Bengaluru-Based Playto Labs Raises Over INR 4 Cr Seed Round Led By Inflection Point Ventures The funds raised will be used in building a strong team and expanding its customer base

Education startup Playto Labs on Wednesday announced to have raised over INR 4 crore in a Seed round led by Inflection Point Ventures, one of India's largest angel investment platforms. The round also saw individual participation from partners of the upcoming fund Disruptors Capital, including Raj Snehil Juneja, Krishna Kumar (Simplilearn), Kunal Walia (Simpliwork) and Shashwat Kumar (Khetal Advisors), and entrepreneurs including Tonmoy Shingal and Ketan Kapoor (Mettl), Sachin Sharma (Townscript), Rajesh Razdan (Devtron Labs) and Kuldeep Dhankar (CleverTap) among others.

The funds raised will be used in building a strong team and expanding its customer base.

"Toys are a great way of learning for kids. My daughter (3 years old) has learned many things just by playing with toys, although she hasn't gone to pre-school due to Covid. But toys are unable to keep up with the learning needs of children as they grow up after 7 years of age. As a result, kids only depend on their school to learn. Through Playto Labs, we are building products to address this and make play a more relevant learning method for kids above 7 years. The goal is to make kids truly enjoy science and tech, and we believe that is how the real innovators of the future will emerge. We currently offer Robotics products for kids, and we are delighted with the feedback we have been receiving from students and parents across the globe. We are launching more products soon," said Pavan Ponnaganti, founder and chief executive officer, Playto Labs.

Playto Labs has a combination of hardware toys and online 1-1 sessions with teachers who act as facilitators. Their pedagogy makes students feel like they are playing vs studying and helps them become creative and innovative problem solvers. The team is passionate about experiential learning and has earlier built Skyfi Labs, where they developed over 100 classroom and online experiential learning programs for UG-level students in technology. These programs had more than 400,000 enrolments from 65 countries.

"Our children are growing in the age of technology and get comfortable with using gadgets much before they learn to speak. Playto model is helping parents and their children to harness technology in a much more positive way where kids are learning something new and keeping themselves engaged in a constructive manner. Given the technology exposure in India, this is a booming market which got us interested in backing Playto," shared Vinay Bansal, founder and chief executive officer, Inflection Point Ventures.

Within a year of launching, Playto Labs products for kids already have paying customers from 33 countries and have seen strong month-on-month growth. Kids love these products, and the same is evident as more than half of its customers have come from word of mouth and organic channels.

"The penetration of technology in the country has helped kids learn sooner than their age. Playto Labs is helping kids learn robotics with the right blend of toys, personal facilitators and gamification. Every assignment helps them connect to a real-life case study and that's really exciting. The concept is to make kids ready for the future, especially in the areas of product development and engineering. Engaging with these assignments, the startup is helping kids develop practical skills, which have today become extremely important along with their schooling. This unique approach increased our confidence to back Playto Labs," added Jignesh Kenia, lead investor, Inflection Point Ventures.

With the number of students in India studying in grades 1-7 join online learning (soon to cross 40 million), Playto Labs expects a strong demand for highly engaging products that kids love and will make them future-ready. In addition, Playto Labs also sees an excellent response for its products in the overseas markets. Globally, educational toys market is expected to reach $34 billion by 2025 as per a report by Orbis Research.