After implementing open source school management software in 15,000 schools under the Kerala Government's Sampoorna school management system project, the Mangalore-based Foradian Technologies Pvt Ltd is looking at India and overseas for growth.

‘Fedena', the school management software, is now available in various foreign languages and being implemented in various countries, according to Mr Unni Koroth, Chief Executive Officer of the Mangalore-based technology start-up. Speaking to Business Line here, he said around 200-plus downloads of Fedena happen every day. There are hundreds of German schools currently using the open source version, he said, adding that Fedena is also available in Arabic, Spanish and Hindi. Soon it will be available in 50-plus languages.

“A first-time user will take maximum of 10 minutes to learn and start using Fedena. Moreover, Fedena is free and open source. So there is no price to pay for product or licence. You can download and customise it the way you want to,” he said.

Free basic version

Mr Koroth said there is no price to for the Fedena basic version. It has got all the features needed to run a school or college efficiently. “We charge for services like customisation, support, installation and training. We have got a multi-school version suitable for group of institutions. Its price starts from Rs 5 lakh,” he said.

Stating that the company has been building and optimising Fedena for the past three years, he said it started seeing results during the current financial year.

He hoped that this year the company will cross Rs 2 crore in revenue. “Our pipelines and opportunities are promising a minimum of Rs 15 crore of revenue for the next year. We are valued at Rs 70 crore and there is a possibility of venture capital investment in the company in next financial year,” he said.

Fedena contributes 80 per cent of Foradian's total revenue earnings. It will be 95 per cent in the next fiscal, he said.

In fact, nearly 60 per cent of Fedena's revenue comes from Africa. “We have partners and client base in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Egypt and Zambia,” Mr Koroth said. The company turned down two good acquisition offers during the current fiscal. “We don't plan to sell the company in near future,” he added.

Foradian Technologies has 30 employees across three offices in Mangalore and Bangalore in Karnataka, and Kasaragod in Kerala.

>vinayakaj@thehindu.co.in

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