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India, June 08, 2023: Raising Superstars, a Mumbai-based early childhood EdTech company offering activity-based educational videos that empower parents to engage and teach children aged 0-6, has raised $ 2Mn in a Pre-Series A round from BLinC Invest, a venture capital fund focused on investing in the EdTech and FinTech space. This is the first institutional round for Raising Superstars. The company plans to use the funds to broaden its management team, increase its global presence by localising content, and invest in its technology.
Raising Superstars was founded in 2020 by Mr. Raghav Himatsingka, a Stanford University alumnus and former co-founder of Truckola Technologies, and Mrs. Shraddha Himatsingka, a Leeds University alumna and former parents’ consultant. The company believes that a child’s emotional and physical health, social skills, and cognitive-linguistic capacities are developed through early exposure and experiences. Owing to its revolutionary product and unstoppable entrepreneurial spirit, the company was featured in Shark Tank India in 2021.
Commenting on the fundraise, Mr. Raghav Himatsingka, Co-Founder & CEO of Raising Superstars, said, “This fundraise is an important milestone for us because it will help us expand our offerings (both vertically and horizontally) and serve our customers better around the world. We are grateful to the BLinC Invest team for expressing confidence in our product. We are excited about what lies ahead.”
Mr. Amit Ratanpal, Founder & MD, BLinC Invest, added, “The Early Childhood Care and Education report 2021 by BLinC Invest depicts a tremendous opportunity in this sector. We believe that Raising Superstars has created a new category in Early Childhood Development by providing a well-researched pedagogy for overall brain development in children between the age group of 0 to 6 years. Our research shows that the activities created by Raising Superstars for early brain development are deeply engaging and will contribute to the student’s future success in school, the workplace, and beyond.”
Industry Overview
Early Childhood Development is critical as maximum brain development occurs between ages 0 to 6 years. The UNICEF Report, ‘Early Moments Matter for Every Child’, states, “The science is clear: A child’s brain is built, not born. The process begins before birth and involves a complex interplay of neural connections shaped by experience and environment. In the early years, these neural connections occur at lightning speed – a speed never again repeated. They establish a foundation of development that will help children grow, learn, and thrive.”
Today, Early Childhood Development learning occurs primarily through informal channels like social media and initiatives taken by small parent communities. Despite being an important aspect of child development and a large opportunity of over $5 Bn, it still remains an unorganized market.
As per National Education Policy 2020, “Over 85% of a child’s cumulative brain development occurs before the age of 6, indicating the critical importance of appropriate care and stimulation of the brain in the early years to ensure healthy brain development and growth.”
About BLinC Invest
BLinC Invest is an INR 100 Cr venture capital fund based in Mumbai, India, that invests in EdTech and Fintech businesses. The fund, which was established by Mr. Amit Ratanpal, aims to make 5-7 investments with an average ticket size of INR 10-20 Cr in these two sectors and is focused on building a better tomorrow by leveraging the power of technology to build and strengthen products and services for the global Education and Finance sectors. The fund employs a co-founder approach by collaborating closely with its portfolio companies to help them scale and capitalise on the fund’s vast expertise in these two sectors.
About Raising Superstars
The Company Raising Superstars Enterprise Private Limited is an Edtech company that supports the belief that early childhood education is crucial to the long-term growth and development of every individual. Their conceived pedagogy for early childhood development focuses on nurturing positive relationships and a conducive environment for the child’s learning and growth.
The company counts over 500,000 parents as customers and has a presence in over 150 countries with a strong growth trajectory. Raising Superstars via “The Prodigy Framework” focuses on five learning objectives for the holistic development of child-like Intelligence, creativity, athleticism, the P-sense and the moral code with demonstrable and tangible results in each area. The company has created an app – called “Prodigy Baby” – that is amongst the top 3 Parenting App on the Play Store and a featured app on iOS App Store. It demonstrates various activities to be performed by parents for their babies, toddlers, and kids without any screen time for the child and with no pressures of any testing or benchmarking. The activities take less than 5 minutes a day to do but may lead to superior long-term developmental benefits for the child. In addition to this, parents also receive home activity kits which include colourful booster cards, reading material, memory cards etc. The company has launched a series of products ranging from 5 days to 6 months which parents can subscribe.
