AI-Powered Childcare Management Startup illumine Bags $2.5 Mn

AI-powered childcare management startup illumine has secured $2.5 Mn (INR 21.68 Cr) in a seed funding round from Prime Venture Partners.

The startup plans to use the fresh capital to boost product development and expand its global footprint. illumine also looks to focus on innovation, educator empowerment and helping childcare owners scale up their businesses.

Founded in 2018 by Navneet Rastogi, Sourabh Agarwal and Purva Goyal, illumine was established to address the prime challenge of quality childcare operating with disjointed systems and outdated manual processes. The Bengaluru-based startup solves the issue by offering a vertical AI SaaS platform built specifically for childcare.

“Whether it’s a single preschool or a multi-center operation, the system is built to flex and adapt to each centre’s unique needs,” Goyal said.

illumine claims that this platform is currently used by more than 3,000 centres across 56 countries, including the US, UAE, Southeast Asia, Europe, and India.

Since its inception, the startup has raised $800K in angel investment from undisclosed investors.

The development comes at a time when the edtech sector has been seeing a slow-paced revival in gaining investors’ interest after the grand downfall in 2022.

With the end of the pandemic era and offline mode of education resumed, edtech startups were heavily hit by the funding winter, internal squabbles, lax corporate governance guardrails, high cash burn and no clear focus on profitability and sustainable growth, making it risky for investors to make their bets until last year.

As per Inc42’s Annual Funding Report 2024, Indian edtech startups raised more than $568 Mn in 2024, up from $283 Mn in 2023. Even as the capital raised cumulatively surged, the deal count plunged over 38% to 29 in the year under review from 47 in 2023.

However, the investors have been lately encouraged by the sector’s adoption of AI, encouraging them to bet on their innovative offerings.

Based on recent Inc42 data, Karnataka has emerged as a key hub for India’s edtech sector, leveraging its strong technological infrastructure, skilled workforce and progressive government policies.

Karnataka’s 17.1K+ DPIIT recognised startups include major edtech players such as Vedantu, Cuemath, Leap Scholar, Teachmint and Thinkerbell Labs.

Earlier this year, Bengaluru-based overseas education startup Leap secured $65 Mn as a part of its Series E funding exercise to further double down on our product development and existing offerings.

Following which, Centre for Teacher Accreditation (Centa) raised INR 20 Cr to scale up its operations and strengthen its technology stack.

Looking ahead, Inc42 estimates a potential decline in edtech funding to $400 Mn in 2025, signalling cautious investor sentiment.

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