Edtech platform, PlanetSpark, raises $13.5 mn led by Prime Venture Partners 

Edtech platform, PlanetSpark, with an aim to improve communication skills in children in K-12 group, has raised $13.5 million from Prime Venture Partners and marquee global entrepreneurs including Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal, MakemyTrip CEO Deep Kalra, and others including Dr Ashish Gupta, Gokul Rajaram, and Shirish Nandkarni during a Series-B round.
 
PlanetSpark had previously raised $3.7 million in previous rounds, from Prime Ventures, FIITJEE and several angel networks. The latest round takes the total amount raised by the edtech firm to $17.2 million, till date.
 
PlanetSpark claims to be growing at 30 per cent month-on-month, and  has coached students with over 1 million classes across 13 countries. It grew 45x over the past year and plans to grow further by 30x over the next two years, to become the top global go-to destination for learning communication skills. The freshly infused funds will be deployed towards aggressive business growth, product development and international expansion.
 
 “Communication skills are the most fundamental and desirable skills that parents wish to impart in their kids. However, these skills are rarely taught anywhere. Till now, parents never thought that a reliable and structured option to develop communication skills of their children existed. With live learning coming of age in the past two years, we are the first global company to structure a program on new-age communication skills, for kids," Kunal Malik, Co-founder, PlanetSpark said.
 
The global market for communication skills is over $80 billion and remains largely untapped. PlanetSpark is a category creator and a market leader in the communication skills for kids segment. It has seen incredible growth over the past year from being an Indian company to a global player with a presence across US, Middle East and Europe. The company will use the fresh funds to penetrate deeper into the existing markets and expand into new geographies, as per an official handout.
 
“India offers a pool of 1.8 million potential and current English teachers who can impart these skills to the entire globe. We plan to hire 50,000 teachers on our platform by the end of 2022. Overall, this is a golden opportunity to build the world leader in communication skills that didn't exist till now,” said Maneesh Dhooper, co-founder, PlanetSpark.
 
PlanetSpark was founded in 2017 by XLRI graduates and hostel wingmates, Kunal Malik and Maneesh Dhooper, who bring with them over a decade of experience each, in growth and scale-up of ace organisations such as Unilever, UrbanClap and Novartis.
 
“Everyone learns a language but few learn to communicate well. Communication skills are going to be a life-defining skill in the 21st century. We have been very fortunate to be a part of PlanetSpark’s journey from the early days," Amit Somani, Partner, Prime Venture Partners, said.

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