On Tuesday, Mumbai-based startup HobSpace (1) announced that it had secured 1.6 crore INR in its seed funding round. An early-stage micro venture capital firm, Artha Venture Fund, led the latest fundraise. Other investors such as Angellist Indis Trust LLP (98 lakh INR), Abhinav Ashok kumar Daga (7.5 lakh INR), Upssparks LLP (8.7 lakh INR), Siddharth Bhaskar Shah (10 lakh INR), Ronak Morbia (10 Lakh INR), and Icebreaker Tech LLP (Five Lakh INR) also participated in the round.
HobSpace aims to transform the under-utilized school buildings, clubhouses, playgrounds, and community centers into educational playgrounds and hobby centers with several after-school activities. They offer diverse options to children, such as indoor activities, ballet, robotics, and chess.
Priya Geol Sheth and Harsh Jain founded HobSpace in 2019. It is a platform for online and offline extracurricular activities for kids aged 3 to 14 years. Later, Bhaskar Raju Konduru joined the duo as the third co-founder.
HobSpace to Transform Out of School Activities for Children
While commenting on the development, Priya Goel Seth stated that the HobSpace team is working to transform school activities for kids. While meeting the AFV, Artha Venture Team for the first time, the team realized that the firm is approaching to help founders to focus on crucial business metrics.
HobSpace was looking for a partner who understands the entity and is willing to spend enough time with the team while building and scaling the business. She added that the team is delighted to partner with AFV.
The firm has collaborated with schools and specialist trainers to offer training and conduct lessons based on children’s hobbies and sports requirements.
Anirudh Damani, the Managing Partner at AFV, stated that he had made a personal investment in the startup because of its vast potential. The primary thing he admired about HobSpace is the founders’ focus on unit economics and business viability. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, the team had managed to turn their offline business into an online model. Now, with unlocking underway, HobSpace has two distribution channels for children and parents.
