CollegeShala

CollegeShala is a community-driven ed-tech platform founded in Kolkata, India, in 2020 by three undergraduate students: Upamanyu Chatterjee, Shouradeep Chakraborty, and MD Fazal Mustafa. The founders identified a gap in the market for affordable, quality educational resources for non-technical degree students who faced constraints in accessing adequate instruction. The platform was established during the COVID-19 pandemic to provide a localized learning environment, catering specifically to students in BA, BCom, BBA, and BSc programs.

The company provides a platform where students can access study materials, a syllabus tracker, live classes, and doubt-clearing services from university professors, all mapped to their specific university syllabus. CollegeShala's business model is based on providing these services at a minimal cost to make them accessible and affordable. The startup's mobile app is available for Android devices.

In November 2020, just six months after its inception, CollegeShala secured approximately $247K (INR 1.83 crore) in a seed funding round led by LectureNotes Technologies and Srustijeet Mishra. This investment facilitated the company's growth and product development. On January 22, 2022, CollegeShala was acquired by LectureNotes Technologies in an all-stock deal. Following the acquisition, the co-founders of CollegeShala assumed core responsibilities within the LectureNotes Group, as part of LectureNotes' strategy to create a larger ed-tech ecosystem.

Keywords: ed-tech, higher education, study materials, online learning, undergraduate students, non-technical degrees, localized learning, syllabus mapping, live classes, doubt clearing, Indian education, student community platform, affordable education, LectureNotes, BA, BSc, BBA, BCom