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Online test preparation startup Toprankers has raised $4 Mn as part of its Series A funding round led by Sixth Sense Ventures.

The startup will use the funding to strengthen its current product line and launch new offerings. The startup will also use the funds to invest more in marketing and strengthening its technology platform, as per media reports. 

Toprankers also plans to hire nearly 160 teaching and non-teaching staff in the next 12 months.

Founded in 2014 by Gaurav Goel, Malay Sarkar and Mehbub Hussain, Toprankers focuses on aspirants in streams such as law, fashion, hotel management and architecture. The startup largely targets students outside the engineering and medical domains. 

“Over 15 Mn students appear for Grade 12 every year, with roughly 10% of them sitting for engineering and medical. The remaining 90 per cent are unclear about their career choices, we want to help this segment in making a clear choice about their career…”, Toprankers CEO Goel was quoted as saying.

The Bengaluru-based startup had last raised $670K in angel funding from CareerNet Consulting and Ideation Initiative. 

The startup claims to have trained more than 2 Lakh students so far and aims to reach a target of 10 Lakh students in the next three years.

The funding announcement comes at a time when more than 1.15 Mn aspirants applied for the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) 2022. The renewed interest and a growing appetite for non-medical and non-engineering courses have fueled the growth of startups such as Toprankers. 

According to a report, India’s test preparation market is poised to grow by $9.07 bn during 2022-2026 at a CAGR of 15.02%. The overall market size of the Indian edtech space is also expected to reach the $10.4 Bn mark by 2025, according to an Inc42 analysis.

Earlier this month, edtech platform PhysicsWallah became India’s 101st unicorn after raising $100 Mn in Series A funding round from Westbridge and GSV Ventures. Prior to that, edtech startup Cuemath raised $57 Mn in a funding round led by Alpha Wave. 

The fundraise comes at a time when many edtech startups have been hit by massive layoffs. In May, Vedantu laid off more than 10% of its workforce while edtech unicorn Unacademy laid off more than 1,000 employees in April this year.