The round was led by consumer focused national venture fund Sixth Sense Ventures. The startup also plans to hire about 160 teaching & non teaching employees in the next 12 months. Toprankers focuses on applicants in areas such as law, fashion, hotel management, and architecture.
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Toprankers Raises $4 Mn In Funding
Online test prep startup Toprankers has raised $4 million as part of its Series A funding round led by Sixth Sense Ventures.
The startup will use the funds to strengthen its current product line and launch new offerings. The startup will also use the funds to invest more in marketing & strengthen its technology platform, according to media reports.
Toprankers also plans to hire nearly 160 teaching & non teaching staff members in the next 12 months.
Founded in 2014 by Gaurav Goel, Malay Sarkar, and Mehbub Hussain, Toprankers focuses on aspirants in areas such as law, fashion, hotel management, and architecture. The startup primarily targets students outside of the engineering & medical domains.
More than 15 million students show up for grade 12 each year, and about 10% of them show up for engineering and medicine. The remaining 90 percent are not clear about their career options, we want to help this segment make a clear decision about their career Toprankers CEO Goel said.
The Bangalore based startup had last raised $670K in angel funding from the CareerNet Consulting and Ideation Initiative.
The startup claims to have trained more than 2 Lakh students so far and is aiming to reach a target of 10 Lakh students in the next three years.
The funding announcement comes at a time when more than 1.15 million applicants have applied for the Common University Entrance Test CUET 2022. Renewed interest and growing appetite for non medical & non engineering courses has fueled growth of new companies like Toprankers. .
According to a report, the Indian test prep market is poised to grow $9.07 billion during 2022 to 2026 at a CAGR of 15.02%. The overall market size of the Indian edtech space is also expected to reach the $10.4 billion mark by 2025, according to an analysis by Inc42.
Earlier this month, edtech platform PhysicsWallah became India 101st unicorn after raising $100 million in Series A funding round from Westbridge & GSV Ventures. Before that, edtech startup Cuemath raised $57 million in a funding round led by Alpha Wave.
The fundraiser comes at a time when many edtech startups have been hit by mass layoffs. In May, Vedantu laid off more than 10% of its workforce, while edtech unicorn Unacademy laid off more than 1,000 employees in April this year.
