Leap, A Study-Abroad Startup Founded By IIT Grads, Raises $17 Million

Leap, a startup that helps students planning to study abroad, raised $17 million (about Rs 120 crore) in a growth round of equity funding led by Singapore-based Jungle Ventures and edtech-focused Owl Ventures.

Existing investor Sequoia Capital India, too, participated in the funding, according to a statement. The company aims to use the capital to expand its product portfolio, strengthen its team and reach more geographies. So far, it has expanded operations to Canada, the U.K. and Australia.

The fresh investment, coming less than a year after Leap raised $5.5 million in a round led by Sequoia Capital, takes the total capital raised by the startup to $22.5 million.

The opportunity is huge, according to Amit Anand, founding partner at Jungle Ventures. India is the second-largest market globally for overseas enrolment, and in just a decade overseas higher education annual enrolments from the country are up more than 300%, he said in the statement.

Last month, its peer LeverageEdu bagged $6.5 million to double down on expansion.

Founded in 2019 by two IIT grads, Vaibhav Singh and Arnav Kumar, Leap offers counseling and visa services, education loans and other financial products for students.

“Our mission is to make global education and careers more accessible to meritorious Indian students," Singh said in the statement. "We are unlocking access to financial products and career services which international students are traditionally locked out of."

The firm also offers an international bank account through which students get a working U.S. bank account and debit card while in India. It is now working to launch a credit card for international students

The firm said it has so far helped more than 20,000 students study abroad in the past year and aims to serve 150,000 in the current year.

“There is a clear need for a one-stop, global student mobility platform—right now the value chain is fragmented and a student has to interact with several entities in their study abroad journey,” Amit Patel, managing director at Owl Ventures, said in the statement.