CollegeDekho, college admissions and education services platform has raised $26.5 million (Rs 200 crores) in an ongoing (and oversubscribed) series B funding round led by Winter Capital Partners, ETS Strategic Capital - the private equity investments arm of ETS (creator of the TOEFL and GRE tests), Calega and existing investor Man Capital and Rajeev Chaba. The company had last raised $8 million in May 2019.
With this funding round, the company plans to further improve its offerings for students and colleges, increase its investment in product and technology, expand internationally and grow new verticals like Ed-Fin-Tech and Student Accommodation.
How it works
With an aim to institutionalize higher-ed counselling, CollegeDekho’s Ed-Tech platform helps connect prospective students with colleges using its proprietary Technology and its AI based conversation bot.
CollegeDekho owns India’s largest Common Application Form (CAF) platform which enables a student to apply to multiple colleges with a single click.
For Study Abroad students, CollegeDekho offers a full range of services from Profile Building, Test Preparation, to Application Assistance, University Selection and Visa Assistance.
It has recently launched innovative zero percent EMI-based education financing and insurance products to enable more and more students to get access to an education of their choice. The platform helps colleges by making their admissions more efficient and predictable.
Ruchir Arora, Founder & CEO – CollegeDekho, said “With this fund raise, we plan to invest in making our products and services, as well as expand into new geographies and business verticals.”
Anton Farlenkov, Managing Director at Winter Capital Advisors, says "India has about 52,000 colleges, of which around 66 percent are private educational institutions. We believe that India’s edtech industry is poised to reach $10 billion in size in the next 5-10 years, compared to the current market size of about $2.5 billion.”
“We continue to identify and invest in companies both domestically and internationally whose missions and long-term vision align with that of ETS,” said Ralph Taylor-Smith, Managing Director of ETS Strategic Capital.
Chairman of Man Capital, Mr. Mohamed Mansour, said, “In addition to the exponential growth in college admission and wider India Ed-Tech market, we are also seeing a rise in integrated solutions for college students across the globe.”
This Series B funding round has been advised by IBIS Capital, a specialist investment and corporate finance advisory group focused on the global media & education and by Cilix Capital, an international investment banking firm that helps companies as well as institutional investors with fundraises and M&A.
