February 8th, 2023, (Bangalore): Bluelearn, India’s premier social learning platform, has secured $3.5 Million in seed funding, with Elevation Capital and Lightspeed leading the round. Other investors include Titan Capital, 2am VC, Meesho founders Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal, Pixxel’s Awais Ahmed, Private Equity’s Vivek Mohan, and more. This latest funding follows previous rounds led by Lightspeed and 100x VC.
Founded by Harish Uthayakumar and Shreyans Sancheti during their time at BITS Pilani, Goa, Bluelearn has grown from a Telegram channel for students to assist each other to a community of over 150,000 members from 5,500 colleges and startups in 20+ countries, with a growth rate of 30% month-on-month.
Recently, Bluelearn launched Bluelearn Work, a platform for internships and freelancing that matches top talent with companies seeking to hire quickly. In just two months, over 1100 companies and individuals have posted gigs and internships, attracting over 30,000 applications.
Commenting on the fundraise, Shreyans Sancheti, Co-founder, Bluelearn said, “People are at the core of everything we do, from our team to the entire community. With the new capital we plan on accelerating our market expansion to newer and previously untapped markets in India and globally. By strengthening our core tech and product teams we will continue building impactful products that help people grow in their careers and lives.
Harish Uthayakumar, Co-founder, Bluelearn added “Over our journey, we have witnessed that a lot of our community members have started companies together, started freelancing, found internships, made life-long friendships, and met mentors all on Bluelearn. The company is enabling previously unimaginable possibilities, and with this fresh round of funds, we will continue to grow”.
Many students and young professionals lack opportunities to broaden their horizons beyond their academic curriculum and enhance their soft skills. Bluelearn aims to bridge this gap by offering comprehensive learning experiences through a supportive community. The platform hosts major events, such as Q&As with renowned entrepreneurs, gaming competitions, musical concerts, hackathons, and features micro-niche communities like the finance club, coding club, and over 20 more.
Amit Aggarwal, Principal at Elevation Capital said, “We are firm believers that the future of learning will be social, as learners are actively engaged and it’s just more fun in a collaborative setup. Bluelearn is uniquely building both a social network and a learning destination by bringing together communities of young learners, anchored around shared interest areas. We envision that Bluelearn will be the social learning destination for networking, upskilling and discovering the first employment opportunity for Gen Z.”
Rohil Bagga, Investor at Lightspeed said, “At Lightspeed, we believe that the future of learning is social & community-based and have been fortunate to partner with Bluelearn from day one. Over the last couple of years, the platform has grown to become one of India’s largest digital communities of students, presenting its members with unique opportunities to learn new skills, connect with like minded folks and participate in the formal workforce via gigs & internships. We feel excited to continue supporting the incredible team at Bluelearn in their mission to redefine the digital learning landscape!”
With the recent funding of $3.5 million in a seed round led by Elevation Capital and Lightspeed, Bluelearn has outlined its plans for growth. The funds will be used to enhance the product and build the team, with a goal to expand the community by 10 times within the year. Bluelearn is actively recruiting in several key areas such as product development, technology, marketing, and operations, and aims to nearly double the team size by the end of the year.
