Edtech Startup Braingroom Raises INR 1.5 Cr From IAN, Social Alpha And Startup Oasis The startup will use the funding to add more components to the application-oriented learning approach and develop micro-entrepreneurship courses

Braingroom, a multilingual online learning platform focused on students from lower and middle-income families, announced on Monday to have raised INR 1.5 crore from IAN. Social Alpha and Startup Oasis joined the round.

The Chennai-based startup will use the funding to develop new courses and content in different languages and new product features. The company is also eyeing market expansion with a vision to train one million rural students and make them job-ready in the coming three years.

"Through Braingroom, we are creating high-quality technical and skill training with the right combination of vernacular content, Bots, and gamification. These will help us make learning more hands-on, interactive, personalized, and engaging for millions of students from tier-II and tier-III cities, and most importantly for those from middle and lower-income families. In the next three years, we are aiming to train one million rural students and make them job-ready. We are grateful to have received the funding from IAN, Social Alpha, and Startup Oasis as we are also are looking to invest in expanding our brand to new markets," said Madhula Satyamoorthy, co-founder, Braingroom.

Three engineering graduates, Madhula Sathyamoorthy, Naliene Ramasamy and Kalaiarsi Periasamy identified the need to develop impactful edtech solutions that can bridge the employability gap between urban and rural youth. This prompted them to launch Braingroom in 2017. Through this multilingual online learning platform, the co-founders aspire to create high-impact technical tools to facilitate quality learning outcomes for everyone.

"Around 100 million students from middle- and lower-income families, especially from tier-II and tier-III cities are seeking upskilling and cross-skilling opportunities. Braingroom is the new-age multilingual platform to make online learning more affordable and accessible for students from all backgrounds. All power to Braingroom founders to bring innovative technologies with their educational expertise to make learning personalized and engaging, and contributing to employability in small-town India," noted Pradeep K Jaisingh, lead investor, IAN.

Braingroom follows a hands-on learning approach with a focus on application-oriented learning. It is one of the very few multilingual online learning platforms in India to use AI Chatbots and Gamification to create a completely personalized learning experience.

"We invested in Braingroom seeing their commitment to democratize online learning and making it accessible to students in tier-II and III cities. Braingroom's model of integrating new-age technology into learning and skilling to uplift a student's career trajectory and making them job-ready is the need of the hour as we see a huge number of youngsters entering the workforce in the coming years. We are proud of our association with Braingroom and support them in their journey to unleash the potential of millions of students," added Manoj Kumar, founder and chief executive officer, Social Alpha.

The startup partners with various expert training providers across the globe and provides customized online learning solutions for both B2C and B2B markets with a multilingual flavor.

So far, Braingroom has trained around 35,000 students across India. It also works with various corporate CSR teams and NGO foundations to train rural students across the nation.

Going forward, the company is planning to build end-to-end training solutions for its B2B partners. Braingroom will add more components to the application-oriented learning approach for students and develop women-focussed micro-entrepreneurship courses.