UOLO Ropes in Ex Paytm Money Founding Member Mr. Mohit Gupta

Mr. Mohit Gupta

UOLO, an edtech platform that brings high-quality, affordable products to K-12 students via their schools, has announced the appointment of Mohit Gupta as Head of Monetization. In his capacity, Mohit will be responsible for leading business operations to make edtech simple, easy, and accessible to millions of Indian students with UOLO.

Gupta has over 15 years of leadership experience in setting up and growing businesses at scale and has a strong track record in strategy consulting and business management. He was a founding member of Paytm Money and democratized wealth management for the masses. Gupta has also been associated with Hindustan Times, Microsoft Corporation, Yahoo, Deloitte Consulting, and multiple Fortune 500 organizations during his stint at Essex. At Uolo, he will play an important role in the company’s growth by strengthening its revenues without any sales force.

Welcoming Mr. Gupta onboard, Mr. Pallav Pandey, Co-founder and CEO of UOLO, said, “Edtech sales in India are unsustainable given how gullible parents are lured into expensive purchases through loan schemes under a high-pressure sales environment. Our vision at Uolo is to monetize through affordable programs without needing a salesman. Mohit’s deep expertise in building pure digital businesses at Paytm, HindustanTimes, and extensive consulting background makes him an ideal choice for heading Monetization at Uolo.

Commenting on joining UOLO as Head of Monetization, Mr. Gupta said, “I am excited to join UOLO in our mission to democratize the edtech sector with a focus on quality, affordability, and accessibility. The current market offerings are not suitable for more than 85% of the students who are from budget or affordable private schools. We are designing mobile first solutions in partnership with the schools and are on track to build a better India by educating and empowering 20 million students over the next few years.”

About Uolo

Uolo, established in September 2020, brings high-quality yet low-cost edtech offerings to K-12 students in India via their schools. Uolo offers schools, for free, a state-of-the-art mobile app for school-parent communication. Using this app, schools can offer their students high-quality education programs at affordable prices during the after-school hours. As of date, Uolo works with 5,500+ schools and 2.2 million students across the country.

India Funding : Uolo Gets Seed Funding; Drishti Bags Funding from Nandan Nilekani; Schedulers Logistics Closes Series B Round & More

Student education tracking app Uolo has raised $210,000 (around Rs 1.4 crore) in seed funding; Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani has invested an undisclosed amount in Bangalore-based Drishti; micro finance company Annapurna has raised Rs 35 crore equity infusion; education and skill development firm, Rise India has acquired a majority stake in tutor aggregator Padhopadhao.com; Gujarat-based venture fund, GVFL Ltd has invested Rs 40 crore in Schedulers Logistics India Pvt Ltd. and Mobikon has acquired MassBlurb, an automated online marketing platform for restaurants.

Student Education Tracking App Uolo Raises Seed Funding from Purvi Ventures

Uolo Technology Pvt. Ltd. backed student education tracking app Uolo has raised $210,000 (around Rs 1.4 crore) in seed funding. The funding was led by Purvi Ventures, Sunstone Business School director Rajul Garg and Vipin Arora, compensation director-Asia Pacific of Honeywell India.

Other investors who participated in this round include Exponentially I Mobility LLP and Artieca Family Trust. Six individuals also participated in the funding round. The deal was closed in February this year, as reported by VCCircle.

The funds will be used by the firm to upgrade the tech infrastructure, and on-board more schools.

Drishti Secures Funding from Billionaire Nandan Nilekani

Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani has invested an undisclosed amount in Bangalore-based Drishti, an eye care chain focused on providing affordable treatment in underserved markets.

With this new funding, Drishti will expand its reach to six more districts in Karnataka in the next phase of expansion, as per ETTech report. The latest funding in Drishti will mark the ninth venture that has been backed by Nilekani, who has actively invested in early-stage startups in the recent months.

Micro Finance Company Annapurna Raises Rs 35 Cr from Oikocredit

Bhuvaneshwar based micro finance company Annapurna has raised Rs 35 crore equity infusion from Netherlands based equity financing company Oikocredit, as per ET report.

Annapurna operates across 10 states in India and provides financial support to low income groups to help improve their standard of living. Its client base comprises more than 0.7 million borrowers with assets under management of approximately Rs 950 crore as on March 2016.

Gurgaon Based Rise India Buys Majority Stake in Padhopadhao.com

Gurgaon-based an education and skill development firm, Rise India has acquired a majority stake in tutor aggregator Padhopadhao.com as it aims to establish its presence in the online tuition market.

Rise India has acquired 60% stake in Padhopadhao.com, as per VCCircle report.

Financial details of the deal are still undisclosed by both the companies.

The acquisition will help the portal expand operations to cities such as Mumbai, Jaipur, Chennai, Chandigarh, Bangalore and Hyderabad.

Schedulers Logistics Raises Series B Round from Gujrat Venture Fund GVFL

Gujarat-based venture fund, GVFL Ltd has invested Rs 40 crore in Mumbai based integrated cold chain operator Schedulers Logistics India Pvt Ltd. Schedulers operates a fleet of reefer vehicles and temperature controlled warehouses across India. The transaction marks the second round of growth financing for GVFL's first exposure in the logistics sector.

"The funding will help Schedulers to get on an exponential growth curve by getting aggressive in capacity additions and furthering pan India presence including Gujarat by augmenting reefer fleet as well as cold storage capacity" said Arvind Gangoly, Co-founder & CEO, Schedulers.

Mobikon Acquires Automated Online Marketing Platform MassBlurb

Marketing Platform for the F&B industry, Mobikon, has acquired MassBlurb, an automated online marketing platform for restaurants.

As part of the acquisition, founders of Mumbai-based MassBlurb, Sanket Shah and Pankit Chheda will be taking up key roles at Mobikon. While Sanket will be managing the key accounts and partnerships across the company, Pankit will work closely with Mobikon’s CTO for new product initiatives. MassBlurb’s team will also join Mobikon as a result of this acquisition.

Mumbai-based MassBlurb is currently working with 200+ premium restaurant brands across India, automates everything a restaurant needs in the social space. It is present in 6 other cities across India.

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