Telecom major Bharti Airtel on Wednesday announced it has acquired a strategic 10 per cent stake in edtech startup Lattu Kids as part of the Airtel Startup Accelerator Programme.
Mumbai-based Lattu Kids specialises in digital learning tools for children and the investment would give distribution scale to quality-learning material from the app, the company said in a statement.
Lattu Media (Lattu Kids) specialises in digital learning tools for children, and the app focuses on improving English vocabulary, English reading and Maths skills for children under the age of 10 years through animated videos and games.
“We believe that Lattu Kids can make a positive impact in the space of online education and are excited to have them in our accelerator and partner in their growth,” said Adarsh Nair, Chief Product Officer, Bharti Airtel.
While the financial details of the deal were not disclosed, Bharti Airtel – in a regulatory filing – said the acquisition of the equity shares of investee company is done at mutually agreed pre-money enterprise valuation.
It is estimated that in India, edtech will become a $2 billion industry by 2021.
“With Airtel, we have found an equally passionate partner and our synergies in this space will allow us to scale Lattu to millions of kids in India across classes and make it a much-loved home grown edTech brand,” said Vivek Bhutyani, Co-founder and CEO, LattuKids.
Lattu Kids has become the fourth company to join the Airtel Startup Accelerator Programme. Airtel has over 160 million monthly active users across its digital platforms – Airtel Thanks app, Airtel Xstream app and Wynk Music.