EduFund, an India-based edu-fintech company, has raised a Pre-Series A investment of $3.5M, led by global venture capital firm MassMutual Ventures (MMV). The start-up boasts of 70,000 successfully engaged parents on its platform. The round also saw participation from prominent investors DSP Investment Managers, Anchorage Capital Partners, and Kunal Shah.
Started in 2020 by founders Eela Dubey and Arindam Sengupta, the company offers a full stack solution dedicated to helping Indian parents plan, save and invest for their children’s future education. With education inflation hovering between 8-10% domestically, and over 4% in countries with high enrolment of Indian students, EduFund empowers parents to plan ahead and save across different asset classes to meet these rising costs over time. It also helps parents bridge financing needs by providing education loans and scholarships.
The app-based solution has partnered with leading Asset Management Companies (AMC) including Tata, DSP, UTI, ICICI, Aditya Birla and HDFC to offer investment products, and notable lenders such as ICICI Bank, HDFC Credila, IDFC, etc. to offer education loans. It also provides education counselling services to help prospective students understand their best-fit university.
“The demand for world class education in India is growing rapidly, and EduFund’s innovative approach to addressing the funding gap for higher education is very exciting. The founders’ asset management expertise and deep understanding of the market, coupled with the significance of education in Indian culture, makes the company a compelling investment opportunity. We are excited to partner with EduFund in their mission to make higher education accessible to all,” said Anvesh Ramineni, Managing Partner at MMV.
Co-Founders Dubey and Sengupta said: “Our goal at EduFund has always been to help parents start saving early and to provide solutions that will financially enable the aspirations they have for their children. Today, the entire education planning journey in India is very siloed. If a parent wants to save, they may visit a financial planner. If their child needs an education loan, they may approach a bank. We wanted to reduce these pain points, and bring the entire journey on to one platform so that parents can have a more seamless and centralized experience. With this new funding, we plan to accelerate our growth, create new solutions, and invest in technology.”
“Returns are a function of time (compounding). The luxury of time is available only to those investors who start early. Parents with young children have the advantage of having time on their side,” writes Managing Director and CEO of DSP Mutual Fund, Kalpen Parekh. He went on to mention that “this investment in EduFund is our way of encouraging two important objectives: real compounding and creating a corpus for our children’s education.”
