Summary
The startup plans to utilise the funds to expand its app, ramp up its marketing activities, enhance its technology and add new features
It offers low-cost diagnosis, self-preparation, confidence session products on subscription model, micro-confidence courses as well as on-demand and full stack options on subscription model
InstaPreps by 7Classes, the confidence diagnosis-based AI edtech, has raised an undisclosed funding in a seed round from heads of a few top global universities, CXOs and top executives at the ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship.
Some of the lead investors include Sanjay Nawlakha, chairperson of department of finance, University of Massachusetts, advocate of deep tech for women empowerment; Soumitra Dutta, founder of Global Innovation Index, dean at University of Oxford & INSEAD, honoured chair in AI IIT Delhi; Manish Bharti,CRO at CoreStack, and Venkatesh Sarvasiddhi, head partnerships and CSR at NSDC, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
Founded in 2019 by a team of IIT-B, NIT and Super30 alumni – Anup Raaj (IITB alumnus, ex-CTO PSTakeCare acquired by K. Ganesh’s Portea and a student of Super30 Fame Anand Kumar), Arun Kumar Gupta, Ranjan Kumar Soni (NIT JSR Alumnus) and Arvind Patel (IITB Alumnus), InstaPreps by 7Classes is an innovative educational framework wherein only seven students are allowed in one batch. Besides, its reverse interaction by the teacher, two-teacher model of teaching, and confidence diagnosis driven learning is designed to solve the menace of crowded classes and low confidence issues of students.
The startup plans to utilise the funds to expand its app, ramp up its marketing activities, enhance its technology and add new features to present a unique and out-of-box approach towards education for the 1.3 billion young minds of the world. Currently it has its downloads in 2500+ cities across the globe from India, UAE, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Philippines, Myanmar, Africa, United States, Iraq and Iran.
The startup is a fully digitised ed-tech platform to rectify confidence issues for STEM students to learn and prepare for entrance exams (Olympiads, SAT, USMLE, IITJEE, NEET & Basics) for K-12 learners. The platform is flexible enough for future options like GMAT, GRE, SSC, UPSC, CAT, placement tests and upskilling programs.
It offers low-cost diagnosis, self-preparation, confidence session products on subscription model, micro-confidence courses as well as on-demand and full stack options on subscription model.
“Last year we were able to reach and teach in every state. In order to get closer to the vision to connect and help all the 30 crore Indian students, this year our focus is to scale deeper in 700+ districts with our low-cost offerings and super30 like selection based free programme for only girls in the name of #GoGirls. This year we are planning to launch courses in Hindi on financial literacy for women/girls to highlight the importance of investment in education,” said Anup Raaj, cofounder, InstaPreps by 7Classes.
Hailing from small towns themselves, the Founders are also working towards democratising education in small and rural markets. “We are keen to have an early move in the emerging markets of rural areas which will be unlocked in the immediate future due to advances in generation, energy options, internet connectivity & smartphone penetration,” Raaj added.
On the fresh funding, Venkatesh Sarvasiddhi, Advisor at InstaPreps & MD Springer Nature India, Senior Head Digital Skills & Innovation at National Skills Development Corporation India, who is also mentoring the startup founders said,”InstaPreps by 7Classes is uniquely positioned to address the needs of students from small towns and villages in boosting their confidence levels and help them with various learning techniques, time management dedicated counselling in various regional languages to empower students and aligning with the vision of Atma Nirbhar Bharat.”
To this, Manish Bharti, CRO at CoreStack, former president at UiPath, said “In this new virtual world, filled with surprises and uncertainty, the key to being successful is all about focused innovation. InstaPreps has done a stupendous job by bringing quality coverage to online education and uplifting the game in the evolving EdTech vertical.”
The current fundraise has an objective to focus more on AI and Deep tech algorithms and use advanced technology to build and leverage features like Confidence facial recognition, improve and automate processes for a seamless learner - service provider experience, instant teacher matching to students based on their confidence scores, etc.
Last updated on 31 Mar 2022
