Palo Alto-based education start-up Stoodnt – which helps students aspiring to study abroad by connecting them with high-quality college admission counsellors, and providing guidance, insights and online tools – has raised an undisclosed amount in funding from Rajan Anandan, Vice-President, Google, South-East Asia and India.
Anandan has emerged as the most prolific angel investor in India. He primarily invests in early-stage technology companies in sectors like the internet, mobile and software.
The funds will be used to enhance the user experience, for product development and to expand the user and brand base.
Launched in 2016 by Harvard Business School Alumni, Ajay Singh and Yuri Punj, and software entrepreneur Sena Palanisami, Stoodnt recently started operations in India, its first international market. The company recently appointed Ramdas Sunder, another Alumni of Harvard Business School, with more than 20 years’ of experience in engineering, consulting and management roles with companies such as Pitney Bowes, Freescale Semiconductor and McKinsey Consulting, as Managing Director of India and South Asia.
So far, the company has raised seed investment from number of angel investors and senior executives with Fortune 500 companies in India and USA. During the first four months of operation, Stoodnt has engaged thousands of students on its platform from 50 or more countries, and is providing counselling and guidance to tens of students aspiring for undergraduate, graduate and MBA admissions in the US and Canada. Company plans to launch counselling services for UK, Australia and other markets in the near future.
“The college admission market is highly fragmented, low-tech and fraught with fraud, biased advice and quality issues in international markets. The focus of our platform is to provide insights, online help and college admission expert guidance by leveraging data, technology and people. We provide solutions that make life easier for students and parents during the college admission process, and helps them make the best decision and get the best outcome. We are delighted to have someone like Rajan be associated with this opportunity to make a difference in the future of millions of aspiring students,” said co-founder Ajay Singh.
Stoodnt is a global online platform, focusing on helping millions of students fulfil their aspiration of studying abroad. It makes the admission process objective, convenient and productive. It has a rigorous process for on boarding and training college admission counsellors, and tools built in to monitor service quality.
The number of students from India studying abroad is increasing consistently, growing by 10% in 2015. India had approximately 4 lakh students studying abroad in 2015, about 25% of them in US colleges. India has the youngest population in the world, and with growing global aspirations and focus on education, the number of students going abroad for higher studies is expected to double over next few years.
“In today’s world of smartphones, easily accessible Internet technology and global expertise, we believe every student should be able to get quality advice, help and guidance at affordable prices to achieve their college dreams. A technology-enabled platform that makes the process of interaction, communication and collaboration seamless, productive, transparent and of high-quality was the need of the hour,” said Singh.