UAE’s Alpha Waves invests in India’s Cuemath

  • UAE-based Alpha Wave has invested in Indian edtech Cuemath, as part of its recent fundraising estimate at $57 million, alongside other investors including Lightrock India, Sequoia Capital India, CapitalG, Manta Ray and Unitus.
  • Founded in 2013 by Manan Khurma, Cuemath is an after-school online maths programme for KG to 12th-grade students. The startup has embarked on an aggressive expansion strategy across the Middle East over the past year. 
  • The funds will fuel Cuemath’s plans to increase its offerings and initiatives, boost its acquisitions and partnerships, and expand into other regions by 2023.

Press release:

Cuemath, a global one-on-one online maths tutoring platform, has announced fundraising of $57 million in a fresh round led by Alpha Wave at a valuation of $407 million – a more than 2X jump in valuation. The funds will fuel strengthening product-pedagogy outcomes, hypergrowth initiatives, acquisition and partnerships, and catalyse its efforts to build a strong global maths brand.

Currently present in more than 70 countries, Cuemath aims to expand to over 100 countries by FY’23. This plan includes bolstering its presence in North America, APAC, the UK, Europe, Middle East and capturing markets in Africa and South America.

Responding to the latest investment, Vivek Sunder, CEO at Cuemath, commented, “Cuemath’s latest fundraise is a significant feat given the present industry trends. Valuations have become more realistic with rationalisation hitting the market; only those growth-stage startups with solid business fundamentals can now establish trust with VCs. Therefore, this substantial inbound interest from all our existing investors validates Cuemath as a knowledge expert in the global after-school maths tutoring market and signals acknowledgement of the developments over the past few quarters.

Cuemath has shown promising growth since the last funding. Product innovation and personalisation coupled with a low Capex model augmented our global scale-up and beefed our conversion rates by 3X. With the best-in-class retention and acquisition engine, we have created a powerful combination of a sustainable and scalable business model.”

Manan Khurma, Founder & Chairman of Cuemath said, “What distinguishes Cuemath from almost every other edtech company is that we focus on one thing and one thing only – deep maths learning outcomes. In every Cuemath class, the student experiences a powerful and personalized combination of a highly visual maths curriculum delivered by a rigorously-trained, caring teacher. This has enabled Cuemath to have one of the best retention rates in the industry (80%), with half of all new admissions happening via referrals. These industry-leading metrics encouraged all our investment partners to support us yet again in our global maths mission.”

Cuemath’s new funding round is a positive change in the industry, not only in terms of the investment size but also in investor participation. Led by Alpha Wave, this fundraising includes all their existing investors, including Lightrock India, Sequoia Capital India; Alphabet independent growth fund CapitalG; Manta Ray; and Unitus.

Anirudh Singh, MD at Alpha Wave Global commented “Cuemath’s ability to successfully deliver outstanding learning outcomes through its proprietary platform and top-tier pedagogy has continued to impress us. Not only in India, its success in key international markets like the US, UK, Middle East, and Singapore, while maintaining high-quality unit economics differentiates the company in a competitive and dynamic EdTech market. High-quality adept teachers addressing a global need for specialized focus on maths tutoring create a strong flywheel effect. We are excited to lead this investment as Cuemath deepens its penetration across global markets.” 

Divya Venkatavaraghavan, an investor at Lightrock India, commented, “Manan Khurma, Vivek Sunder, and the Cuemath team have built a student-first product, designed for the future of work and focused on learning outcomes. Cuemath’s quality of traction in 70 countries and its efforts to build a parent-centric engagement model has only strengthened our conviction in the team. We are honoured and privileged to support the team in its next growth phase.”

Surya Mantha, an investor at Unitus Ventures, commented, “We are thrilled with the tremendous progress that the Company has made along every dimension: product, global expansion, and human talent. It has all the ingredients for robust and sustained growth and is well on its way to becoming an admired global education brand. It is our privilege to reaffirm our confidence in the Company and invest afresh alongside some of the most respected global investors.”

Cuemath’s vision is to become the number one maths teaching platform globally, and its mission is to create the next generation of invincible problem solvers. Cuemath’s growth will be impactful and efficient rather than capital intensive. It will hyper-focus its efforts on delivering high-quality maths education to become a Global Maths Leader – nurturing the love of learning within students, earning parents’ loyalty, and creating an army of problem solvers across the globe.

Source : Wamda.com

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