• Round led by B2B focused Pentathlon Ventures with participation from 9Unicorns, Indian Angel Network
  • Prominent angels like Monish Darda (Co-founder CTO Icertis, a SaaS Unicorn, Manasij Ganguly, CEO, Threadsol and Aditya Somani, former Premji Invest also participated in their personal capacity)
  • Round also saw participation from existing investors Sprout Venture Partners and TiE Pune Angels along with new angel groups—Faad Network and DevX Innovation
  • ExtraaEdge aims to use the funding for increasing its customer base, bolstering product development and data science team, as well as expanding into the international markets


ExtraaEdge, a Pune-based marketing tech startup focused on the education sector has raised $1 million in a pre Series A round from 9Unicorns Accelerator Fund. The round was led by Pentathlon Ventures and also saw participation from other investment firms i.e. Indian Angel Network, Faad Network and DevX Innovation. Prominent angels like Monish Darda (Co-Founder & CTO, Icertis a SaaS Unicorn ), Manasij Ganguly ( ex CEO – Threadsol ) & Aditya Somani (ex - Premji Invest) also participated in the round along with the existing investors Sprout Venture Partners, and TiE Pune Angels.

Founded in 2015 by Abhishek Ballabh and Sushil Mundada, ExtraaEdge is a new-age, vertical SaaS marketing technology player in the education marketing industry. It leverages its full-stack revenue assurance platform and CRM software to help the education industry increase, manage & predict their admissions while automating their entire sales and leads processes. Its goal is to empower admission teams across the globe to make smart, data-driven decisions to maximise admission outcomes, optimise market expenditure, and boost conversion rates.

Abhishek Ballabh, Co-Founder ExtraaEdge, says, "The onset of Covid-19 has accelerated the digital adoption in the education sector. Conventional marketing processes have now been digitized. Education institutes and other important stakeholders of the ecosystem are on a lookout for a technology stack to run their ad missions process in a seamless manner. Although new business models are getting validated in the education industry along with a new age technology stack, student acquisition is still a white space. ExtraaEdge isbuildingthatstackvialeveragingpowerofmachinelearningandnew-agemarketingautomation to make admission predictable. We currently enable the 225+ education brands to digitally acquire the next thousands of GenZ& millennial students. This fund-raise will help us cement our category leadership as the leading admission technology player in theIndianmarket,doubledownonproductcapabilitiestopoweradmissionteams,andlookatawiderglobal expansion."

The cloud based student acquisition platform currently manages the entire range of operations from outreach and marketing to admission and recruitment of more than 200+ education institutes in India and overseas. Some of the solutions offered by the platform include vertical CRM, marketing automation, conversational AI bots, application management software, predictive analytics, and mobile CRM. The software also helps users to identify and prioritize the right prospects and gain in-depth insights and feedback intotheiroverallmarketingandteamperformanceintheformofanalyticalreports.

Sandeep Chawda, Partner, Pentathlon Ventures, says, "Technological disruption has brought educational institutes face-to-face with Digital Darwinism. As institutes evolve to survive, we are seeing an exciting shift in how they leverage marketing automation and predictive analytics to acquire customers. This is a billion dollar opportunity that ExtraaEdge is capturing at an impressive rate. Their team and product exhibit the DNA of scale, proven by a solid client base and consistent ARR growth despite the pandemic. This strong DNA, the energy , maturity, and know-how that Abhishek and Sushil possess make us confident that ExtraaEdge will emerge as a winner."

Dr. Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, Co-founder & Managing Director – 9Unicorns, adds, "We were quite impressed with the team's execution capabilities. Abhishek & Sushil are founders who have found a product market fit in this domain which is existential for success & we found them persistent & passionate. The budget allocation of digital marketing across sectors has consistently increased in the past few years and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. In sync with the education sector, the demand for a platform that can leverage the power of AI for predicting ad missions and increasing conversion rates has also surged. ExtraaEdge is addressing this need-gap which is an untapped market yet. Their ability to use data analytics to drive client acquisition and streamline the admission process makes them well-equipped to disrupt India's education market valued at USD 1.5 billion. The start-up's innovative approach will be the recipient of countless positive feedbacks from the burgeoning education industry and we are thrilled to be their partner on this journey."

The funds raised will be used for increasing its customer base, bolstering product development primarily in the area of robotic process automation and data science team, as well as expanding into the international markets. ExtraaEdge has currently launched operations in the UAE and the UK, which are well known international education destinations.
 
About ExtraaEdge

ExtraaEdge isaventure-backed,marketing-techSaaScompanythatfocusesonhelpingeducational institutes increase, manage & predict their admissions. We are category leaders in the education marketing software space. We are building the software stack to solve the student acquisition problem for the billion dollar education marketing industry. We have offices in 6 cities and are currently working with pioneer 225+ customers in Education all across India, UAE & UK. Big education brands like BITS Pilani Dubai, Manchester, Metropolitan University, Sharda University, IIHM, Jain University, Allen Career Institute, AhaGuru, myPatFIITJEE, Whistling Woods, Graphic Era University, JIS University, JagranLakecityUniversity,BhartiVidyapeeth'sCOE,ZealEducationSociety,MITGroup,ICAEduskills,DayanandSagarUniversity,ImagineXPtonameafewruntheirentireadmissions,marketing&outreachonExtraaEdgesoftwareplatform.ExtraaEdgeco-foundersbring18+years' experience in data science, business intelligence and product management with stints ininternational banks as well as high-growth startups:Abhishek Ballabh &Sushil Mundada.

About 9Unicorns

9Unicorns is India's First Accelerator VC. It provides acceleration support & seed funding to early-stage startups. 9Unicorns provides funding of $100K per startup in the first round, and may invest further $500K-$2Mn in successive rounds with its co-investors. From idea stage to angel stage, it supports startups across various themes & sectors.

9Unicorns' strength & focus is on a hands-on support ecosystem for startups, beyond capital. 9Unicorns, besides investment, opens doors to the startups for access to a wide network of successful founders, category-leaders, CXOs of large corporations, seasoned angel investors & partners of global VC funds. Every portfolio company receives an acceleration support for 3 months & post-investment support of 18 months.

For more information, please reach out to info@9unicorns.in or find more information at www.9unicorns.in

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