Edtech firm Lead announced that it has raised Rs 160 crore in funding via a mix of long-term capital from Alteria Capital and Stride Ventures, and working capital financing from banks, including Standard Chartered Bank, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank. The edtech unicorn plans to use the fresh capital to finance organic and inorganic growth ambitions.

Sumeet Mehta, cofounder and CEO of Lead, said, “Lead is poised for 2X growth and this latest round of funding will help us fast-track our mission of providing high quality, integrated School Edtech solutions to over 60,000 schools across India by 2026.”

Meanwhile, the company has conducted another round of layoffs after sacking 100 people in August 2022. In a statement, a company spokesperson said: "We have grown 2X this year and are hiring for growth. If projects don't meet success criteria or don't fit our strategic roadmap, teams are either reassigned or asked to seek other opportunities. This is a regular business activity and a normal churn of 1-2% in an organisation of 2,000 people”.

In January 2022, Lead raised $100 million at a valuation of $1.1 billion and entered the coveted unicorn club. Ankit Agarwal, partner, Alteria Capital, said, “Lead's journey of success as India’s largest school edtech company underscores the massive opportunity for technology-enabled disruption in school education in India. We are confident that our investment will further help Lead achieve its growth objectives.”

"Lead's technology-enabled approach to make education interactive, measure student progress and standardise curriculum delivery has the potential to transform the education system. We are excited to be a part of this dynamic company's growth journey," said Apoorva Sharma, partner, Stride Ventures.

The debt funding comes at a time when venture capitalist funds have slowed down their funding activity, especially in the edtech segment. Data sourced from Venture Intelligence showed that VC funding for edtech startups totalled just $1.94 billion in 2022 from $4.08 billion in 2021.

Earlier this month, Lead entered into an agreement with Pearson to acquire its K-12 learning business in India. "With this acquisition, Lead will immediately expand its reach to over 9,000 schools and will further enhance its product portfolio to cater to the entire spectrum of more than five lakh private schools in India," the company said.