Centre for Teacher Accreditation (CENTA) has raised ₹20 crore in a Series A1 funding round led by Colossa Ventures with participation from earlier investor Discovery Assets and angel investors.
The funds raised will be used to scale its operations in India and selected international markets, while further enhancing its technology infrastructure.
Ramya Venkataraman, Founder and CEO, CENTA, said, “This raise has not only given us the fuel needed for growth but also brought on board an investor like Colossa which combines a sharp sense of business growth with a great understanding of the practicalities of building a company. We are also super excited about the continued participation from Discovery Assets and our early angels Koushik Sekhar and Geeta Prakash.”
Director and COO Priyanka Arya, CENTA, said, “We have built an outstanding community, a strong brand and solid products. With our client base now ramping up, we are expecting exponential growth in the coming 3 to 5 years. Teacher-As-A-Service combines our certification, upskilling and community strength, and aligns with our mission of making teaching aspirational.”
Vandana Rajadhyaksha, Co- founder, Colossa Ventures, said, “We are delighted to back Ramya Venkataraman, an exceptional, extremely committed and purpose driven founder, who understands the education sector deeply. With minimal teacher acquisition cost and a robust tech-enabled platform, we see CENTA playing a major role in bridging the teacher-student gap, addressing a global teacher shortage of 44 million. We strongly believe that learning outcomes can improve through addressing teacher quality and availability.”
Founded in 2014 by Ramya Venkatraman, CENTA is a full-stack platform for teachers, focused on teacher certification, teacher upskilling and teacher-as-a-service (TAAS or providing teachers to employers for full-time and part-time requirements). The certification trademark is a globally benchmarked assessment that helps schools and teachers understand and improve their teaching skills, and the CENTA platform connects teachers to career opportunities.
The platform hosts 1.7 million teachers from 100,000+ schools. While CENTA’s largest teacher base is currently in India, teachers from 100 other countries are active on the platform with significant participation from UAE, Nigeria, Philippines, Bangladesh and Ghana, and emerging partnerships in the UK and US.
CENTA also runs the International Teaching Professional’s Olympiad (TPO), a globally recognized competition. CENTA is a Knowledge Partner to NITI Aayog, through which CENTA Standards were presented to all States.
