Jungle Ventures invests in Leap to tap into Asia’s edtech market
1 min read . Updated: 17 Mar 2021, 12:47 AM IST
PremiumLeap plans to use the funds to expand its product portfolio and strengthen its technology and business teams
Bengaluru: Overseas education platform Leap on Tuesday said it has raised close to $17 million as part of a Series B funding round led by Singapore-based Jungle Ventures, with participation from Sequoia Capital India and edtech-focused Owl Ventures.
This comes less than a year after Leap raised $5.5 million led by Sequoia, taking the total capital raised by the startup to $22.5 million.
The investment marks Jungle Ventures’ first investment in an Indian edtech company.
Leap said it will use the new capital to expand its product portfolio and strengthen its technology and business teams. The company also plans to expand geographically and establish global offices for institutional partnerships and other business functions.
The two-year-old startup provides counselling, visa services, and education loans and other financial products for students looking to study abroad.
“We are a one-stop solution for everything that a study-abroad aspirant needs. India has the largest pool of science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) educated English-speaking graduates and millions of them want global degrees and careers. Our online community helps students evaluate career options, network with seniors and shortlist the best courses. We then use this data to offer personalized test prep, professional counselling services, visa guidance and financial products," said Arnav Kumar, co-founder of Leap.
Leap claims to have helped over 20,000 students in the past year and aims to serve 150,000 students in the current year.
The startup says its community of study-abroad aspirants has grown to half-a-million profiled members with 200,000 monthly active users who exchanged 9 million chat messages last month alone.
“Leap marks our first investment in the edtech space. India is the second-largest market globally for overseas enrollment," said Amit Anand, founding partner, Jungle Ventures. South East Asian markets such as Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia are large contributors to overseas education. This presents a huge opportunity in an otherwise fragmented landscape.
