Founders Of Zomato and Zerodha Back Aakash Chaudhry’s edtech Sparkl

Two months into his return as an entrepreneur, Aakash Chaudhry, a leading name in India’s education sector, has gained support from two major consumer tech leaders—Deepinder Goyal of Zomato and Nithin Kamath of zerodha—for his new venture, Sparkl Edventure. 

According to ET's report  Kamath’s Rainmatter, a fund focused on fintech and sustainability, is joining Goyal in a $4 million seed funding round, which is likely to bring in more prominent investors.

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In October, Aakash Chaudhry teamed up with Pavan Chauhan and Ritesh Hemrajani, founders of Meritnation.com (acquired by Aakash Educational Services Ltd. in 2020), to launch Sparkl. This comes three years after AESL’s $950 million sale to Byju’s, one of India’s biggest edtech deals. Despite the sale, Chaudhry still holds an 11% stake in AESL.

Sparkl offers customised one-on-one online tutoring for students in grades 6 to 12, focusing on International Baccalaureate (IB) and Cambridge curricula. The platform provides personalised lessons in subjects like math, science, languages, and business studies. With teachers already onboard, Sparkl has started enrolling students from cities like Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Pune, and Hyderabad, as well as Singapore. It plans to grow further using advanced technology.

Unlike AESL, which was a nationwide offline test prep giant with over 215 centers, Sparkl is a fully online platform offering tailored, personalised content. While AESL focuses on classroom coaching for engineering and medical entrance exams, Sparkl targets students following international curricula or aiming to study abroad.

About AESL

Aakash Chaudhry’s father, JC Chaudhry, started AESL in 1988 with one center in Janakpuri, Delhi. Over 30 years, the family grew it into India’s top test prep provider, helping over 250,000 students each year. In 2019, private equity firm Blackstone bought a 37.5% stake in AESL, valuing the company at $500 million.

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