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English learning startup for 3–12-year-olds Freadom has raised $2.5 Mn in a fresh funding round led by Capital A and a slew of other individual investors.

Bollywood star Tiger Shroff, BharatPe founder Ashneer Grover, V-Mart Retail founder Lalit Agarwal and Global PayU CFO Aakash Moondhara also participated in this round of funding. The round also saw participation from Freadom’s existing investors including Unreasonable Capital, Quantiphi, and Singapore Angels.

The funding will be used in product development and distribution, and also to further strengthen the startup’s vertical presence.

The startup, founded in 2016 by Kavish Gadia and Nikhil Saraf, uses AI and data science to drive English language learning. It allows children to learn to read in English in any country where it is an aspirational second language. It claims to be on track to reach 10 Mn readers and contribute 2 Bn reading minutes in 2022. In addition, the startup aims to have 50 Mn users worldwide by 2023.

Freadom cofounder Nikhil Saraf said, “The goal is to create impact at scale and prioritise long-term learning outcomes over short-term gains.” 

Adding to that, Capital A CEO, Ankit Kedia said, “This investment in the Edutech domain is our first one and we are extremely upbeat about the potential of this segment in the years ahead – a growth that has also been induced by the pandemic.”

The startup’s parent company, Stones2Milestones had raised $2.5 Mn in funding last year.

In the last two years, Indian edtech startups have witnessed high investor interest with about $4.7 Bn being raised by edtech startups in 2021 alone. India also saw the entry of 3 edtech startups entering the unicorn club.