Leap, a leading global platform enabling students to achieve their international education and career aspirations, today announced the successful completion of its series E funding round. The company has raised USD 65 million in a mix of primary and secondary equity led by Apis Partners. Existing investors Owl Ventures, Jungle Ventures and Peak XV Partners also participated in the round. The latest investment marks a significant milestone in Leap’s mission to simplify and empower global education journeys.
Avendus Capital acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Leap and its shareholders on this transaction.
Founded in 2019, Leap is South Asia’s largest study abroad platform. It runs LeapScholar, LeapFinance, GeeBee and Yocket and provides a full-stack international student mobility platform offering end-to-end services for students pursuing international education and careers. The company runs the world’s largest online community of study abroad aspirants. Centered around the community, Leap offers an array of products to cover an international student’s lifecycle. These include international test prep like IELTS, TOEFL, SAT, etc., admissions and visa counselling as well as financial offerings like international student loans. Leap offers counselling services, visa services, education loans, and other modern financial products and solutions tailored for international students.
Since its inception, Leap has grown exponentially, establishing itself as a trusted partner for students and institutions alike. The platform’s unique approach combines human expertise with AI-powered tools to offer personalized guidance and solutions. This has led to over 1 million students served and partnerships with 1000+ leading educational institutions globally.
Vaibhav Singh, Co-Founder of Leap said, “Students love Leap’s one stop approach to their international education needs. We have witnessed 5x growth since our series D two years ago. Today, Leap is not only the study abroad platform of choice in India, but is fast establishing itself as a global leader with scaling operations in 10+ countries. Building for the world from India is something we are very proud of. This investment from marquee investors further bolsters our ambitions and we are even more committed to our mission of democratizing access to quality global education.”
“Having built the underlying infrastructure for global student mobility, Leap has now proven scale across multiple dimensions. We have launched many industry-first products and experiences to make the student journey seamless. Ensuring student success is why we exist and the AI revolution we are seeing today will allow us to continue to deepen our existing offerings at a faster pace than ever before,” said Arnav Kumar, Co-Founder of Leap, commenting on the company’s plans.
Matteo Stefanel, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Apis Partners commented, “We are thrilled to partner with Leap and to support its transformative approach to global education. Leap is using technology to not only help students find and access the right educational opportunities but also equip them with the tools to succeed. As such, we believe Leap’s mission aligns closely with Apis’ commitment to driving financial inclusion.”
Udayan Goyal, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Apis Partners added, “Embedded finance is a key investment theme for Apis which has the ability to transform lives. We have been very impressed with the rate at which Leap has already scaled since inception, serving thousands of students across 10 countries. This new partnership offers Apis an exciting opportunity to support Leap as it further expands its reach and continues to make a difference to its target demographics.”
Amit Patel, Managing Director, Owl Ventures said, “Having funded close to USD 200 million in student loans and secured partnerships with thousands of universities globally and counting, Leap is the de facto platform that students from around the world are relying on to help make their education study abroad dreams a reality. The pursuit of a global education is one of the biggest decisions students will make in their lifetime, and Leap has emerged as the trusted partner to provide comprehensive help as students navigate this incredibly complicated process.”
Yash Sankrityayan, Managing Partner, SE Asia investments, Jungle Ventures said, “Leap has continued to scale profitably but more importantly, also expand regionally to prove that they are building for a global demand. Jungle Ventures is proud to invest behind the Leap team again and support them to continue to build the most trusted, end-to-end, global education access company.”
Varun Gupta, MD and Head SEA, Digital and Technology Investment Banking, Avendus Capital added, “We are thrilled to partner with Leap for this transaction. Leap has scaled to become a leading player in the study-abroad landscape globally in a short span by building a full-stack tech platform and productising the entire study abroad value chain from counselling to financing. Leap is one of the few players with multi-destination, multi-product offerings and thereby strong resilience. This transaction demonstrates that investor interest continues to remain strong for EdTech businesses with strong growth and profitability.”
About Avendus
Avendus Group is a leading financial services firm with a presence in the areas of Investment Banking, Institutional Equities, Wealth Management, Credit Solutions and Asset Management. Established in 1999 in Mumbai, India, Avendus is today present in 10 cities across India, US and Singapore. Avendus partners with the Indian entrepreneur ecosystem to provide differentiated solutions that enable clients to meet their strategic aspirations.
Avendus Capital, the investment banking arm, is consistently ranked among the top investment banks in the country on the back of its in-depth domain understanding and a best in the class track record of domestic and cross-border transactions. Avendus’ wide range of clients is testimony to its ability to serve its corporates throughout their life cycle – from growth stage funding to large-sized transactions, M&A advisory and access to public markets.
Avendus Capital Inc., New York and Avendus Pte Ltd., Singapore are both Avendus Group entities offering services to clients in the US and Southeast Asia respectively.
For more information, please visit www.avendus.com
