Kidovators Closes $180K Seed Funding from Gray Matters Capital and Ex-Director of Manipal Group

Kidovators, India’s first 21st century skill learning platform of Bengaluru based ADD-on-GYAN Educational Services Pvt. Ltd., has today announced the closing of a seed round funding of US$ 180,000 from impact investor Gray Matters Capital under its edLABS initiative.

M Chandrasekaran, Board Member at Sylvant Advisors and former Corporate Advisor to the Manipal Group, also participated in this funding round.

The funds will be utilized to scale the Kidovators programs to over 100,000 students and 600+ partner schools in 2018 as well as strengthen the core content, technology and sales team. The 21st century online skill learning platform, with courses on creative thinking, critical thinking, complex problem solving and other 21st century competencies for students aged 8 – 15, has garnered over 10,000 student signups since its launch in the beginning of this year.

Founded in 2011 by Priyadeep Sinha and Sonali Gupta, Kidovators is the world’s first 21st Century Competencies platform for school students. Through dedicated programs for 21st century skills such as creativity, innovation and critical thinking including annual courses, spotlight challenges, learning feed and more, Kidovators is working towards empowering over 1,000,000 school students with 21st century skills by 2025.

Kidovators also conducts the world’s first Olympiads on creativity and critical thinking as well as works closely with schools to empower educators & parents with the knowledge of 21st century skills. With the world moving towards automation at an accelerated speed aided by advances in artificial intelligence, the startup is ensuring that school students are skilled for their future, not our past.

The startup had earlier raised angel funding from Luis Miranda, Former Chairman, IDFC PE and M Chandrasekaran in 2015.

It has been conducting India’s Biggest ‘Creativity OlympiadTM’ to help students from Class 4 - 9 to hone their creative thinking skills.

edLABS, Gray Matters Capital’s early stage education and skilling sector focused innovation portfolio, provides very early stage funding to ‘visionary edu-preneurs’ to help build breakthrough solutions that address education gaps, 21st century skills and future of work for the Indian mass market.

The funding comes on the back of a new Learning Program & Olympiad on Critical Thinking launched by Kidovators this year to test skills like deduction, reasoning, interpretation, identification of assumptions, among others.

Another milestone of significance that Kidovators achieved in the last six months was its partnership with National Independent Schools Alliance (NISA), a body with 55,000 member schools, to conduct the National Analytical Aptitude Test (NAAT) in 2018. The NAAT assesses learning outcomes amongst students of class 3 to 11 from budget private schools on the most critical 21st century skills i.e. creative and critical thinking.

Commenting on the fundraise, Priyadeep Sinha, Founder & CEO - Kidovators said, “We have been constantly working to empower school going students with skills that would prepare them for a thriving future that will be dominated by automation and artificial intelligence. With our flagship programs on creative and critical thinking, we have pioneered 21st century competencies education for K-12 students. Our constant effort is to provide the most relevant education to them.”. I am grateful to Gray Matters Capital and Mr. Chandrasekaran for putting their faith in us and we are constantly working towards adding more challenges, courses and spotlight programs around 21st century competencies education along with ensuring to create a level playing field by providing the highest quality of education to budget private schools as well along with marquee schools in India and abroad.”

Ragini Bajaj Chaudhary, India CEO - Gray Matters Capital underscored the importance of learning and teaching 21st century skills by saying, “The workplace of today needs a workforce equipped with skills to collaborate, articulate ideas, analyze and decipher insights from a sea of information and solve problems through creative thinking and critical reasoning. The big challenge in front of us is knowing how to support and teach these skills to students in schools. Kidovators is one of those innovative enterprises in the India’s education sector which we foresee will create a huge impact in building the human capital India needs for the future by successfully overcoming this challenge head-on.”

Highlighting the investment rationale, Smita Sircar, Innovations Director – edLABS and Ecosystem, Gray Matters Capital, said “Kidovators has a unique product offering, it is off-curriculum but in school, and harnesses the power of competition towards making students 21 Century ready. Further, the organization has made inroads into the budget private school (BPS) space with the NISA partnership as well as launched the new programs and Olympiad on Critical Thinking. The company further has ambition to build a platform to help students to learn at their own time, space and abilities; inculcating the habits needed for life-long learning. edLABS had made a smaller investment earlier in the company and based on the entrepreneurs understanding and passion for the space as well as his ability to execute we increased the investment amount for this round. Kidovators finds resonance with the edLABS ethos and our investment is a validation of the potential scale as well as impact that it can create in our education system.”

