- India-based Classplus announced it raised $9 million in funding led by RTP Global
India-based Classplus, a company that has developed a platform for coaching centers to accept fees from students and deliver classes, announced it has raised $9 million in funding led by RTP Global, according to TechCrunch. And existing investors Blume Ventures, Sequoia Capital India’s Surge, Spiral Ventures, and Strive also joined the round.
“We are serving these hyperlocal tutoring centers that are present in nearly every nook and cranny in India. Anyone who was born in a middle-class family here has likely attended these tution classes,” said Classplus co-founder and CEO Mukul Rustagi via TechCrunch. “These are typically small and medium setups that are run by teachers themselves. These teachers and coaching centers are very popular in their locality. They rarely do any marketing and students learn about them through word-of-mouth buzz.”
Rustagi compared Classplus to a “Shopify for coaching centers.” Classplus runs a marketplace that provides discoverability to teachers or coaching centers.
So far, Classplus on-boarded over 3,500 coaching centers on its platform. And more than 500 started using the in April after the government in India ordered to shut down schools to slow down the COVID-19 pandemic.
“According to the Global Teacher Status Index by the Varkey foundation in 2018, India was among the top-10 in the world in respecting teachers, though was in the last-10 in paying them. Classplus is liquidating this imbalance by empowering tutors with full-stack mobile solutions, while maintaining and further improving the high reputation of tutors. We are happy to back the company with this important mission, and have Classplus as our first edutech bet in India,” added Kirill Kozhevnikov, a partner at RTP Global.
