Edtech SaaS (software as a service) startup Toddle on January 10 said it has raised $17 million led by Sequoia Capital India in its series A round that saw participation from Tenacity Ventures and Trifecta Capital along with existing investors Matrix Partners, Beenext, and Better Capital.

This comes as B2C (business-to-customer) K12 (kindergarten through standard 12) online edtech startups in India have been suffering post-pandemic with demand falling, while those operating in the B2B (business-to-business) edtech segment witnessed tailwinds of growth with schools more open to adopting innovation.

“A significant part of this (the fund raised) would be used in product development and furthering the growth initiative. So far, we have focused on content, design, and community initiatives. Going forward, we intend to double down on that as well as start experimenting with go-to-market efforts,” said Deepanshu Arora, co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Toddle, in a virtual interaction with Moneycontrol.

Arora also said the company plans to hire for 70 to 80 positions in the next four to five months. “Few senior roles are critical for us like a VP (vice president) of marketing, VP of sales, Head of people, to build a leadership team,” he said. The company, however, did not disclose details on its valuation post the funding round.

Founded in 2019 by a team of educators Arora, Gautam Arora, Misbah Jafary, Nikhil Poonawala, and Parita Parekh, Toddle is an edtech SaaS startup. The startup’s first product is a teaching and learning platform used by independent schools offering IB (International Baccalaureate) and other progressive curricula, it said.

“We are really focused on the absolute top echelons of the school ecosystem and therefore, we feel, this is an all-weather business,” Arora said.

The company has recently expanded its product offering to other international curricula such as Cambridge, British, and American, and will soon be launching a product for preschools, it said.

The Toddle platform is currently used by over 40,000 educators from more than 1,500 schools, which includes both free and paid customers, in over 100 countries, the company added. Today, Toddle is operating in countries like the US, UK, Australia, China, and the UAE.

Arora said the company has had a global outlook from day one. “About 40 percent of our revenues come from North and South America combined, about 30 percent comes from Europe and the Middle East, and the rest comes from the Asia Pacific. Within that India is about seven to eight percent of our revenue,” he said.

“The Toddle founders’ passion for education is palpable and has grown on us in the several years that we have known them. They have poured this passion into building a product that is widely loved by educators around the world. Their school-led approach is refreshing and we are thrilled to partner with them in their quest to transform teaching and learning,” said Ashish Agrawal, managing director of Sequoia Capital India.

According to the latest data available on the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) website, Toddle’s revenue for FY21 fell to Rs 9.4 crore from Rs 14.6 crore in the previous fiscal.

“In 2019, we were at about 50 paid schools, in 2020, it was at about 180-190, in 2021 it was around 400 and then in 2022, we have around 800 paying customers. We are doubling our base every year,” Arora added.

The company also recorded a loss of Rs 0.2 crore in FY21 over a profit of Rs 1 crore in the previous fiscal. Toddle, however, has not made its FY22 statements public yet.

Before the current round, the company had raised a total funding of $2.95 million over three rounds.