Talking about the investment, M Chandrasekaran said, "Priyadeep and team Kidovators have been creating pathbreaking programs on 21st century skills such as creativity and critical thinking that is aimed at helping school children face a future that is both exciting and challenging. Having seen and advised the team right from the beginning, my faith in their ability to create new programs, create new partnerships with schools and overall execution ability has gone from strength to strength. Team Kidovators has clearly created a niche for themselves in the 21st Century education space and the current investment is my vote of confidence in their passionate attempts to make a difference."

Gray Matter Capital has recently shortlisted eight participating startup organizations in the first cohort of its accelerator program – GMC Calibrator that was launched earlier in April this year.

In February, Chrysalis, a Chennai-based education reform startup raised a pre-series A funding round from Gray Matters Capital as well.

In the same month, Bengaluru based edtech startup IMAX Program raised $13.5 million from the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, LGT Impact Ventures and existing investor Aspada.

[Top Image - Kidovators team with CEO and Founder Priyadeep Sinha Via - Picbear.online]

Kidovators Closes $180K Seed Funding from Gray Matters Capital and Ex-Director of Manipal Group

Kidovators, India’s first 21st century skill learning platform of Bengaluru based ADD-on-GYAN Educational Services Pvt. Ltd., has today announced the closing of a seed round funding of US$ 180,000 from impact investor Gray Matters Capital under its edLABS initiative.

M Chandrasekaran, Board Member at Sylvant Advisors and former Corporate Advisor to the Manipal Group, also participated in this funding round.

The funds will be utilized to scale the Kidovators programs to over 100,000 students and 600+ partner schools in 2018 as well as strengthen the core content, technology and sales team. The 21st century online skill learning platform, with courses on creative thinking, critical thinking, complex problem solving and other 21st century competencies for students aged 8 – 15, has garnered over 10,000 student signups since its launch in the beginning of this year.

Founded in 2011 by Priyadeep Sinha and Sonali Gupta, Kidovators is the world’s first 21st Century Competencies platform for school students. Through dedicated programs for 21st century skills such as creativity, innovation and critical thinking including annual courses, spotlight challenges, learning feed and more, Kidovators is working towards empowering over 1,000,000 school students with 21st century skills by 2025.

Kidovators also conducts the world’s first Olympiads on creativity and critical thinking as well as works closely with schools to empower educators & parents with the knowledge of 21st century skills. With the world moving towards automation at an accelerated speed aided by advances in artificial intelligence, the startup is ensuring that school students are skilled for their future, not our past.

The startup had earlier raised angel funding from Luis Miranda, Former Chairman, IDFC PE and M Chandrasekaran in 2015.

It has been conducting India’s Biggest ‘Creativity OlympiadTM’ to help students from Class 4 - 9 to hone their creative thinking skills.

edLABS, Gray Matters Capital’s early stage education and skilling sector focused innovation portfolio, provides very early stage funding to ‘visionary edu-preneurs’ to help build breakthrough solutions that address education gaps, 21st century skills and future of work for the Indian mass market.

The funding comes on the back of a new Learning Program & Olympiad on Critical Thinking launched by Kidovators this year to test skills like deduction, reasoning, interpretation, identification of assumptions, among others.

Another milestone of significance that Kidovators achieved in the last six months was its partnership with National Independent Schools Alliance (NISA), a body with 55,000 member schools, to conduct the National Analytical Aptitude Test (NAAT) in 2018. The NAAT assesses learning outcomes amongst students of class 3 to 11 from budget private schools on the most critical 21st century skills i.e. creative and critical thinking.

