The funding will accelerate AI-powered personalized learning tools, deepen hyperlocal community-led expansion, and strengthen Upkraft’s technology and operations teams. Bengaluru-basedUpkraft,an AI-powered extracurricular learning platform, has raised₹1.6 crore in a pre-seed funding roundled byPedalStart. The round comprises a curated group of angel investors, entrepreneurs, operators, and early-stage ecosystem participants who share Upkraft’s vision of transforming extracurricular learning through technology and hyperlocal delivery. Co-founded by Tejasvi Singh Kushwah, Varun Mangal and Kritika Varandani, Upkraft delivers expert-led structured, world-class extracurricular learning at homes, in societies, and in schools. The capital raised will be deployed by Upkraft to accelerate AI product development, including personalised learning, practice analytics, and tutor productivity tools, expand Upkraft’s presence across Bengaluru and Gurugram through its hyperlocal, community-led growth model; strengthen its technology platform, operations, and customer experience; and build high-performing teams across product, technology, growth, sales, and tutor-led operations. “India’s extracurricular learning market remains highly fragmented despite growing demand from parents - families struggle to find trusted instructors, consistent teaching quality, and any real visibility into their child’s progress. This funding allows us to deepen our AI-powered learning ecosystem, expand our hyperlocal community model across Bengaluru and Gurugram, and build the foundation for Upkraft to become India’s leading AI-powered extracurricular learning platform,”said Tejasvi Singh Kushwah, Founder, Upkraft. The investors were drawn to Upkraft’s strong founder execution capabilities, asset-light business model, technology-first approach, and early validation in gated communities. They recognised the significant opportunity to organise India’s highly fragmented extracurricular education market through a scalable platform that combines AI-powered learning with trusted offline experiences. Over the next 12-18 months, Upkraft’s focus is to significantly expand its student enrollments, deepen market penetration across Bengaluru and Gurugram, and improve learning outcomes, while strengthening teams across Product & Engineering, AI & Data Science, Sales & Business Development, Community & Field Marketing, Customer Success, and Tutor Network onboarding and operations. This round provides the foundation to validate Upkraft’s model at scale before raising larger institutional capital to accelerate national and international expansion. A significant portion of the investment will accelerate the development of Upkraft’s AI-powered learning ecosystem, including an AI Practice Companion for personalised feedback, intelligent practice tracking and performance analytics, adaptive learning journeys based on student progress, tutor productivity and classroom management tools, parent dashboards w
