The Hindu Business Line : Veta receives $10 m pvt equity funding

Chennai, Oct. 4 Amoha Education Pvt Ltd, the parent company of the English language training academy Veta, has received an investment of about $10 million (Rs 40 crore) from SAIF Partners, an Asian private equity firm established through strategic commitments from Softbank Corporation and Cisco.

SAIF Partners has bought a part of the promoters’ shareholding in Veta to hold a minority stake in the company, according to Mr V. Rajagopalan, Chairman, Veta.

The funds would be used to implement Veta’s expansion plans to set up overseas centres in Singapore (by December), Malaysia (early next year), Indonesia, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam and China, and 60 centres across India. Veta has 150 centres in India of which 110 are franchisee owned. In future Veta would own most centres, said Mr V. Gopalakrishnan, General Manager-Franchise, Veta, at a press conference.

Future plans

In a franchisee model the company shares 50 per cent of its revenues with the franchisee.

Veta will hire up to five trainers in each centre from the local market and train the candidates in English through their mother tongue. Currently, courses are taught through 15 Indian languages. The company is building up proficiency to deliver English lessons through Mandarin, for the Singapore market, and Bahasa for the Centres in Malaysia.

Veta is also identifying technology platforms to digitise its content and plans to launch a digital learning package by 2009. The company is also planning to go public by 2012, Mr Rajagopalan said.

More Stories on : Venture Capital | Education | Linguistics

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page