Edlyft raises over $1.4 million venture capital during pandemic

Edlyft, an EdTech startup, has so far raised over $1.4 million in venture funding from a number of investors.

The investors include Kleiner Perkins, Y Combinator, Kapor Capital, Village Global VC, January Ventures, and Backstage Capital. Also, funding came from some respectable entrepreneurs such as Jeff Weiner (former CEO, now Executive Chairman of LinkedIn).

It is practically impossible to run a business without capital, and sometimes, it is difficult to raise funds if the business is not well managed or successful.

Therefore, a balance must be struck; just as businesses strive to raise more funds for different purposes such as expansion, they must also strive to remain profitable.

In a statement explaining the latest development, one of the co-founders of the group, Erika Hairston said:

“We started our post-demo-day fundraise in the final weeks of Y Combinator’s winter 2020 batch. Given that Black women receive only 0.06% of venture funding, I had a determined mindset; yet no one could’ve predicted the challenges of rising at the peak of uncertainty across the globe.

“I remained optimistic however because due to pandemic and children and young people not being able to go to schools and universities, our work only became that much more needed in the world.”

She added, “Initially, it felt impossible to build new relationships with institutional funds who didn’t already know us or who weren’t focusing only on their portfolio. As the world adjusted to fully remote, so did we and the investor community. One of the fun facts about our fundraising journey is that 10% of our investors came solely from introductions over Twitter.”

Edlyft is a paid support platform that helps college students and adult learners through CS courses, by pairing them with inclusive mentors, online group tutoring, and tools for navigating complex subjects.

Venture capital is a form of private equity and a type of financing that investors provide to startup companies and small businesses that are believed to have long-term growth potential.