The funds will be used in Product Development, increase consumer awareness, and expanding in new geographies with vernacular content as the company aims to create a strong Global brand.
Tinkerly, the Jaipur-based edtech startup has raised Rs. 6.5 crores in the latest round by Navneet Tech Ventures (a wholly-owned subsidiary of India’s leading publication and content provider Navneet Education Limited(NEL). With this round, the total funding in the company will reach Rs. 10 crores. The round witnessed additional participation from the existing investors SucSEED Angel Network, Keiretsu Forum, Divyashish Jindal (Head of Academics at Doubtnut), Chand Das (Former CEO of ITC Education), Saurabh Aggarwal (Co-founder Fitso, Acquired by Zomato), Marwari Catalysts, and others. Skwerup Capital Partners has advised the company in this transaction.
The funds will be used in Product Development, increase consumer awareness, and expanding in new geographies with vernacular content as the company aims to create a strong Global (global with localized enhancements) brand.
Commenting on the Funding, Mr. Ketan Gala, Director, Navneet Tech Ventures, said, “Every child’s hope and dreams have no boundaries. Tinkerly’s child-oriented approach towards coding harnesses this enthusiasm and successfully channels it towards a productive learning experience. Programs like these assist in the development of reasoning and analytical skills. Tinkerly’s approach is in the right direction and ensures that our children are future-ready, and as a Company, they are taking a leap in the right direction as well.”
Commenting on this development, Mr. Mahavir Pratap Sharma, an early investor of Tinkerly, Chairman & Co-founder, Rajasthan Angels (RAIN), and Chairman, TIE India Angels (TIA) said, “As one of the first few companies that RAIN invested in, the team of confident, young, techies stood out for me. The team and its adaptive tenacity have stood the company in its tough times and will continue to do so. I can foresee a great and bright future for all of them and Tinkerly.”
Tinkerly’s monthly revenues have grown 8x in the past 3 months since the launch of the new version of its learning platform Let’s Tinker in April of this year. The platform has 50,000+ online learners who have consumed over 300K+ hours of learning. The company’s existing reach in 6000+ schools and 100+ learning centers allows it to acquire 60% of its users from organic channels at near-zero CAC.
On the latest funding, Tinkerly’s Co-Founder & CEO Sharad Bansal added, “The fresh capital will multiply our efforts to rapidly grow the online user base and invest in technology. Tinkerly’s unique (Kit + Live Class) courses combined with Navneet, India’s most loved education brand that carries a 6-decade old legacy, will set new benchmarks of learning outcomes and spark the joy of making among students across the globe.”
Prior to Covid-19, exposure to Robotics or Coding was limited to students studying in less than 1% of total Indian schools. With the adoption of online learning, access to quality learning has been democratized. Tinkerly’s unique blend of toys and vernacular content enables students to design cool robots, make smart AI gadgets, and write unlimited lines of code alongside the live guidance from teachers in their first language all at one place.
Dhiraj Sinha Kumar, Co-founder of SucSEED Angels Network, said, “We are proud to be a part of Tinkerly and to support it since we first invested in 2018. It’s great to witness Tinkerly consistently demonstrating its value proposition by using STEM innovatively and helping students to learn and grow. We believe that investment by a large publishing house like Navneet validates the potential of STEM education in India, and with re-opening of schools, its growth will further strengthen.”
Source: Business World
