Sandra Theres Dony
CoLearn, an edtech startup based in Indonesia raised Series A funding of $10 million. The funding was led by Alpha Wave Incubation(AWI) and GSV Ventures. Other participants included Sequoia Capital India’s Surge, and AC Ventures, who are the existing investors of the startup
The funding round has added CoLearn to the list of the most well-funded edtech startups in Indonesia. The fund raise also marks the US-based fund’s very first investment in Indonesia. The funding will be of remarkable help for the company, facilitating investments in product, technology, development, marketing, and hiring.
CoLearn
Although Indonesia holds the status of having the fourth largest education ecosystem in the world with 50 million students, three million teachers, and half a million schools, the quality of education hasn’t yet touched its full potential, leaving a lot of space for progress and improvement. CoLearn works with the objective of motivating students to find a place in this fast growing and globalized world.
In the words of Abhay Saboo(Co-Founder and CEO, CoLearn)
“The scope for motivating students and ensuring they can thrive in a globalized world is what really drives us all at CoLearn.”
CoLearn was launched in August 2020, and it has been successful in reaching over 3.5 million students. The startup works with the aim of improving the quality of education, thereby transforming it into a driving economic force.
The highlight of the startup is an AI-powered problem-solving feature that helps in removing the friction that comes with offline tutoring centres, providing students with access to instant and high-quality homework support. The feature facilitates step-by-step video solutions that are curated by the best tutors in the country. This is of substantial help in helping students fight and overcome anxiety over tough subjects by helping them attain conceptual mastery.
The company also channels its focus towards teacher training programmes in order to enhance the quality of education. The company expects over 200 trained teachers over the course of next two years.
According to Anirudh Singh, Managing Director of AWI,
“We are immensely excited to partner with CoLearn in its mission to disrupt the education market in Indonesia. As one of the largest markets globally, the demand for high quality tutoring solutions at a competitive price point is huge. We believe CoLearn’s stellar team is successfully implementing the online learning playbook we see in other parts of the world, to gain market leadership in Indonesia.”
In comparison to its Asian neighbours, the pace of Indonesia in education investment and innovation has been rather slow. The limited number of online alternatives added to this roadblock.
Now, the country is eagerly uptaking edtech solutions, thanks to the increase in internet and smartphone penetration, coupled with the closure of schools.
CoLearn is also looking forward to doubling its team size by the end of the year with an increased focus on data science, and engineering roles. To this end, it has built a strong technological team in India and UAE.