Bengaluru-based edtech startup, claimed to be third-largest student community, shuts down; founders to return 70% capital to investors

Elevation Capital-backed upskilling and job finding platform Bluelearn has shut down operations and will return 70% of the capital it raised to its investors. Talking about the initial journey, founder Harish Uthayakumar said that he, along with co-founder Shreyans Sancheti, started BlueLearn in their third year of college as a Telegram group, which later became what he claims to be India’s largest student community, with over 250,000 members.
Elevation Capital was founded in 2021 by BITS Pilani alumni Uthayakumar and Shreyans Sancheti. The Bengaluru-based company started as a community on Telegram where students shared doubts with experts. The app is said to have provided a one-stop platform for students to learn new skills, network with peers, and apply for internships.

Time to “build in India, for India and for the world”

“Our mission was to create an online university that leveled the playing field and allowed students studying in tier-2 and tier-3 colleges to access opportunities to learn, network, earn, and get exposure similar to students at BITS or IIT,” Uthayakumar wrote in a post on LinkedIn.
“However, we realized that building a venture-scale business with BlueLearn was tough. We had been very conservative with capital, allowing us to return 70% of the capital we raised back to investors,” he added.
“I’d encourage more people to start up and build in India, for India and for the world. We need more people to take risks and try out ideas that seem absurd. It’s okay if you fail. I’m excited to share that a few of my teammates at BlueLearn have gone on to found their own startups,” Uthayakumar concluded.
The edtech company had raised $4 million in funding from venture capital firms like 100x VC, Titan Capital, Elevation Capital, and Lightspeed along with angel investors like Meesho founders Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal, Pixxel founder Awais Ahmed, among others.
According to Uthayakumar, the community on its own app had expanded to 250,000 members from over 20 countries including the United States, the United Kingdom and Singapore.
“Bluelearn was an impactful chapter, but it is time to move on to our next one,” Uthayakumar added.
With this, Bluelearn joins the growing list of startups that have shut down operations.