Leverage Edu, a startup that helps Indian students gain admission into the top global universities, has raised an undisclosed amount of growth capital from Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of Paytm.
Rohit Kapoor (CEO of Oyo – India and Southeast Asia). Amanpreet Bajaj (Southeast Asia Head, Airbnb), Lalit Singh (former COO at Udacity), and Mohit Garg (founder of MindTickle) have also participated in the funding round.
The fresh funds raised are expected to be utilized to expand teams in India and abroad. The startup plans to double its employee strength to over 600 people across two continents.
Founded by Akshay Chaturvedi in 2017, Leverage Edu provides students enrolled on its platform with a seamless college application journey, which includes personalized mentor-led one-on-one workshops, portfolio build-up sessions, access to pre-program internships & online courses, and exclusive scholarship options. The company also helps students with services like visas, accommodation, and education loans. Leverage Edu also operates Univalley.com, which provides advisory, tech, and recruitment solutions to partner universities across the globe.
Talking about the fundraise, Founder and CEO of Leverage Edu Akshay Chaturvedi said,
“I am thrilled to formally bring on table mentors who I have personally learned a lot from over the years. Having them associate with Leverage Edu motivates us to work even harder on our mission to help students win across the world.”
The company is also backed by a consortium of investors such as Blume Ventures, Tomorrow Capital, DSG Consumer Partners, Trifecta Capital. It is also supported by individual investors including Vishal Gondal of GOQii, Ash Lilani of Samna Capital, Amrish Rau of Pine Labs, Karan Khemka of Parthenon, among others.
Leverage Edu had raised $6.5 million (INR 47 crore) in its Series A funding round led by Tomorrow Capital with participation from existing investors Blume Ventures and DSG Consumer Partners earlier this year. The company had raised another $2 million in a debt financing round from venture debt firm Trifecta Capital in June this year. Previously, Leverage Edu raised over $1.5 million in December 2019 from Blume Ventures, DSG Consumer Partners, and others.
