BackEduKart raises $1 million from United Finsec, others
Firm will use the money to enhance the technology platform, increase its course portfolio and strengthen marketing efforts
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Hyderabad: Education marketplace EduKart raised $1 million in a fresh round of funding from cricketer Yuvraj Singh’s YouWeCan Ventures, early-stage fund 500 Startups and United Finsec, the family office of hologram maker Holostik Group.
Existing investors Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of digital wallet and online marketplace Paytm, Amit Patni and Arihant Patni of the Patni family, Manish Khetarpal, a former director at private equity firm Providence Equity Partners, and Stanford Business School alumni also participated in the latest round.
EduKart, run by Earth Education Valley Pvt. Ltd, will use the money to enhance the technology platform, increase its course portfolio and strengthen marketing efforts. The company is looking to raise a bigger round in the next six-nine months, chief executive officer Ishan Gupta said.
EduKart plans to increase the number of courses on its platform to 10,000 from 500 education providers by March 2016, Gupta said. Its marketplace has 90 education providers marketing 2,000 courses spanning K12, entrance coaching, short term courses, diplomas, industry certifications, undergraduate and post-graduate degrees.
The New Delhi-based company, founded in 2011, is targeting gross enrolment sales of over $100 million for its course providers, and plans to enrol more than 100,000 students annually, said Gupta.
“While on the one hand, EduKart has been successful in helping students and parents make informed education-related decisions, on the other, it has given various course providers a platform to expand their reach to Tier II and Tier III cities across India," Ankit Gupta, head of strategy and investments for Holostik Group, said in a statement.
Leading education providers such as Indian School of Business, Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Vidyamandir, Aakash, Jamboree, Toppr, Brilliant Tutorials and Bharati Vidyapeeth University are registered on EduKart’s platform.
“Education spending is on the rise among the tech-savvy Indian middle class. I believe that the online distribution of education products and services will see significant growth in the coming years," Pankaj Jain, partner at 500 Startups, said.
The company raised $1 million in seed and angel funding in two rounds from Kima Ventures, AKM Systems Pvt. Ltd, Paytm’s Sharma, Khetarpal, Vibhor Mehra, Amit Patni and Arihant Patni, and Stanford alumni in 2011 and 2013.
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