Aakash Chaudhry, a leading name in India’s education sector, has made a high-profile entrepreneurial comeback with the launch of his new venture, Sparkl Edventure. Backing his latest foray are prominent consumer tech billionaires – Deepinder Goyal of Zomato and Nithin Kamath of Zerodha. According to reports, Kamath’s Rainmatter fund, along with Goyal, is participating in a $4 million seed funding round, which is expected to draw more marquee investors.
Sparkl’s Vision and Early Rollout
Sparkl, co-founded in October 2024 by Aakash Chaudhry along with Pavan Chauhan and Ritesh Hemrajani, founders of Meritnation.com, focuses on one-on-one online tutoring for students in grades 6 to 12. The platform specialises in International Baccalaureate (IB) and Cambridge curricula, offering personalised classes in subjects like mathematics, science, languages, and business studies.
Initially planned for a New Year launch, Sparkl advanced its timeline after completing product development ahead of schedule. The platform is already enrolling students from major Indian cities such as Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Pune, and Hyderabad, as well as from Singapore.
“The seed funding will be instrumental in scaling operations and enhancing tech capabilities,” said a source familiar with the developments.
Strategic Focus and Market Opportunity
Chaudhry’s move comes three years after his family business, Aakash Educational Services Ltd (AESL), was sold to Byju’s in a $950 million cash-and-stock deal. Despite the sale, Chaudhry retains an 11% stake in AESL, which was built by his father, JC Chaudhry, into a test prep powerhouse serving over 250,000 students annually.
Unlike AESL’s offline-first approach, Sparkl is a fully digital platform. It is designed to cater to students pursuing international curricula or aiming to study abroad, tapping into India’s $900 million IB/Cambridge market and a $2 billion global opportunity.
Sparkl also plans to integrate mental health and well-being support into its offerings. “Students face immense stress and peer pressure today. Sparkl will include monthly interactions with well-being coaches to address emotional and social challenges,” shared a source.
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The Road Ahead
India’s edtech landscape is highly competitive, especially in the premium K-12 tutoring and global test prep space. However, Chaudhry and his team are betting on Sparkl’s bespoke approach and tech-enabled solutions to stand out.
With industry stalwarts like Deepinder Goyal and Nithin Kamath backing the venture, Sparkl is poised to make significant inroads in both domestic and international markets.
