Teachmint Raises $20 Million to Expand Edtech Platform

A Shift in Indian Edtech: Empowering Teachers

While many Indian edtech companies focus on expanding their course catalogs with live and recorded lessons, a new wave of startups is adopting a different strategy to address the vast educational needs of the South Asian nation.

Teachmint: A Teacher-Centric Approach

Teachmint, a relatively new startup established just a year ago, is concentrating on providing teachers with the tools to establish and manage their own virtual learning environments directly from their smartphones.

Developed during the pandemic, the platform offers a mobile-first, video-centric technological infrastructure. This allows educators to conduct online classes, interact with students, assign coursework, track attendance, and even manage fee collection.

Rapid Growth and Investor Interest

Teachmint has already attracted over 1 million teachers from more than 5,000 cities across India. The platform is experiencing monthly growth exceeding 100%, according to Mihir Gupta, co-founder and CEO of Teachmint, in a recent interview.

Last month alone, over 25 million live classes were accessed through Teachmint. This impressive traction has naturally garnered attention from investors.

Recent Funding and Expansion Plans

The startup recently secured $20 million in a Pre-Series B funding round led by Learn Capital, with participation from CM Ventures. This investment follows a $16.5 million Series A funding closed just two months prior.

Differentiating Factors: In-House Technology

Beyond its unique approach to the Indian education market, which serves over 250 million students, Teachmint distinguishes itself through its strong in-house technological capabilities.

Many startups depend on numerous third-party technology providers for video streaming, cloud storage, processing, and payment solutions. Gupta explains that while services like Zoom and Google Meet are valuable for communication, they aren’t specifically designed to meet the requirements of teachers and students.

Optimized Performance and Cost Efficiency

By developing its own technology, Teachmint – backed by investors like Lightspeed India Partners and Better Capital – has been able to optimize its services and reduce costs. This allows for greater control and improvement of classroom interactivity.

The proprietary system enables Teachmint to significantly lower the cost per class compared to relying on external providers.

Ease of Use and Smartphone Accessibility

“We’ve pioneered a completely new category,” Gupta states. “Any teacher can download the Teachmint app and create a virtual classroom in minutes. This level of classroom digitization wasn’t possible before Teachmint.” He also notes that over 75% of teachers on the platform utilize their smartphones for teaching.

Expanding Reach Through Social Media

Teachers using Teachmint can generate public links to their classrooms and share them on platforms like Facebook, broadening their reach and attracting more students.

Real-Time Note Delivery

Students benefit from receiving notes in real-time during classes, eliminating the need for extensive note-taking. This also saves teachers time, as they don’t need to recreate their lesson materials.

Multilingual Support and App Size

The app supports 10 Indian languages, in addition to English, and is remarkably small in size – just 14 megabytes. It consistently ranks highly among education apps on the Google Play Store in India.

Introducing Teachmint for Institutes

The startup recently launched a new product, Teachmint for Institute, designed to serve schools and colleges. This platform enables educational institutions to manage and monitor all their online classes and related activities.

Addressing Challenges Faced by Educational Institutions

The development of Teachmint for Institute stemmed from feedback gathered from teachers and a recognition of the difficulties schools faced in collecting fees during the pandemic. The shift to online learning also created transparency issues regarding class conduct.

The pandemic-related school closures in New Delhi highlighted the need for better visibility into online teaching practices.

Industry Recognition and Future Outlook

“In just 12 months, Teachmint has evolved from an initial concept to become the top-ranked education app in India – an extraordinary achievement for an Indian edtech company,” says Vinit Sukhija, partner at Learn Capital.

“This market acceptance demonstrates the Teachmint team’s dedication to incorporating teacher feedback into their innovative digital teaching tools. Learn Capital is excited to strengthen its partnership with Teachmint as the company prepares for new product launches and international expansion.”

Global Expansion on the Horizon

The newly acquired funds will be used to further develop the product offerings and expand the team. However, Teachmint also has its sights set on international markets.

Gupta explains that the platform can be made available globally with minimal adjustments. “We don’t create content, so our product is adaptable to different geographies,” he concludes.