Kaizen & DeVry Inc Picks Up Majority stake In EdTech Startup EduPristine

Private equity fund Kaizen Management Advisors and US-based education company DeVry Inc have acquired a majority stake in Mumbai-based Neev Knowledge Management Pvt. Ltd, a company that offers online and classroom-based finance courses under the brand name EduPristine. The deal size is undisclosed by the company.

EduPristine had partnered with DeVry Education Group in 2014 by launching content courses offered by one of its subsidiaries, Becker Professional Education, which marked the entry of DeVry in the Indian market.

Earlier in 2014, EduPristine raised $1.5 Mn in Series A round from Accel Partners, and an undisclosed amount in an angel round from Mark Mobius and Rajesh Sehgal in 2011. With the new round of funding, its initial investors, Accel Partners and angel investors Mark Mobius and Rajesh Sehgal have taken an exit.

Mumbai-based investment bank The RainMaker Group was the advisor on the transaction.

Founded in 2008 by Atul Kumar, Paramdeep Singh, Pawan Prabhat and Sarita Chand, EduPristine offers certification in 15 types of courses across accounting, analytics, digital marketing and finance, using a network of centers and online classes. Going forward, the company plans to add more courses in the category of big data analytics and also introduce courses in the healthcare category.

EduPristine is planning to use the funds to increase its course offerings, expand to 15 cities in India and improve technology.

Atul Kumar, co-founder of EduPristine said, “Going forward we will be adding more courses in the category of big data analytics and also introduce courses in the healthcare category.”

As part of the growth plans, EduPristine is looking to grow to a network of 25-30 learning centres, offering courses to around 30,000 students.

According to industry experts, the online education market is around $3 Bn. Recently, an online professional certification platform, Simplilearn, raised investment from The Times Group’s Brand Capital and an online platform for college students CollegeDekho received $2 Mn from Man Capital. Another startup, Purple Squirrel Eduventures, which is backed by Matrix Partners India is now reported to have shut down operations.

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