Avishkaar, a New Delhi-based edtech startup, has raised Rs 5 crore in a pre-Series A round of funding. The funding round was attended by Auxano, Mumbai Angels, Alok Mittal, angel investor and co-founder and CEO of Indifi Technologies, and Varun Aggarwal, Co-founder of Aspiring Minds.

The startup stated that it intends to use the latest funding for product development, hiring talent, and expanding its user base across Tier I and Tier-II cities.

Avishkaar, which was founded in 2014, focuses on robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), coding, and app development for children aged 5 to 15. It previously raised Rs 5 crore in seed funding from Auxano in February 2018 and used the funds to expand its presence in schools across the country and launch a new line of products.

Nandini Mansinghka, Co-promoter and CEO of Mumbai Angels Network, emphasised that edtech is one of the most profitable sectors and one of the few that has triumphed during the pandemic.

“Having launched new product lines along with creating new verticals, strengthening the leadership and operational teams, Avishkaar is poised to reach greater heights," Brijesh Damodaran Nair, Founder & Managing Partner, Auxano, added.

Prior to COVID, the startup worked with over 1,500 schools and had a user base of over 100,000 children. Avishkaar had to adapt after the schools closed in March 2020.

“Last year was tough. But I believe we anticipated the situation well, played to our strengths, and used our data-driven decision-making capability and existing schools network to reach out directly to our end consumer, which helped us continue with our growth,” said Tarun Bhalla, Co-founder, and CEO, Avishkaar.

Through its existing school network and eCommerce channels, the company shifted gears to focus on a D2C (Direct to Consumers) model. According to the company, this strategy shift has accelerated the brand's growth by more than five times in the last year.

One of the most difficult challenges for the company was to make the product simple to understand and more like a do-it-yourself project for the students, without relying heavily on parental assistance.

As Pooja Goyal, Co-founder and COO, Avishkaar explained, they took a few steps to address this challenge.

First, they created a large amount of self-explanatory interactive video content for the kids to learn from. Second, they used an existing resource of Avishkaar teachers who are trained in robotics, coding, and are familiar with Avishkaar kits to launch live online classes for students.

"Next, we are also focused on creating an online community of students, mentors, and teachers to interact well with their peers,” she added.
The team is now focused on building a product that allows students to be more creative and innovative.

“We are also working on initiating and taking our students to more competitions to showcase their talent and virtualisation of our courses. Also, over the past year, we have received interest from international students as well, so innovation and expansion will definitely be on cards this year,” added Tarun.

During this fiscal year, the founders will continue to focus on maintaining their supply chains without any glitches, ensuring adequate inventory, and providing a hassle-free delivery experience.

Recently, more affluent players such as Whitehat Jr. and Vedantu, among others, have been vying for market share in the coding and robotics learning space. Avishkaar's founders, on the other hand, are upbeat and believe that continuous innovation and obsessive customer orientation are the keys to success.

“We are working with the next generation to think imaginatively. Most competitors are taking a platform approach wherein they are aiming to build a lot of online learning verticals. However, we aim to stay focused on our mission to help children learn and imbibe the next-generation technologies and continue to build on that kernel,” added Pooja.