PlayShifu secures $17M in Series B led by Inventus Capital India

Learning aid startup Playshifu has secured Rs 124 crore in its Series B round of funding, valuing it at Rs 480-500 crore. The new funding round was led by Inventus Capital India with Inflexor Ventures joining as a new investor. Existing investors — Chiratae Ventures and Bharat Innovation Fund also participated in the funding round.

Founded in 2016 by Vivek Goyal and Dinesh Advani, the startup makes educational toys powered by Augmented Reality (AR) to create a physical and digital learning experience for kids, especially in areas such as science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

Playshifu co-founder and CEO Vivek Goyal said the company will use the funds for research and development as it is planning to launch eight new products in 2021, and also for hiring skilled professionals. The company claims to have recorded 150 per cent growth in revenue for the third consecutive year and nearly doubled the team members from 60 in 2019 to 115 in 2020.

Its three series of products – Orboot, Plugo, and Tacto, have established PlayShifu as a top-recommended brand by parents, as justified by a repeat purchase rate of more than 43 percent, it stated.

“With screen time for children ages 4 to 9 averaging as high as five hours per day, we have a responsibility to help kids develop their early-learning skills in this digital age. Our products offer rich and variable content that engages children ten times better than the top 25 apps worldwide,” Goyal said.

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The company plans to expand its product range from 12 to 30 products to cover over 20 early-learning skills by 2022, he said. Notably, Playshifu has expanded its footprint from 15 countries in 2019, to 35 at present.

“As we continue to introduce new products to further the development of early-learning skills in Generation Alpha, we”ve partnered with several reputable retailers around the world to diversify our reach,” PlayShifu co-founder Dinesh Advani said.