Leading Silicon Valley firm invests in Bangladeshi education startup

Published at 10:53 am September 18th, 2020

File photo of children running with books in their hand at a school in Hathazari, Chittagong Dhaka Tribune

The Shikho app will offer students the ability to learn at their own pace with content accessible from anywhere and anytime at a fraction of the cost of traditional classroom learning

LearnStart, the seed fund of Silicon Valley based global education technology (Ed-Tech) investor, Learn Capital, has confirmed an early investment into Singapore-Bangladesh incorporated Ed-Tech, Shikho.

The Shikho app will offer students the ability to learn at their own pace with content accessible from anywhere and anytime at a fraction of the cost of traditional classroom learning.

Students can learn by watching engaging and contextual animated video lessons, attend interactive live classes delivered by expert teachers and revise concepts using topic-specific summaries.

Don Burton, managing and founding partner at LearnStart said: “Learn Capital only invests in world class Ed-Tech companies. We felt that the standard of teaching, quality of production and features within the app, would not only resonate with students but provide parents in Bangladesh with a powerful new tool to help their children achieve their learning goals. Our judgement is that Shikho exceeds our world class standards in providing a turn-key solution for Bangladeshi families and most markets do not actually have access to such a local provider.”

Learn Capital is considered the first and leading global education technology venture capitalist (VC). The VC has invested in numerous lighthouse companies in the space which are valued at $1 billion or close to it. Their portfolio of companies includes unicorns such as VIPKID in China alongside more internationally recognized brands such as Udemy and Coursera to name a few.

The investment marks the first institutional funding round for a Bangladeshi Ed-Tech and validates Shikho’s vision of using technology to democratize access to an affordable, holistic and personalized learning solution for a growing total addressable market of 35 million students across primary, secondary, and tertiary education in Bangladesh.

Shikho plans to formally launch the mobile Learning App with the Secondary School Certificate, Class 9 and 10 General Maths curriculum, in the coming months.