Commenting on the fundraise, Priyadeep Sinha, Founder & CEO - Kidovators said, “We have been constantly working to empower school going students with skills that would prepare them for a thriving future that will be dominated by automation and artificial intelligence. With our flagship programs on creative and critical thinking, we have pioneered 21st century competencies education for K-12 students. Our constant effort is to provide the most relevant education to them.”. I am grateful to Gray Matters Capital and Mr. Chandrasekaran for putting their faith in us and we are constantly working towards adding more challenges, courses and spotlight programs around 21st century competencies education along with ensuring to create a level playing field by providing the highest quality of education to budget private schools as well along with marquee schools in India and abroad.”

Ragini Bajaj Chaudhary, India CEO - Gray Matters Capital underscored the importance of learning and teaching 21st century skills by saying, “The workplace of today needs a workforce equipped with skills to collaborate, articulate ideas, analyze and decipher insights from a sea of information and solve problems through creative thinking and critical reasoning. The big challenge in front of us is knowing how to support and teach these skills to students in schools. Kidovators is one of those innovative enterprises in the India’s education sector which we foresee will create a huge impact in building the human capital India needs for the future by successfully overcoming this challenge head-on.”

Highlighting the investment rationale, Smita Sircar, Innovations Director – edLABS and Ecosystem, Gray Matters Capital, said “Kidovators has a unique product offering, it is off-curriculum but in school, and harnesses the power of competition towards making students 21 Century ready. Further, the organization has made inroads into the budget private school (BPS) space with the NISA partnership as well as launched the new programs and Olympiad on Critical Thinking. The company further has ambition to build a platform to help students to learn at their own time, space and abilities; inculcating the habits needed for life-long learning. edLABS had made a smaller investment earlier in the company and based on the entrepreneurs understanding and passion for the space as well as his ability to execute we increased the investment amount for this round. Kidovators finds resonance with the edLABS ethos and our investment is a validation of the potential scale as well as impact that it can create in our education system.”

Talking about the investment, M Chandrasekaran said, "Priyadeep and team Kidovators have been creating pathbreaking programs on 21st century skills such as creativity and critical thinking that is aimed at helping school children face a future that is both exciting and challenging. Having seen and advised the team right from the beginning, my faith in their ability to create new programs, create new partnerships with schools and overall execution ability has gone from strength to strength. Team Kidovators has clearly created a niche for themselves in the 21st Century education space and the current investment is my vote of confidence in their passionate attempts to make a difference."

Gray Matter Capital has recently shortlisted eight participating startup organizations in the first cohort of its accelerator program – GMC Calibrator that was launched earlier in April this year.

In February, Chrysalis, a Chennai-based education reform startup raised a pre-series A funding round from Gray Matters Capital as well.

In the same month, Bengaluru based edtech startup IMAX Program raised $13.5 million from the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, LGT Impact Ventures and existing investor Aspada.

[Top Image - Kidovators team with CEO and Founder Priyadeep Sinha Via - Picbear.online]

Gray Matters Capital To Sell Stake in Indian School Finance Company to Manappuram Finance

Gray Matters Capital (GMC), an impact investor with a gender lens focused on enterprises working to improve access to affordable quality education and employability in India, has today announced that it has decided to sell its entire 81.92% stake in Delhi based Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) - Indian School Finance Company (ISFC), which provide finance and loans to educational institutes & entrepreneurs. The entire stake will be sold to Manappuram Finance Ltd., which is one of the leading gold finance NBFCs in India, based out of Kerala. Caspian, an impact focused investor which has advised ISFC since its inception will also exit the Company, selling its 3.48% stake.

The Sellers and ISFC have entered into binding agreements with Manappuram Finance Ltd. and the deal, which values the 100% equity shares of ISFC at INR 248.50 crore, is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.

ISFC is a NBFC engaged in the business of lending to educational institutions and entrepreneurs managing such institutions. It is the first company in the world to exclusively fund education institutions. The company is widely recognized and appreciated in the education segment for its impact on schools and focus on improvement in quality of education. The objective of ISFC is to assist the Schools and other education institutions in capacity building through infrastructure improvements, thereby enabling students to access quality education

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP acted as exclusive financial advisor and Wadia Ghandy & Co. acted as legal advisor to Gray Matters Capital, Caspian and ISFC.

