When schools drop out: Why edtech LEAD is struggling to find followers

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Bengaluru: By focusing on learning through comprehension rather than by rote, husband-wife duo Sumeet Mehta and Smita Deorah, who founded LEAD Group in 2012, hoped to revolutionize K-12 education in small towns. Their goal was to bridge the knowledge gap in children from less privileged backgrounds.

While most companies in the education space tried to take schools online, their unique model focused on making classroom education efficient by harnessing technology and following a multi-modal (using multiple teaching methods) approach. But that model is struggling today. During the covid pandemic, when schools were forced to close their doors, demand for the services of edtechs soared.

LEAD pivoted to become an online school connecting teachers with students through its platform. By June 2021, the company had around ₹300 crore worthof contracts signed, according to a former employee. The next year, it raised $100 million in a Series E funding round led by Westbridge Capital and GSV Ventures, which valued the edtech at $1.1 billion, making it a unicorn.

LEAD’s revenue increased from ₹133 crore in FY22 to ₹273 crore in FY23, while losses narrowed from ₹395 crore to ₹322 crore. While LEAD started out well, things haven’t quite gone according to the script in the last three years. “We were acquiring schools left, right and centre, and when covid ended, we thought LEAD would actually do good, but they didn’t do that well," the former executive cited above said.

Corroborating this, five former and two current company executives Mint spoke with said school enrolment numbers at LEAD have stagnated. Mehta, too, admits there have been school dropouts and acceptance has been a problem. But he