WizKlub an ed-tech startup based out of Bengaluru has raised its seed round funding of ₹7 crore. With ₹2 crore raised earlier, this startup that was floated in 2018 has raised ₹9 crore in all. The investment in this round has come from Incubate Fund India and Insitor Impact Asia Fund.
WizKlub deals with the after-school education for kids and its focus is on developing the cognitive skills and creative thinking of children in the age group of 5 years to 15 years. WizKlub calls its programme HOTS which stands for Higher Order Thinking Skills.
Though school education in the Indian context has improved by leaps and bounds in the past few decades with the NCERT-based syllabus considered as good as any international level curriculum, not all children are able to receive education through the CBSE system. Schools teaching the state-level matriculation or other adapted syllabus do not provide the right environment required for the growth of cognitive skills in children. This has opened up the opportunity for companies like WizKlub to train children in some of the life-skills they require to be competitive in their sphere of activity.
WizKlub uses a lot of technology like AI to design its training modules and children are taught to create tech products by application of coding, robotics, smart devices and AI. The startup has 150+ centres in Bengaluru and has progressed to 3000+ children through its programs. They want to enhance this number to 10,000+ children over the next few months.
Incubate Fund India is a Japan based VC fund and Insitor Impact Asia Fund is based out of Singapore. Both the investors have expressed their confidence in WizKlub having an impact on the children they help to develop. The market in India for special education and skill development programmes for students is estimated to be around $15 billion. A large part of the native education system still depends on the “rote learning” mode where the natural thinking process of children is not allowed to be developed.
Amit Bansal, Founder & CEO, WizKlub, said, “Supplemental education beyond curriculum is the greatest need in the Indian education system today and we are addressing this area with our research-based learning programs. Technology is transforming the world at an unprecedented pace, which necessitates children of this generation to be lifelong learners and adept problem solvers. Further, this generation needs to grow up with the confidence to be creators than just being passive consumers of technology. Our HOTS and SmartTech programs are designed for maximum impact in these areas. We are grateful to our investors for supporting our efforts to empower young children in this rapidly changing world.”