Edtech startup Leap raises $75 million in Series D led by Owl Ventures
San Francisco-based overseas education company Leap has raised $75 million (Rs 585 crore) in Series D funding led by Owl Ventures.
The round saw participation from new investors Steadview Capital and Paramark Ventures along with existing investors Jungle Ventures and Sequoia Capital India, the company said in a statement.
The startup has now raised over $150 million in equity since it was founded in 2019.
“Students love our truly unique one-stop approach to meeting their international education needs. This combined with the overall strong rebound in international student outflows post-covid has led to exponential growth for us. Over the next couple of years, more than five million students are expected to cross an international border to fulfil their global dreams. With the backing of marquee global investors, we continue to march forward on our mission to democratise access to quality global education and make these dreams a reality,” said Vaibhav Singh, co-founder of Leap.
Founded by Singh and Arnav Kumar, Leap, which runs LeapScholar, LeapFinance, and Yocket, is a full-stack international student mobility platform. The company runs the world’s largest online community of study abroad aspirants with over two million students.
Centred around the community, Leap offers a suite of products to cover an international student’s lifecycle. These include international test prep like IELTS, TOEFL, SAT, etc., admissions and visa counselling as well as financial offerings like international student loans, international bank accounts, credit cards, and money remittance services.
“Owl is thrilled to be working with Leap to create a transformative company that will impact generations of students around the world in their pursuit to access and afford high-quality international education opportunities. By simplifying an otherwise overwhelming process and helping students navigate all the steps of counselling, test-prep, and financing, Leap is well-positioned to support the increasing demand to go and study abroad as more countries and companies around the world are becoming further integrated into the global economy,” said Amit Patel, managing director, Owl Ventures.
In April, Leap announced a partnership with Colorado State University, USA bringing the university’s prestigious MCIS program to Indian students in a unique multi-geography hybrid format, at a much lower cost. More such innovative offerings are in the pipeline across Leap’s 750 plus global university partners. Earlier this year, the company expanded its presence into the Middle East, to help students in the region in their study abroad pursuits.
The startup claims to have helped over 175,000 students in their study abroad journey in the past 12 months.