Investing in Seekho

In this simple yet profound statement, Aristotle captured an essential truth about the human condition - our innate curiosity and thirst for knowledge. The India of today is aspirational. For the millions of aspirational Indians in Tier 2+ cities, the desire to know is also taking on a new urgency and purpose.

They exhibit a deep-seated yearning for knowledge that could translate into tangible benefits like a better job, new hobbies (photography, art, etc.), or simply the confidence to navigate an increasingly digital world. However, their thirst for self-improvement is often met with a frustrating reality: a lack of accessible, trustworthy, and relevant online learning sources.

On the one hand, traditional edtech platforms (Udemy and Skillshare, for example) cater primarily to the needs of the affluent, English-speaking urban population with lengthy courses, leaving the masses underserved. On the other hand, free content platforms like YouTube, while accessible, are plagued by issues of discoverability, reliability, and noise, making it challenging for learners to find high-quality, relevant content.

Short-form video apps display similar concerns as YouTube. They lack the depth and substance to facilitate meaningful learning, with recommendations skewed towards entertainment. Learners are, therefore, left between a rock and a hard place.

With this thesis in mind, we set out to find the right team to bring this vision to life. We met with numerous talented founders and evaluated various innovative approaches to tackling this problem. But one team stood out from the rest - the founders of Seekho, Rohit, Keertay, and Yash.

Seekho is filling this gap by providing accessible, practical, and engaging learning content to the masses. Its range of aspirational educational content speaks the language of Tier 2+ India. The content is concise, delivered in crisp 2-5 minute videos, often in an episodic series format that packs in valuable insights without overwhelming the learners.

We had been tracking their journey for a while, impressed by their deep understanding of the market and their unique insights into the content formats that could drive mass adoption. Every time we met them, we were struck by how much they had evolved and how quickly they were iterating toward product-market fit.

Secondly, we have always been strong believers in the thesis that the Indian consumer, including the Bharat user, is willing to pay for value. This contrasts the prevailing view that India is a DAU/MAU farm.

Seekho, even when it was less than one-tenth the scale it is today, was already showing very strong signs of a powerful monetization engine in a price-sensitive segment.

Seekho could convince users to pay for access to their platform by delivering true value to their users. As Seekho rapidly scales its paying user base, the company is demonstrating strong unit economics, maintaining a stable customer acquisition cost (CAC) of ~Rs. 200 while steadily increasing lifetime value (LTV) to 3x of CAC.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, it was the Seekho team that truly won us over. As we evaluated the opportunity, it became clear to us that Rohit, Keertay, and Yash were the perfect founders to build this product. They had an incredibly strong founder-market fit, with a deep understanding of the needs and aspirations of their target audience. Their customer obsession was evident in every interaction we had with them. What really stood out to us was Seekho's product innovation around content format and categories that resonate with the Bharat audience.

Seekho's founders bring a deep understanding of the Indian content landscape and have followed a methodical approach to building the business from day one. Their strong customer obsession, product chops, and almost intuitive grasp of the needs of their target audience have enabled Seekho to achieve remarkable early traction and PMF. They relentlessly focused on unit economics and could keep their production costs under control even as they scaled their content library and user base.

Since its launch in 2020, it has scaled to more than 500,000 paying subscribers, proving that Tier 2 and 3 users are willing to pay for informative and useful content.

Seekho has achieved this scale with sound unit economics. Seekho’s ability to successfully monetize its user base through subscriptions is one of the most impressive aspects of its growth story. Although Seekho offers monthly and weekly subscription plans, an impressive 30% of their users have opted for annual plans, demonstrating that their traction is not just a passing fad.

Our conversations with Seekho users revealed a deep affection for the platform and its content. “I spend 2-3 hours every day watching Seekho's content. I share the learnings with my friends because the knowledge I gain from Seekho is not available anywhere else,” remarked a 54-year-old user from Karnataka. Another user, a 29-year-old from Bihar, praised the short-form format and quality of the content, noting that it helps him retain the information better. "I aspire to start my own business someday, and I feel the content will be incredibly helpful when I take that leap," shared a 24-year-old from Madhya Pradesh.

As Mahatma Gandhi once said, "Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever." With Seekho, every Indian now has the opportunity to do just that. And we at Elevation are thrilled to partner with Rohit, Keertay, Yash, and the entire Seekho team on this audacious journey to unlock India’s aspirations, one bite-sized video at a time.