Kyt raises $2.5 million in funding from Surge

Edtech platform Kyt on Monday said it has raised $2.5 million (about Rs 18.5 crore) in funding from Sequoia Capital India's Surge to expand its online-first global academy for extracurricular learning. 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.

Founded in June this year, Kyt leverages technology to provide online-only live lessons to children from 5 to 15 years old. To date, over 1,000 students have taken a course or attended workshops with Kyt, and the platform has more than 20 teachers onboard.

The company plans to increase its teacher base to 500 over the next 12 months and add more courses, including chess, various musical instruments, public speaking, creative writing, and how to be a content creator, a statement said.


"After speaking to several parents, we realised that there is a much larger need to provide high-quality courses that focus on the holistic and all-round development of the child, beyond just academics. With a strong team of curriculum designers, pedagogy experts and education consultants, we embarked on this vision to build an online-first, global academy for extracurricular learning for kids," Kyt co-founder and CEO Bhavik Rathod said.

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 $10 billion in India alone, and around $200 billion globally, Rathod added.

"While most learnings 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," he said.

Kyt connects students to global educators, including Indian Chess Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi, Philippines' hip-hop legend Ruel Varindani and celebrity yoga instructor Sabrina Merchant.

With head offices in India and Singapore, Kyt was founded by husband-wife duo Bhavik Rathod (former Uber India executive) and Tripti Ahuja.