Education Startup Playto Labs has raised over Rs 4 crore in a Seed round led by Inflection Point Ventures, one of India’s largest angel investment platforms.
The funds raised will be used in building a strong team and expanding its customer base.
The round also saw individual participation from partners of the upcoming fund Disruptors Capital, including Raj Snehil Juneja (Chief Investment Officer), Krishna Kumar (Founder, Simplilearn), Kunal Walia (Founder, Simpliwork) and Shashwat Kumar (Managing Partner, Khetal Advisors), and entrepreneurs including Tonmoy Shingal and Ketan Kapoor (Founders, Mettl), Sachin Sharma (Founder, Townscript), Rajesh Razdan (Founder, Devtron Labs) and Kuldeep Dhankar (SVP, CleverTap) among others.
Vinay Bansal, Founder & CEO, Inflection Point Ventures says, “Playto model is helping parents and their children to harness technology in a much more positive way where kids are learning something new and keeping themselves engaged in a constructive manner. Given the technology exposure in India, this is a booming market which got us interested in backing Playto.”
Jignesh Kenia, Lead Investor, Inflection Point Ventures shares, "Playto Labs is helping kids learn robotics with the right blend of toys, personal facilitators and gamification. Every assignment helps them connect to a real-life case study and that’s really exciting. The concept is to make kids ready for the future, especially in the areas of product development and engineering. Engaging with these assignments, the startup is helping kids develop practical skills, which have today become extremely important along with their schooling. This unique approach increased our confidence to back Playto Labs."
Playto Labs has a combination of hardware toys and online 1-1 sessions with teachers who act as facilitators. Their pedagogy makes students feel like they are playing vs studying and helps them become creative and innovative problem solvers.
Pavan Ponnaganti, Founder & CEO, Playto Labs, an IIT Kanpur alum says, “Toys are a great way of learning for kids. But toys are unable to keep up with the learning needs of children as they grow up after 7 years of age. As a result, kids only depend on their school to learn. Through Playto Labs, we are building products to address this and make play a more relevant learning method for kids above 7 years. We currently offer Robotics products for kids,” he adds.
Globally, educational toys market is expected to reach $34bn by 2025 as per a report by Orbis Research.