It would be an understatement to say, that Education has changed in a post-pandemic world. Online learning is the new way of life for most, and that has resulted in sprouting up of a plethora of new edtech businesses, globally. India has been a hotbed of the same from well before pandemic, as yet another edtech starts its fundraising and consequent scaling journey.
Toppersnotes, which helps students prepare for some of India’s (and perhaps world’s) most difficult tests, has raised $1 million in a seed round led by Inflection Point Ventures. The round also included participation from LetsVenture, PlanB Capital, Pulkit Agrawal (CEO – Trell), Ashish Sharma, (MD – Innoven Capital) and other angel investors.
The proceeds from the round will be utilized for recruitment, boosting its technology, and expanding its presence across exams.
The investment in Toppersnotes marks the 40th investment made by Inflection Point Ventures this year. The investment firm, which claims to have invested ₹292 crores across 100 deals to date, aims to invest ₹155 crores across 60 startups by the end of the year.
“With personalized learning, guidance & performance analytics features, we will disrupt the test prep space, where students, even today, rely heavily on textbooks, far distant coaching, and local tutors. IPV got co-aligned with our vision; with their mentorship & support, we would be able to define how tier 2 and below students will learn, despite low family incomes,” said Ayush Agrawal, founder, Toppersnotes.
The six-year-old education initiative, founded in 2015, aims to “bridge the gap between average student and toppers hailing from high end coaching” as it helps students prepare for various exams. It has come a long way and is currently active in over 70 exams like UPSC, GATE, NEET, IIT, SSC, BANK, and State-level government job exams.
It aims to provide affordable solutions in Tier II and III cities and below markets and become a market leader in the test prep market vertical, which has been the fastest-growing category in online education – over 8 crore students prepare for over 600 exams annually and more than 60% of them come from small towns. Toppersnotes, which is trying to be pocket-friendly and help these students, is poised to solve the issue of the lack of accessible options for those hailing from Tier II and Tier III cities, thereby making self-study more efficient, affordable, and personalized.
Toppersnotes’ Phygital solution will do just that, leveraging AI/ML and NLP algorithms along with the deeply structured learning data of students to give them access to personalized content delivery, enhanced performance tracking, and guidance in terms of personalized revision planner and learning schedules. To bring personalization features and guidance to the study table, the team will be leveraging AI/ML and NLP algorithms on top of their deeply structured learning data of the students.
