Edtech Startup FrontRow Raises $3.2 Million From Elevation, LightSpeed And Deepika Padukone

• Edtech startup FrontRow raises $3.2 million in seed funding led by Elevation Capital, LightSpeed Ventures, Deepika Padukone family office.
• The startup claims to have celebrities as instructors on its platform.

Edtech startup FrontRow has raised $3.2 million (or about Rs 23 crore) in seed funding led by Elevation Capital (formerly SAIF Partners), LightSpeed Ventures, and actress Deepika Padukone's family office. The startup is set to launch its platform on November 12, 2020.

However, the startup has not revealed the investment received from each investor.

The startup will use the funding to add more courses and categories in its library, expand its community offering, and go deeper into various course formats, the company said.

FrontRow aims to offer classes by the celebrities in the field, in which the users' are paired with a community platform that gives learners regular activities, competitions, and peer engagement to practice and showcase their talent to instructors.

The platform claims to offer classes in creative arts and sports by celebrities, including Neha Kakkar, Suresh Raina, Biswa Kalyan Rath, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Divine & Gully Gang, and Amit Trivedi.

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Currently, the platform has about eight courses and aims to launch six more over the next couple of months, said Preeti Sing (Co-founder, FrontRow).

She further said that the platform has about 20,000 people across platforms, who are part of the company’s communities, on Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram. "We aim to grow significantly in the next few months." 

“Each one of them recalled that they faced problems while learning as well, and they wished they had access to courses like this when they were starting out. The instructors are all extremely bought into the concept, and we’re excited to have most of them as part of our cap table as well,” said Mikhil Raj (Co-founder, FrontRow).

Commenting on her investment, Actress Deepika Padukone, said “Growing up, I wasn’t exactly academically inclined. My interests were in diverse spheres and activities outside of the traditional classroom- dance, sports, music, modeling & performance arts, to name a few."

She further said "Platform like FrontRow that gives individuals access to abundant knowledge in non-academic fields as well as connects them to a community of peers and professionals in their field of interest. I’m glad that this education gap has now been identified, and I look forward to partnering with this dynamic team on what I believe is going to be an exciting journey ahead."

FrontRow will work on a subscription-based model, where the courses will range between Rs 500 to 2000, and it will be a one-time payment for accessing the courses, said Preeti Singh.

The growing startup ecosystem in the country is attracting many Indian celebrities and sportspersons. Recently, Yuvraj Singh (former Indian cricketer, Co-founder of YouWeCan) had invested Rs 100 crore in the nutrition brand WellVersed.

Recently, Actress Kajal Aggarwal had invested in the gaming startup Okie Gaming.

Earlier this year, Actress Anushka Sharma along with Virat Kohli, invested Rs 2.5 crore in the Bangalore-based fintech startup Digit Insurance.

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