The startup aims to provide access to knowledge and opportunities for individuals from across backgrounds. Initially, the founders started building their community on the messaging app Telegram, where students would share questions with specific experts around building new skills.
BlueLearn, one of India’s largest community driven edtech platforms, today announced raising INR 3.25 Cr ($450,000) in a pre-seed funding round led by Lightspeed, Titan Capital, 2am VC and angel investors such as Rahul Mathur, Gaurav Mandlecha, and Surabhi Randev also participated in the funding round. This is in addition to the first round led by 100X.VC. BlueLearn was founded earlier this year by Harish Uthayakumar and Shreyans Sancheti who are currently in their final year of electrical engineering at BITS Pilani. The startup plans to use the raised funds to build their core team, hire new talent, and further develop their product to cater to their growing community of users.
BlueLearn provides a platform for students to learn new skills, network with like-minded peers, and get exposure from top industry experts. The startup aims to provide access to knowledge and opportunities for individuals from across backgrounds. Initially, the founders started building their community on the messaging app Telegram, where students would share questions with specific experts around building new skills. Today, the BlueLearn community has organically grown to 42,000 members with 20,000 MAUs from 14 countries across the globe including India, USA, UK, Singapore and others. With a team of 13 members spread across the country BlueLearn is gearing up for the next phase of its growth.
Speaking about the fundraise, Harish Uthayakumar, Co-founder, BlueLearn said: “We started building the BlueLearn community in August 2020. In our conversations with them, we realised there was a huge gap in the industry exposure and opportunities students in tier-2/3 colleges received. Through BlueLearn, we want to democratise access to knowledge and bring back the ‘human’ element in the age of virtual learning”.
Harish added “We are thankful to Lightspeed, Titan Capital, 100X.VC, 2am VC and our angel investors who have shown faith in our vision. We are confident that with their support and guidance we will be able to build a valuable and iconic product for our users”.
Vaibhav Agrawal, Partner, Lightspeed said: “There is a gaping need for clutter breaking new experiences in higher education — while the world has moved to social communities, byte sized content, and hyper specific skills, our education systems are still stuck in classrooms (now zoom-rooms!), static curricula and rote learning of the 1900s industrial era. Lightspeed is excited to work with the imaginative, creative founding team of BlueLearn that sees this gap clearly and wants to create a big dent in this space”.
Ninad Karpe, Partner, 100X.VC said “We at 100X.VC are elated to see our portfolio companies growing and making an impact in the industry and the entire ecosystem. Bluelearn’s concept is unconventional and that’s what interested us the most. We are confident that BlueLearn will scale rapidly in the coming future”.
The founders of BlueLearn want to bridge the gaps left by the traditional college education system in India that is inadequate for GenZ and millennials. To address this, they built their platform where like-minded people come together and build a productive community to learn new skills, network and connect with industry experts. BlueLearn will soon launch a new product called Blue Clubs which is a collection of interest based micro-communities. These communities can focus on a wide range of topics like public speaking, entrepreneurship, design, blockchain, coding, fitness, music and more. The startup plans to roll out a membership model for members who need additional perks like one-on-one mentorship, access to exclusive events, projects and specific courses.
Source: Business World
