AR edtech startup Play Shifu raises undisclosed funding for pre-Series A

Play Shifu

Founders: Vivek Goyal, Dinesh Advani

Founded in: 2016

Financing status: Undisclosed amount for pre-Series A round in 2017

Bangalore-based augmented reality (AR) and early-learning game startup Play Shifu has raised an undisclosed amount in a pre-Series A round led by IDG Ventures and IDFC-Parampara Fund.

Play Shifu was founded in 2016 by IIT Kharagpur alumni Vivek Goyal and Dinesh Advani. Goyal, a Stanford MBA holder, previously was a business and product advisor at Elexes, a healthcare regulatory affairs consulting company. Prior to that, he co-founded RentZeal, an online marketplace for party-supply rentals. He also worked in product function at eBay, as well as in operation function at P&G prior to that. Advani previously was president and business head at Indian logistics company Delhivery. He also worked at P&G before as a project manager.

Play Shifu is an AR-driven early-learning game startup. It designs and provides children with innovative and immersive learning games. Play Shifu allows users to scan cards and objects that come bundled within themed Shifu kits such as Safari, Jobs, Travel, Space, and Fusion. Play Shifu brings together digital technology with classic tactile learning formats like flash cards, puzzles, shapes, and storybooks. The startup claims to have more than 2000 children from 60 countries using its products.

Commenting on the investment, Karthik Prabhakar, Advisors Director of IDG Ventures India, said “The success of Play Shifu’s Orboot product on Kickstarter in such a short time with limited resources speaks highly of the team’s domain knowledge and market opportunity.”

The startup will use the newly raised investment to expand globally, develop its technology, and strengthen its design team.

Other players in India’s AR and VR fields include Kalpnik Technologies, ShilpMIS Technologies, and more.

(Top photo from Play Shifu website)