Anand Mahindra’s family office backs ed-tech firm Ahaguru

By Joseph Rai

  • 22 Oct 2020
Credit: 123RF.com

Online learning platform Ahaguru Education Technology Pvt. Ltd said Thursday it has raised a Series A funding round led by the family office of Anand Mahindra, chairman of Mahindra Group.

The company will use the funds to launch new courses and upgrade its technology by investing in artificial intelligence (AI) to personalize learning experience for each student, Ahaguru co-founder Balaji Sampath said in a statement. He did not disclose the financial details of the transaction.

The investment will also help the company add more teachers to its platform, he added.

Ahaguru was founded by Sampath and Gomathi Shanmugasundaram in 2012. The company provides science and math education for middle- and high-school students preparing for their board and competitive exams.

Mahindra said in the statement that Ahaguru is making learning easier and understandable by deploying well-researched techniques.

Mahindra has also invested in other startups in the past. Just earlier this month, Mahindra along with Unicorn India and SEA Fund bet on Genrobotic Innovations Pvt Ltd, which operates impact-focussed robotics firm Genrobotics.

In June, the industrialist invested in Gurugram-based startup Hapramp Studio, which is seeking to build out social media creative platforms.

Ed-tech startups have attracted a lot of investor attention over the last few years, and more so during the coronavirus pandemic that has forced schools, colleges and universities to shut down.

Just last month, Unacademy raised a whopping $150 million in a new funding round led by SoftBank. With this, Unacademy joined Byju’s as the only other ed-tech unicorn in India.

Byju's, Eruditus, Vedantu and Toppr have also raised significant growth funding over the past few months. Byju's also bought venture capital-backed WhiteHat Jr, which focuses on coding education, for $300 million in August.