Pune-based test preparation startup Pariksha has raised an undisclosed amount of investment in an extension of its Pre-Series A round from a group of angel investors, the company has announced recently.
The round was led by INSEAD Angels, IIT Kanpur Angels, Nikhil Vora and Swati Mehra from Sixth Sense Ventures, Saahil Bhatia from Temasek Holdings India Pvt. Ltd, and Sitanshu Shah from Bain & Company. Gurinder Ratra, Gautam Khanna from Hinduja Hospitals, Ameya Chandravarkar from FDC, Akshat Birla of Finovate Capital, Sheetal Birla from Falkonry, Deepa Bhatia from YouGov, and existing investor Venture Catalysts also participated in the round.
Founded in 2015, Pariksha helps students prepare various government job exams through its analytics driven, gamification modelled, adaptive testing and mastery learning based platform. It offers a subscription-based vernacular test preparation mobile application where aspirants can pay, learn and prepare for various government job examinations anywhere, anytime.
Pariksha aims to change the way students prepare competitive exams and succeed with the help of cutting-edge technology. The startup currently operates across 11 states, serves over two million users with over 65,000 paid subscribers, and in six languages.
Speaking about the company and its plans to use the funds, Karanvir Singh, Co-founder of Pariksha, said,
“We are solving the problem of accessibility for 90% of these 75 million aspirants who do not have access to good test preparation options. Pariksha is a great equalizer. It helps students from Bharat prepare for state government job exams in the language of their choice through VOD and live streaming classes in the most affordable, convenient and enriched manner. This investment will help us in strengthening our product offerings and expanding our reach across the country.”
According to the company, 75 million aspirants in India spend $2.3 billion on preparing for vernacular state government job exams every year.
Commenting on the investment, Akshat Birla of INSEAD Mumbai Angels said,
“This is the first investment of INSEAD Mumbai Angels. The group’s thesis is to invest in exceptional founders and high growth startups, preferably founded or backed by INSEAD alumni, but we are very impressed with the Pariksha founders’ vision, market know-how, execution capabilities and the size of the opportunity.”
Nikhil Vora, CEO, and Swati Mehra, Partner at Sixth Sense Ventures, also commented on the investment saying,
“We believe the opportunity for online education in Bharat is massive, and businesses which are able to establish trust and engagement in local markets will see an early curve of monetization. As in many sectors, there will be lag between awareness, adoption and monetization. However, we believe Pariksha – with their solid team, credible ecosystem tie-ups and focused on-ground execution – has strong potential to lead the vernacular online education space.”
Meanwhile, the Pune-based startup had last raised Rs 4 crore in a Pre-Series A funding round led by India’s leading incubator Venture Catalysts in July 2019.