Incubated in 2009 by Gray Matters Capital, ISFC is the first company in the world to exclusively fund education institutions to meet their infrastructure requirements and the first niche financier to affordable private schools (APS) in India. It had raised $ 6 million as part of Series A funding from Gray Matters Capital in October 2016.

ISFC Loan Portfolio : Quantifying the GMC Investment Impact

• ISFC has assets under management (AUM) of INR 522.59 crore as of 31 March 2018. Currently ISFC serves over 2.6 million students through 4,000+ institutional clients.



• It has a country-wide footprint spanning 116 locations across 15 states through a hub and spoke model and with 300+ employees.




• 79% of customers run affordable private schools with monthly fees under Rs.1200



• 23% of borrowers are women



• 20% of all loans made to schools in rural areas



• 2600 loans made to teachers with low salaries



• Besides educational institutional loans for infrastructure, the loan portfolio has been diversified to loans for ecosystem players in education (book publishers, content companies, computer providers, stationery vendors, furniture providers, uniform providers etc.) and student education loans under the ‘Shishya Finance’ scheme.

Recounting the genesis of ISFC, Bob Pattillo, Founder, Gray Matters Capital said, “We’ve been funding loans to women in India for 17 years. 9 years ago we asked our clients how they invested their savings and they said “Education”. They took us to see their neighbourhood schools run by entrepreneurs. Since the mothers were good consumers, we believed that their kids might be, and an industry was born."

ISFC AND ISFC spinoff VARTHANA together serve 90% of the market in India.

“With ISFC, Gray Matters Capital pioneered the private school finance sector in India. With our investment in ISFC, we enabled a dynamic ecosystem of borrowers and lenders in the private school sector with its focus on quality and access, underscoring our credence of being ecosystem investors”, said Ragini Bajaj Chaudhary, India CEO, Gray Matters Capital.

“ISFC was able to demonstrate that affordable private schools can be a bankable and high impact asset class. With affordable private schools flourishing, the entire ecosystem of products and services to improve education outcomes has evolved. The expectation is that all of these initiatives will enable inter-generational impact.” said Ravi Narasimham, Investment Director at Caspian Impact Investment Adviser.

Neeraj Sharma, Managing Director and CEO, Indian School Finance Company commented, “Being the pioneer in an industry often comes with its unique set of difficult challenges, the primary among them being raising capital from institutional investors / lenders. With GMC by our side, its experience in microfinance and its understanding of the Affordable Private Schools (APS) segment, helped us tremendously in achieving rapid growth, and strong financial performance over the years."

Rajeev Suneja, partner and leader banking and financial services at Deloitte Financial Advisory said, “ISFC has been a pioneer in the field of affordable school finance in India, Manappuram parentage will provide further impetus to growth, wider reach and reduced liability cost for ISFC"

To recall, Grey Matter Capital has recently shortlisted eight participating startup organizations in the first cohort of its accelerator program – GMC Calibrator that was launched earlier in April this year.

Top Image - ISFC Team | via - https://isfc.in/overview

Gray Matters Capital To Sell Stake in Indian School Finance Company to Manappuram Finance

Gray Matters Capital (GMC), an impact investor with a gender lens focused on enterprises working to improve access to affordable quality education and employability in India, has today announced that it has decided to sell its entire 81.92% stake in Delhi based Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) - Indian School Finance Company (ISFC), which provide finance and loans to educational institutes & entrepreneurs. The entire stake will be sold to Manappuram Finance Ltd., which is one of the leading gold finance NBFCs in India, based out of Kerala. Caspian, an impact focused investor which has advised ISFC since its inception will also exit the Company, selling its 3.48% stake.

The Sellers and ISFC have entered into binding agreements with Manappuram Finance Ltd. and the deal, which values the 100% equity shares of ISFC at INR 248.50 crore, is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.

ISFC is a NBFC engaged in the business of lending to educational institutions and entrepreneurs managing such institutions. It is the first company in the world to exclusively fund education institutions. The company is widely recognized and appreciated in the education segment for its impact on schools and focus on improvement in quality of education. The objective of ISFC is to assist the Schools and other education institutions in capacity building through infrastructure improvements, thereby enabling students to access quality education

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP acted as exclusive financial advisor and Wadia Ghandy & Co. acted as legal advisor to Gray Matters Capital, Caspian and ISFC.

