LEAD is a school-focused edtech company that recently announced that it has raised $100 million in a Series E funding round led by private equity firm WestBridge Capital and GSV Ventures.

This round has valued the company at $1.1 billion, making it the first edtech company to enter the unicorn club in 2022.

This round is its fifth round of institutional funding since 2017.

LEAD plans to use the funds raised to achieve its vision of providing high quality and affordable education to 25 million plus students with an annual revenue run-rate of $1 billion. Its immediate focus is on product and curriculum innovation, growing its footprints and hiring talent across functions.

The company plans to serve students in lower fee schools and expand internationally in similar geographies in the long term.

“A child spends 6 hours in school and only 1 hour in tuitions. Transforming schools, when done right, has massive potential to alter our country’s future. LEAD, with its integrated school system has broken new ground in this direction,” said LEAD co-founders Sumeet Yashpal Mehta and Smita Deorah.

LEAD was founded by Sumeet Yashpal Mehta and SMita Deorah in 2012. It caims to be combining technology, curriculum, and pedagogy into an integrated system of teaching and learning, thus improving student learning outcomes and teacher performance in schools across the country.

LEAD reports that it has seen rapid adoption in the last 4 years and will enter the academic year of 2022-2023 with 5000 schools across 500+ cities in India with an annual revenue run-rate of $80 million. It will serve close to 2 million student.