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iNurture Education Secures Funding From Bertelsmann India [DealCurry (India)](DealCurry (India) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Formal higher education service provider, iNuture Education has raised INR300 Mn from Bertelsmann India, the strategic investment arm of Bertelsmann SE & Co. The nine year old firm founded by Ashwin Ajila, a chartered accountant, aims to provide career-ready formal higher education in India offering courses at undergraduate and postgraduate levels in the across sectors including Information Technology (IT Infrastructure, Information Security and Cloud & Storage), Mobile Applications, Creative Industries (Advertising, Branding, Media, Entertainment and Internet), Financial Services and Animation & Special Effects. To achieve this, it has partnered with universities and autonomous institutions/ colleges in the country. It has also partnered with Government organizations such as KITTS (Kerala Institute of Tourism & Travel Studies) and ASAP (Additional Skills Acquisition Program) to offer skill enhancing and job-ready finishing school and Diploma programs. With the infusion, the company plans to push up its service offering which would be facilitated by introducing Bertelsmann's global education products and services into the Indian market. The funding will also be used to enhance the company's technology platform and expanding its reach across various media platforms. The Bangalore has previously raised INR430 Mn from Gujarat Venture Fund (in 2009) and @Ascent_Capital (2012). iNuture had closed the last fiscal with a top-line INR 60 Mn and expects to touch INR220 Mn this fiscal as it targets a INR600 Mn turnover in 2016 to turn profitable. This would be fifth direct investment for Bertellsman in India that has put in $70 Mn in the country. Others in its portfolio include Pepperfry, an online store for furniture and home décor; Authorgen Technologies which operates WizIQ; IndiaProperty.com, online real estate portal. Bertelsmann is the promoter group of publishing major Penguin Random House and focuses its investment across four verticals - digital, education, services and media. The size of the Indian education industry as a whole was pegged at INR 3,833.1 Bn in 2012-13 by CARE Ratings. The e-learning market in India is a fragmented market with the opportunities spread across K -12, Higher Education (H.E.), professional courses, Skill Development, English language training, test prep (GMAT, GRE, TOEFL, IELTS, IIT- JEE, etc.) and MOOCs. Recently, Michael and Susan Dell Foundation had invested in Bangalore based educational solution provider Edutel Technologies. (c) 2014 EagleEye Research & Media Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info). |