upGrad's Ronnie Screwvala invests in edtech startup 21K School

Edtech major upGrad's Co-founder & Chairman Ronnie Screwvala has invested $5 million in India's first online-only schooling startup -- 21K School in its pre-Series A funding round.

21K School was founded in 2020 by Santosh Kumar, Yeshwanth Raj Parasmal, Dinesh Kumar, and Joshi Kumar with an aim to create a 100% online school offering children aged 3 to 18 years a choice of three curriculums – Indian, American, and British.

With this funding, The Bangalore-based edtech startup plans to augment its outreach to students in India and abroad, and strengthen its learning platform for data-driven instruction across all curriculums, the statement said.

Since its inception, the startup successfully enrolled 2,750 students in its online schooling program from over 400 cities across India and 23 other countries. With 21K School, families no longer need to migrate to urban cities to give their children access to high-quality schools, it said.

Additionally, 21K School is targeting to scale 10X to over 25,000 to 30,000 admissions in the next academic year.

Speaking on the investment, Ronnie Screwvala, Co-Founder & Chairman, upGrad, said: “The future of education is here, and it's changing the way we think about schooling. 21K School will offer great value to students while disrupting traditional schools in its own space with interactive technologies that engage learners on every level of development. I am excited to support Santosh and Yeshwanth as they aim to expand within India and internationally.”

“Online schools like 21K School can offer equal opportunity and access to millions of students in India or across the globe," Santosh Kumar, Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer, 21K School, said.

"The investment by Ronnie will help us reach out to over 18 million Indians living abroad with an opportunity to study the increasingly popular Indian Curriculum while they continue to live overseas," Santosh adds.

Unlike others, 21K School blends technology, neuroscience, and AI to create data-driven instruction for students using proprietary LMS, Personalised Learning Engine, Assessment Engine, and curriculum content.

Intending to replicate the formal K-12 School experience online, 21K School teaches all core subjects and skill-based activities, without compromising on the academic rigour. Conducting regular assessments for its students, 21K School also includes computational thinking, coding, yoga, dance, music, etc. as an integral part of schooling.

Also Read:

• How StartupEd is Teaching Entrepreneurs the Art of Starting Up

Follow IndianStartupNews on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter for the latest updates from the startup ecosystem.