From Exams To Visas: India-Based Startup Helps Indians Study Abroad

Throughout many countries like India, the demand for overseas education is starting to make a strong comeback amid a global pandemic. For example, Outleap Technologies Pvt., an Indian startup, has reportedly raised $75 million at a valuation of almost $1 billion in order to help Indians study abroad. As per Bloomberg, the company’s valuation has doubled since the fall and it is nearing 1 billion USD with more funding on the way.

The country of 1.4 billion people (India) has a number of overseas programs which are being entered at an increasing rate, even after the Covid outbreak temporarily weighed on demand, 37-year-old Singh said. The startup Leap offers help with preparations for exams like TOEFL and SAT, help in applying and obtaining visas, loans and international bank accounts, help with credit card applications too; and a team offering counseling services to students looking to study abroad by providing them with advice on universities or countries in particular that are tailored to their own needs.

According to an Indian news source, a record number of students from India travelled abroad to study last year. The majority traveled to the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. In fact, according to a Bloomberg report, 2022 is scheduled to break the 2021 world-wide student travel record and it will likely continue while breaking new records for other years as well.

Indian families tend to put education at the forefront of their concerns, and Leap is no different, according to Singh. In fact, 70% of the people that apply for acceptance into the secondary school system come from outside the 10 largest cities in India. Since motivation for learning remains a priority for Indian families generally speaking, it does pay to conduct an overseas search as well.

Some startups may be new, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that their founders don’t have extensive experience. Kumar and Singh for example both studied at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. They later worked together at Deutsche Bank AG, a major multinational investment bank based in Frankfurt.

The startup they founded together, had its headquarters in San Francisco and most of its operations out of Bangalore and Mumbai in 2021 when it helped 60,000 students embark on trips abroad. Not bad! Now they’re looking to triple the number to 175,000 this year alone.