Goa-based edtech startup Brightchamps, which offers online courses on programming, artificial intelligence, design thinking and financial literacy to kids aged 6-16 years, has closed $63 million in total funding since starting operations last year in August and is now valued at nearly $500 million. The 16-month-old startup has seen 10 times growth in its annual recurring revenue (ARR) in the current calendar year, founder and chief executive Ravi Bhushan told ET.
Premji Invest — the investment office of Wipro founder Azim Premji — has led a new round of funding of $51 million, along with participation from edtech-focused investor GSV Ventures, Flipkart cofounder Binny Bansal-backed 021 Capital and Singapore-based venture fund Beenext.
US-based GSV Ventures, which has backed Indian edtech firms like Classplus and LEAD School, had led a previously undisclosed funding of around $12 million in Brightchamps which is present in 10 foreign countries including in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. On the back of the new funding, it is expanding to the US and Canada. Bhushan said he is also planning to launch its paid courses in India next year.
“We started with Dubai and expanded to other GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries since the response was good. Then we launched in countries like Malaysia and the Philippines and we are the leading players in these markets. All the growth came without any external investor and it has been fully organic through customer funding,” he said.
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Founded by Ravi Bhushan in 2020, BrightChamps offers a school-supportive curriculum to students from various boards. The certificate-based classes are centred around coding, creative thinking, social collaboration, Industry 4.0 concepts and scientific experiments. They are divided into three sections — Grade 1-3, Grade 3-6 and Grade 7-12 — offering a mix of next-gen skills in the local languages of the students.
A majority of Brightchamps’ leadership team is currently operating out of Goa but it plans to open a facility in Bengaluru for staff willing to work on a hybrid model. It will use the new capital to double down on its existing markets as well expand its footprint in the US and Canada.
It has a team of 200 full-time employees and also around 1,000 teachers who teach the kids on the platform. Bhushan said he will hire more people across functions like product, technology, growth, content, operations, sales, marketing and business development as the company expands operations.
“With more firepower in their warchest, the company will also expand to other relevant verticals by launching more courses and will also look to acquire new companies in adjacent markets,” said T K Kurien, managing partner at Premji Invest.
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