India’s first comprehensive learning platform for children aged 3-12, Freadom has raised $2.5 million in a new funding round led by Capital A and other marquee investors such as Tiger Shroff, Ashneer Grover, founder, BharatPe, Lalit Agarwal, founder, VMart Retail, and Aakash Moondhara, global CFO, PayU, among others.
The round was also joined by existing investors including Unreasonable Capital, Quantiphi founding team, and Singapore Angels group.
With the new financing, the company plans to invest in product, distribution and further strengthen Freadom’s vertical presence across stakeholders for English as a second language.
Founded in 2016 by Nikhil Saraf and Kavish Gadia, Freadom equips children to learn to read in English in any country where it is an aspirational second language, via its recommendation engine; built in collaboration with Stanford University to drive English language learning. Freadom’s own published research shows that children who supplement app learning with their Live classes end up learning 2x faster.
Speaking about the company, Co-founder of Freadom, Nikhil Saraf, said, "Learning a language like English should be fun and engaging and we prioritize this at Freadom. The success of Freadom lies at the intersection of our innovative pedagogical approach and advanced AI technology that makes language learning accessible for every child between the ages of 3 and 12. The goal is to create impact at scale and prioritize long-term learning outcomes over short-term gains."
The Freadom team has leveraged their research and partners like Stanford University and Carnegie Mellon Speech to deliver big outcomes to young learners.
On his decision to invest in the company, Bollywood actor Tiger Shroff, said, "The youth of a nation are its future and a stepping stone for economic growth. Being well-versed in a language like English can give them immense confidence personally and in all walks of life, especially in the current fast-changing global village. In this regard, Freadom is doing great work and I look forward to their growth trajectory and outcomes in the times to come."
The EdTech platform claims to be on track to reach $10 million readers. In addition, Freadom aims to reach 50 million users worldwide by 2023.
Angel investor turned VC and CEO of Capital A, Ankit Kedia, added, "Capital A has been backing startups with great potential in different sectors. This investment in the Edutech domain is our first one and we are extremely upbeat about the potential of this segment in the years ahead – a growth that has also been induced by the pandemic."
In 2020, the startup's parent company Stones2Milestones had raised $2.5 million in a funding round led by its existing investor Unreasonable Capital and its limited partner Goldhirsh Foundation.
