Mumbai-based private equity fund Kaizen Management Advisors, which raised $150 million edutech fund last year to focus on the education space, is likely to invest around $5-6 million in online start-up EduPristine.com.

According to sources, the deal has been closed. However, a mail sent to Kaizen PE’s founder Sandeep Aneja remained unanswered. The fund has, till date, invested over $50 million in about seven education projects in the country, according to the fund’s website.

EduPristine, started by three IITians and an MBA from Symbiosis (Pune), is an online training provider for financial and data analytics sectors, with an aim to bridge the gap between the academia and the industry.

Network

Started in 2008, EduPristine boasts a network of over 25,000 students, 1,500-plus teachers and offers 25 courses, including training modules on CFA, financial risk management, financial modelling, business analytics, and post-graduate courses in financial research and corporate training.

With presence in Pune, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Chennai, this Mumbai-based start-up charges between ₹15,000 to ₹1.5 lakh for the certificate courses. It has also expanded globally and offers educational training programs in the US, Singapore, Oman, Muscat, Dubai and London.

Of late, the online education space has witnessed a series of investments on back of heightened interest for taking up virtual classes, thanks to the growing Internet and smartphone penetration, and rising costs of education.

According to industry experts, the online education market is around $3 billion. Recently, an online platform for college students to get admissions called CollegeDekho received around $1 million from Girnar Soft, the parent company of India’s leading online automobile marketplace CarDekho.com.

CollegeDekho is an online platform that works towards solving bottlenecks in the college admissions process. Incepted as a medium to connect students to colleges, the start-up leverages its proprietary and technology platform to match student preferences to prospective colleges.

Other platforms

Another start-up, Fastudent has raised a seed round from a group of angel investors including Ashish Gupta, Founder and Trustee at Ashoka University.

The Noida-based start-up online education firm is an educational products aggregator that helps students, parents, schools and teachers from play Groups to Post Graduation to fulfill their academic needs.

Early this year, Venture capital firm Matrix Partners India has invested an undisclosed amount in Purple Squirrel Eduventures, an online marketplace for supplementary education. Ronnie Screwvala’s Unilazer Ventures has also earmarked ₹100 crore to invest in the online education space.

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