Ronnie Screwvala’s Unilazer Ventures leads funding in edtech start-up Lido

Edtech start-up Lido Learning has raised $10 million, led by Ronnie Screwvala’s Unilazer Ventures.

The small group, online tuitions company has seen rapid growth and is on track to reach revenues of $100 million by the end of the financial year.

Lido Learning offers courses in mathematics, science, and English aligned with the syllabi of the CBSE and the ICSE for students from lowest grades to Class 12. The company is planning to use this new round of capital to fuel its expansion plans in India as well as abroad.

Lido Learning’s firstever TV advertising campaign will go live during the IPL season, along with the launch of its free-user app to give students access to free curriculum-aligned video content. “Lido is the first in the country to recognise the power of learning in small groups, while being enabled by technology,” said Sahil Sheth, founder and chief executive officer, Lido Learning.

“We will use this new round of capital to ensure that our classes are accessible to students from every corner of India as well as the world. We’re going to double down on our efforts to connect students with India’s well-qualified and dedicated teaching talent.”

Ronnie Screwvala, founder of Unilazer Ventures, said Lido was the first mover in the smallgroup, online tuitions space. He said the company had differentiated itself from other players that offered primarily selfdirected learning or large-group classes.

“Lido’s strategy of immersive learning and rewarding positive learning outcomes has ensured that it is bestpositioned to consolidate the $15-billion neighbourhood tuition market,” said Screwvala.

Screwvala pioneered cable television in India in the 1980s and then built a unicorn that Walt Disney Co acquired. His entertainment conglomerate UTV was acquired by Disney at an enterprise valuation of $1.4 billion in 2013. He is the co-founder of edtech firm upgrad, which recently became a unicorn.

Earlier this week Lido Learning entered the US and Canada with its flagship coding programme using the “Pair Learning” methodology, with two students per teacher.

Lido’s coding curriculum focuses on empowering students to combine coding with their own passions. It helps students practise critical thinking and problem solving in real time instead of focusing purely on programming skills.

“We will use this new round of capital to ensure that our classes are accessible to students from every corner of India as well as the world. We’re going to double down on our efforts to connect students with India’s well-qualified and dedicated teaching talent” SAHIL SHETH Founder & CEO

Lido Learning