[Funding Alert] Artha Venture Fund Leads Seed Round Investment In HobSpace The startup intends to transform the under-utilized school infrastructure into educational playgrounds and hobby centers with diverse after-school activities
By Prabhjeet Bhatla •
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Artha Venture Fund (AVF) led the seed round investment of INR 1.6 crore in HobSpace.
HobSpace is a platform for extra-curricular activities online and offline for kids between 3-14 years. It has partnered with schools and specialist trainers to provide training and conduct lessons based on children's hobbies and sports requirements.
Other investors in the round were Angelist India, Upsparks LLP, Siddharth Bhaskar Shah, Ronak Morbia, and Icebreaker Tech LLP
"At HobSpace, we are transforming out of school activities for kids. Right in our first meeting, we realized AVF's approach is central to help founders focus on key business metrics. We wanted a great partner who not only understands the space but is also willing to spend enough time with us while we build and scale this exciting business, and who better than AVF," said HobSpace co-founder Priya Goel Sheth.
The company aims to transform the under-utilized school buildings, playgrounds, building clubhouses, and community centers into educational playgrounds and hobby centers with diverse after-school activities. The children have a plethora of options to pick from, including indoor activities, ballet, chess and robotics.
"I have personally invested in this space, and it has vast potential. However, what I like about Hobspace founders is their focus on unit economics and business viability. Even during the Covid-19 pandemic, they have transformed their offline-model into an online model. Now, as the unlock is underway, Hobspace has two distribution channels to reach out to children and parents," added AVF managing partner Anirudh A. Damani.
Co-founded in 2019 by Sheth and Harsh Jain, and later joined by Bhaskar Raju Konduru, HobSpace quickly capitalized on time availability with kids and the changing needs of learning both in India and Internationally, during the lockdown. For the time being, it shifted focus to an online-only model and tapped into the international markets like the US, Singapore, Nepal, and the UAE.
Given its success from its online portal and offline centers, HobSpace plans to multiply its offline centers to reach out to the top 20 towns over the next year.
