups from Rajasthan and MP in the range of Rs 10-50 lakh over the next two years. Startup Oasis is committed to building a robust ecosystem for social impact entrepreneurship for which a social impact accelerator programme will be launched in November 2017."

This development was first reported in the Times Of India.