Edtech Startup Creative Galileo Raises $2.5 Mn In A Round Led By Kalaari Capital The funds will be used to expand across Southeast Asia and integrate local languages within the platform
By Prabhjeet Bhatla •
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Singapore-headquartered edtech startup Creative Galileo recently announced that it has raised $2.5 million in a round led by Kalaari Capital. Other investors include prominent angel investors, such as Harish Bahl (Smile Group), Shashin Shah (Think Investments), JineshPatel (Integra Partners), Atul Nishar (Hexaware Technologies Limited), Ashwin Puri (Headspin, and Facebook), and Giridhar Malpani.
The capital will be used for scaling, product development and enhancement, creating new engaging content, forging partnerships with leading animation houses, and hiring talent.
"Early childhood learning lies at the heart of a kid's future and greatly determines their long-term success. We envision providing millions of children in emerging markets in Southeast Asia with access to high-quality content for learning in their early years to provide a robust educational foundation, while also keeping the process fun. Alongside enhancing our app by adding more kids' characters and region-specific languages, the funding helps us onboard talent and enter new markets. This will propel our efforts to create more personalized, inclusive, and relatable content that helps with the early development of children," shared Prerna A. Jhunjhunwala, founder, Creative Galileo.
Since its launch in 2020, Creative Galileo's app has achieved more than four million downloads and over half a million active users.
The proof-of-concept of Creative Galileo's proprietary "Kids Early Learning App' was built during the escalation of the COVID-19 pandemic – garnering over a million downloads at no customer acquisition cost soon afterward. The company has also become the first portfolio company of CXXO, a Kalaari Capital initiative championing the next generation of women founder-CEOs to promote inclusive growth.
Creative Galileo's immediate expansion plans will focus on scaling up in emerging markets within Southeast Asia, where it will integrate local languages from the region, such as Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Malaysia, into the app. The company intends to make its offerings more accessible to a larger population while retaining the app's user experience.
Apart from the Indian subcontinent, the app is also gaining traction in international markets, with 10 per cent downloads recorded from Nepal, Bangladesh, UAE, the USA, and other countries.
"At Kalaari we believe that technology in learning can bring unmatched access and affordability and improve literacy for a much larger target segment. Technology as a means of transformation led by passionate founders designed for the next generation of young digitally native learners is what Creative Galileo stands for. When we met Prerna and Nikhil, we truly saw them as shapers of a digital tomorrow building the EdTech solutions for global learners of the future. We are also proud that Creative Galileo is our first investee from our flagship CXXO Program that we launched earlier this year," added Vani Kola, founding and managing director, Kalaari Capital.
Over the next 12-14 months, Creative Galileo aims to achieve ten million downloads across all markets. The company has also partnered with leading industry players and studios for kids' content such as Big Animation, Toonz Animation, Amar Chitra Katha, Shemaroo, and Periwinkle to continue providing quality content, gamification, and interactive learning journeys.
