Bengaluru, Nov 30 (IANS): Edtech platform Kyt on Monday said it has received $2.5 million (approximately Rs 18.4 crore) in a funding round led by Sequoia Capital Indias Surge to expand its online-first, global academy for extracurricular learning.
Titan Capital, along with other angel investors including Kunal Shah, Amrish Rau, Jitender Gupta, Allen Penn and Martin Li, also participated in the funding round.
Kyt is part of the fourth cohort of Surge, a bi-annual rapid scale-up programme run by Sequoia Capital India for startups across Southeast Asia and India.
With head offices in India and Singapore, Kyt was founded by husband-wife duo Bhavik Rathod and Tripti Ahuja in June 2020.
The platform leverages technology to provide online-only, live lessons to children aged between five and 15 years.
"The future of education is a hybrid of online and offline learning, and the market size for primary and secondary extracurricular learning is estimated to be $10bn in India alone, and around $200bn globally," Rathod said in a statement.
"While most learning used to happen in physical spaces, there will be rapid adoption of online learning even beyond Covid-19, as these well-structured curriculums will build strong global communities, encouraging children to remain engaged over time."
Kyt said that so far more than a thousand students have taken a course or attended workshops with the platform which has more than 20 teachers onboard, with plans to increase this to 500 over the next 12 months.
Kyt plans to add more courses, including chess, various musical instruments, public speaking, creative writing, and how to be a content creator.
Children engaging with Kyt classes are connected to global educators, including Indian Chess Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi, Philippine hip-hop artist Ruel Varindani and celebrity yoga instructor Sabrina Merchant.
The platform offers two learning approaches with its content: Kyt Academy and Kyt Workshops.
Kyt Academy courses span up to 12 weeks and are designed for children who are passionate about specific areas of knowledge, outside of traditional curriculums -- such as yoga, language, reading, and dance -- and want to expand their skills.
Kyt Workshops are one-time classes, ideal for children who would like to explore different interests and try multiple classes, including cooking, magic classes, animation, rap and poetry. All courses cater to both private and small groups.