Founded in 2012 by Mehta and Smita Deorah, LEAD operates at the intersection of technology and pedagogy to operate an integrated teaching and learning system. It claims to offer its integrated module to schools across 400 towns and cities that reaches more than 1.2 Mn students and over 25,000 teachers.
Barely a day after LEAD fired 60 employees, the edtech platform has announced that it has raised INR 160 Cr ($19.59 Mn) in debt funding from financial institutions and venture debt firms. The startup will deploy the capital to finance organic and inorganic growth ambitions.
“… 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,” said LEAD chief executive officer (CEO) and cofounder Sumeet Mehta.
Founded in 2012 by Mehta and Smita Deorah, LEAD operates at the intersection of technology and pedagogy to operate an integrated teaching and learning system. It claims to offer its integrated module to schools across 400 towns and cities that reaches more than 1.2 Mn students and over 25,000 teachers.
The startup turned unicorn in 2022 after raising $100 Mn as part of its Series E funding round from WestBridge Capital and GSV Ventures. This isn’t the first time that the startup has raised debt funding. Earlier in December, LEAD bagged INR 35 Cr from the venture debt firm, Alteria Capital.
The fundraise comes amid a slew of developments for the edtech player. A day earlier, the Mumbai-based LEAD sacked 60 employees across tech and product verticals. This was the second round of retrenchment at the startup in the past 5 months. Prior to this, the company also laid off around 100 employees as part of a supposed ‘performance appraisal’ back in August 2022.
