Gurucool, an educational networking platform that offers a suite of phygital tools to connect learners and educators, has raised $150,000 in a pre-seed funding round led by an Indian-American angel investor, Parvez Jasani (CEO, Zulie Venture Inc.) and FreeFlow Venture Builders.
The Delhi-based startup plans to use the fresh funds to build a strong team, invest in strengthening its technology platform, grow the business rapidly in India and internationally, and most importantly create a positive impact for its ever-growing Gurucool family.
Launched in 2019 by Adil Meraj and Khansa Fahad, Gurucool is empowering schools and colleges to go online and build their digital infrastructure with more than 25 tools and a vast content pool, enabling learners to find, connect and learn from them. The platform offers live classes, study material, test series and questionnaires for K-12, Competitive exams and Skill India.
Commenting on the funding, Co-founder and CEO of Gurucool, Adil Meraj, said, “We’re excited to begin our journey with our strategic investors, who believe in our vision and have a deep understanding of our ecosystem. Digitally, learning and socializing have emerged as divergent streams resulting in educational tools, content, learners and educators scattered across exclusive domains. Being an educational networking platform enables Gurucool to be a Publisher, Teaching platform, Marketplace and Aggregator, all at the same time. Gurucool has bridged the digital divide and brought all stakeholders in one phygital world.”
The startup has recently been approved by Higher Education of Bihar Govt. for piloting. Bringing together the best content from the best of open sources and educators.
Talking about the company, Co-founder and COO, Khansa Fahad said, “Our story isn’t a story of success. Our story is a story of struggle, survival and patience. Our story is a story of an unhazed dream and an unwavering faith to create a more learned and empathetic world!”
In the near future, Gurucool is also planning to launch the Padhaai India tool, in collaboration with a few state governments to make quality education free and hyperlocal. Padhaai India has more than 3000 curated courses in 8 regional languages.