'Curiosity Learning Platform' QShala Raises INR 2.7 Cr From Zerodha-Backed Rainmatter and Others

Walnut Knowledge Solutions (parent company of Qshala), company that offers out-of-school learning solutions to students through quizzing, has raised INR 2.7 crore in angel funding led by Zerodha-backed investment fund Rainmatter Capital and Mindtree co-founder Kalyan Banerjee.

A clutch of other angel investors, including former director of Lowe Lintas Preeti Sawhney, co-founder of Ubiquity Capital Nikhil Bhandarkar, Sanjay Tambwekar, CTO of end-to-end gifting solutions company Qwikcilver, former vice president of Oracle India Suresh Kumar Pinglay and Akshita Ganesh, product and strategy lead of Reforge, among others also participated in the round.

Former college-mates Sachin Ravi and Raghav Chakravarthy, both of whom share mutual interest of quizzing, founded Walnut Knowledge Solutions in 2014 with the intent to help children develop curiosity and come to love with quizzing, just as they do.

It aims to keep the spirit of curiosity and lifelong learning alive in students. "Children have an innate curiosity that is slowly lost as they fall into habits of rote learning and use exam performance as an indicator of progress," a blogpost on Qshala website said. "QShala works with children across all ages to help them acquire a mindset of lifelong learning."

The startup has designed programs for children from Class 1 onwards, which use questions along with comprehension, context building, listening, storytelling and other activities to help kids construct a framework of how to think. The "Quriosity Curriculum" is designed to nurture and nourish imagination and curiosity while focusing on learning that goes way beyond the school curriculum, the company claims.

"We are delighted with the support we have received from Rainmatter Capital and other investors. These investments reinforce our belief in QShala's curriculum, learning experience, and the platform through which we address the need for developing skills and aptitudes in young minds," Chakravarthy said.

The Bengaluru-based startup will deploy the fresh capital to expand its footprint to more cities across India and the world, to cater to children in the age group of eight to 16 years.

Commenting on the deal, Nithin Kamath, founder and CEO, Zerodha, said, "It is important for children to develop critical and lateral thinking from a young age much beyond their classroom framework in today's world. We are rapidly moving towards subjective learning where they would need to build a skill set actually required for employability in the future. We have always been big believers in the philosophy of constant upskilling and retraining. Rainmatter is glad to partner with like-minded people focused on helping kids build these skill sets."