Investors Eyeing Elearning Space, Matrix Partners India Invests In Mumbai Based Purple Squirrel

The Mumbai-based private equity investment firm, Matrix Partners India has invested an undisclosed amount in visit based experiential learning programs platform Purple Squirrel Eduventures.

The platform connects students with industry partners for field visits, workshops and hands on practical experiences.

The fresh funding will be utilised towards product and operation expansions. This is the second round of funding for the startup. Earlier in last year, the company had raised an undisclosed sum from Mumbai-based venture capital investor India Quotient.

Speaking on the development, Aditya Gandhi, Co-Founder, Purple Squirrel Eduventures said, “Our programs are fast gaining acceptance across major universities as an aid to classroom education to produce industry-ready graduates. This fund will majorly be used towards product and operation expansions.”

Founded in 2013 by Aditya Gandhi and Sahiba Dhandhania, Purple Squirrel Eduventures is an IIT Bombay incubated startup promoting industry academia interaction to improve career awareness and enable informed decision making.

Purple Squirrel creates programs for colleges, wherein students are allowed to visit and interact with both entrepreneurial and big player companies representing their spread of career diversity. These visits are specifically tailored keeping in mind student profiles and industry expectations.

The company has already delivered 5000+ unique experiences in experiential learning, associating with 350+ campuses and corporates, across 12+ destinations within 1 year of its operations. It has so far connected 70 colleges from 10 cities, 8,000 students and more than 300 partner companies.

“Purple Squirrel has a unique business model and targets a large, unexplored market. We remain extremely positive on education tech in India and will make multiple investments in the space,” said Gourav Bhattacharya, VP at Matrix Partners.

Today, the education sector in India is no longer bound to just classrooms. The rising internet penetration and growing startup ecosystem has helped the online learning space in India is growing manifold.

Some recent developments in online learning space –

May 2014 – Aakash Educational Services Limited, the leader in classroom education for Medical and Engineering entrance preparations, had launched eLearning portal called iConnect.

August 2014 – Bangalore-based Flipclass had raised INR 1.5 Cr in seed funding from a group of investors led by Hareesh Ramanna.

October 2014 – Mumbai-based Testbook had raised an undisclosed amount in funding led by Utsav Somani, Angel Investor, Indian Angel Network on online platform LetsVenture.

December 2014 – Cloud-based startup, Linkstreet Learning had raised an undisclosed sum in its Series A round of funding from Faering Capital.

December 2014 – Hyderabad-based PlayJect, had raised funding from Houston-based serial entrepreneur Nickell Reddy, owner of US-based IT consulting firm PrincipleIT.

January 2015 – Delhi-based online education startup, Englishleap.com, had raised an undisclosed amount of funding from financial technology company ANALEC.

January 2015 – Media industry veteran and serial entrepreneur Ronnie Screwvala announced his plans to launch an online platform focused on higher education, called U Education.

February 2015 – MeritNation, an elearning platform which targets school students had launched six new offline digital learning centres, starting with Chandigarh and Lucknow.

According to the reports, the e-learning market in India is estimated to be around $3 Bn. Besides, the Modi government’s efforts to make digital learning available to students in every corner of the country is also aiding the sector.