Mumbai-based online test preparation service Toppr has raised Rs 45 crore in its second round of Series B funding, led by its existing investors SAIF Partners, Helion Ventures and FIL Capital Management.
The company will use the capital to expand the geographical footprint and accelerate user acquisition. Zishaan Hayath, CEO & Founder, Toppr said in a statement that the company expects this capital to take the company to full profitability. The company is also looking to reach out to students across the country and open centres in 30 cities by December 2017 and is aiming USD 500 million in revenue by 2021.
Toppr was founded by Hayath and Hemanth Goteti in April 2013. It offers test prep for various entrance exams for students in VIII, IX and X classes intending to take up the science stream. Toppr also provides insights through analysis of academic areas which helps students decide which practice and tests to take. It claims to offer a rank on the basis of their current performances and help to improve their rank through the platform. It provides test and practice packages for engineering entrance exams like IIT JEE (Mains and advanced) & BITSAT, medical entrance exams like NEET, AIIMS, AIPMT and AFMC among others and foundation competitive exams across various boards like CBSE, ICSE and other state boards (NTSE, NSTSE, IPM and MTSE among others). The startup claims to have about 2 million registered users, and over 1 million app downloads. The startup said in a statement that the platform has a community of close to 8000 educators from across the country. Going ahead, Toppr projects 20x growth in its junior grades and 15x growth in its senior grades subscription by 2021.
Previous Funding and Acquisitions
Toppr had raised $10 million May 2015 in a round of funding led by Fidelity Growth Partners India, SAIF Partners and Helion Ventures. Before that, Toppr raised $2 million from Helion Venture Partners and SAIF Partners in May 2014, and had raised an undisclosed amount of investment from angel investor Abhishek Jain and former FutureBazaar president & Chaupaati Bazaar founder Kashyap Deorah in 2013.
In April 2015, Toppr had acquired JEE prep test-taking platform EasyPrep for an undisclosed amount. EasyPrep lets coaching institutes, schools, teachers and students access the platform on which customised exam papers can be created for teaching, assessment and competitive exams both online and offline.
Competition
E-learning space is crowded with small and large players both, and has rapidly expanded in the last couple of years in the country. The company mainly competes with companies like Embibe, Byju’s, Info Edge backed Meritnation, Oliveboard Times Internet-backed mobile education marketplace GradeStack, etc. Last year, Amazon India also launched Exam Central, where users can get access to sample question papers, solved papers and articles from academicians for entrance exams.
