Ed-tech startup CultureAlley, which operates an online language learning platform has raised $6.15 million in Series A round of funding from Tiger Global Management, with participation of KAE Capital and 500 Startups.
Earlier, the company had raised seed funding from angel investors, including Google’s Rajan Anandan, KAE Capital’s founder Sasha Mirchandani and Sunil Kalra. Sasha Mirchandani is also the member of the board. As per ET, Tiger Global’s partner Lee Fixel has also joined the board.
Founded in Nov 2012 by Nishant Patni and Pranshu Bhandari, CultureAlley provides language learning courses for languages such as English, Spanish, etc. The company was started off as teacher-learner platform which offered audio-visual lessons for individuals. There are around 17 people working for the company.
It launched its English language learning app named “Hello App” in October 2014. It also works offline — you don’t need an internet connection to learn English. It comes with 150+ lessons, covering grammar concepts + Reading, writing, listening & speaking games. It also has WhatsApp like chat feature through which you can interact with English language experts. Since its launch in October 2014, it has been downloaded for over Three Million times on Android.
The app also comes with different versions and is available in different languages such as Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Gujarati, Kannada, Urdu, Malayalam and Punjabi. Earlier, the company used to develop games and quizzes in different languages.
The company aims to become the de-facto English learning solution for millions of Indians who are in the productive (working) age group. India, currently has world’s second largest English speaking population.
Pranshu Bhandari, co-founder of the company, said,
In the next two years we want to become a household brand in the nation for language learning. Once we nail India, we will look to other similar markets in Asia.
CultureAlley will compete with the likes of Duolingo in the west, which has raised $83.3 million in 4 funding rounds from 7 investors so far.
