HCL invests $20 Mn in edtech firm Educational Initiatives via secondary

Education software company Educational Initiatives (Ei) has raised Rs 166 crore (approximately $20 million) in a secondary round from the HCL Group.

The IT company will also acquire a minority stake in the Bengaluru-based company from private equity firm Gaja Capital.

Ei plans to expand to new markets like South Africa, Kenya, Ghana and Saudi Arabia, the company said in a press release. It currently operates in India, South Africa, Singapore, and the UAE.

The firm is also looking to acquire edtech product companies focused on improving learning outcomes.

Founded in 2001, Ei is a B2B company that provides schools with a suite of assessment and adaptive learning products for teachers and students to help improve learning outcomes.

Ei, which claims to have over a million paid users, has tied up with several schools, state governments in India, international organisations, non for profit organisations and CSR initiatives.

Led by Pranav Kothari, Ei registered a more than 56% jump in its revenue from operations to Rs 97 crore in FY23 from Rs 62 crore in FY22.  During the period, the company’s profit saw a minor increase from Rs 4.2 crore to Rs 5.5 crore.

India’s third largest IT services company HCL also invested in edtech company Guvi in September 2022.

Guvi raised $1.9 million from Vama Sundari Investments, which is a promoter of HCL. It’s worth highlighting that HCL Technologies rebranded itself as HCLTech in 2022.