Teacher-as-a-Service Platform CENTA Raises ₹ 20 Crore Led by Colossa Ventures

• Teacher Certification and Teacher-as-a-service platform that works with over 1.7 million teachers from 100+ countries and 100,000+ schools.

Centre for Teacher Accreditation (CENTA) has raised INR 20 crore in Series A1 round of funding led by Colossa Ventures with participation from earlier investor Discovery Assets and angel investors. With this fundraise, CENTA expects to scale operations in India and selected international markets, while further enhancing its technology infrastructure.

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.

The company is addressing a massive USD 11 billion market opportunity in India alone, with an even larger global potential going forward.

CENTA was founded by Ramya Venkatraman, an alumnus of IIT Delhi (BTech) and IIM Calcutta. She has over 15 years of experience working with McKinsey & Company including as leader of the firm’s Education Practice in the last 5 years. She is a member of the NCTE committee formulating the National Professional Standards for Teachers under the NEP (National Education Policy) 2020 document and recognized among 15 Women Transforming India by NITI Aayog and UN. Priyanka Arya, Director and COO, is an alumnus of IIT Banaras Hindu University (B Tech) and IIM Calcutta. Prior to CENTA, Priyanka worked with management consulting firms like Accenture and Strategic Decisions Group.

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.

Vandana Rajadhyaksha, Co- founder, Colossa Ventures, commented, “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.”

Director and COO Priyanka Arya, CENTA, mentioned, “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.”

CENTA also runs the International Teaching Professional’s Olympiad (TPO), a globally recognized competition celebrating teaching excellence. CENTA has received several accolades, including ‘Dun & Bradstreet Trailblazer Startup Award, 2024’, ‘Nexus of Good’ award 2024, 'Top 60 social enterprise in Asia’ by National University of Singapore and Development Bank of Singapore, among other recognitions. CENTA is Knowledge Partner to NITI Aayog, through which CENTA Standards were presented to all States.