Incubated in 2009 by Gray Matters Capital, ISFC is the first company in the world to exclusively fund education institutions to meet their infrastructure requirements and the first niche financier to affordable private schools (APS) in India. It had raised $ 6 million as part of Series A funding from Gray Matters Capital in October 2016.

ISFC Loan Portfolio : Quantifying the GMC Investment Impact

• ISFC has assets under management (AUM) of INR 522.59 crore as of 31 March 2018. Currently ISFC serves over 2.6 million students through 4,000+ institutional clients.



• It has a country-wide footprint spanning 116 locations across 15 states through a hub and spoke model and with 300+ employees.




• 79% of customers run affordable private schools with monthly fees under Rs.1200



• 23% of borrowers are women



• 20% of all loans made to schools in rural areas



• 2600 loans made to teachers with low salaries



• Besides educational institutional loans for infrastructure, the loan portfolio has been diversified to loans for ecosystem players in education (book publishers, content companies, computer providers, stationery vendors, furniture providers, uniform providers etc.) and student education loans under the ‘Shishya Finance’ scheme.

Recounting the genesis of ISFC, Bob Pattillo, Founder, Gray Matters Capital said, “We’ve been funding loans to women in India for 17 years. 9 years ago we asked our clients how they invested their savings and they said “Education”. They took us to see their neighbourhood schools run by entrepreneurs. Since the mothers were good consumers, we believed that their kids might be, and an industry was born."

ISFC AND ISFC spinoff VARTHANA together serve 90% of the market in India.

“With ISFC, Gray Matters Capital pioneered the private school finance sector in India. With our investment in ISFC, we enabled a dynamic ecosystem of borrowers and lenders in the private school sector with its focus on quality and access, underscoring our credence of being ecosystem investors”, said Ragini Bajaj Chaudhary, India CEO, Gray Matters Capital.

“ISFC was able to demonstrate that affordable private schools can be a bankable and high impact asset class. With affordable private schools flourishing, the entire ecosystem of products and services to improve education outcomes has evolved. The expectation is that all of these initiatives will enable inter-generational impact.” said Ravi Narasimham, Investment Director at Caspian Impact Investment Adviser.

Neeraj Sharma, Managing Director and CEO, Indian School Finance Company commented, “Being the pioneer in an industry often comes with its unique set of difficult challenges, the primary among them being raising capital from institutional investors / lenders. With GMC by our side, its experience in microfinance and its understanding of the Affordable Private Schools (APS) segment, helped us tremendously in achieving rapid growth, and strong financial performance over the years."

Rajeev Suneja, partner and leader banking and financial services at Deloitte Financial Advisory said, “ISFC has been a pioneer in the field of affordable school finance in India, Manappuram parentage will provide further impetus to growth, wider reach and reduced liability cost for ISFC"

To recall, Grey Matter Capital has recently shortlisted eight participating startup organizations in the first cohort of its accelerator program – GMC Calibrator that was launched earlier in April this year.

Top Image - ISFC Team | via - https://isfc.in/overview

Meet 8 Startups of 1st Cohort of Gray Matters Capital's Accelerator Program GMC Calibrator

Gray Matters Capital, an impact investor with a gender lens focused on enterprises working to improve access to affordable quality education and employability in India, has today announced the names of the eight participating organizations in the first cohort of its accelerator program – GMC Calibrator that was launched earlier in April this year.

The GMC Calibrator is India’s first accelerator program focused on improving learning outcomes via better ‘User Engagement Design’ of mobile apps of enterprises in the ‘Learning to Earning’ space.

In line with the impact investor’s gender focus, this six month blended zero-equity accelerator program will have its cohort work towards its mission of reaching one million users by 2020, of which 50% will be women and girls. This is to be achieved through focusing on behavioural understanding of users leading to product tweaks that improve learner engagement. The accelerator will also provide support around product strategy, monetization, optimization, distribution and user testing.

The eight enterprises selected for the first cohort of GMC Calibrator are listed below:

1. Laqsh Job Skills Academy

Laqsh Job Skills Academy Pvt Ltd is a social entrepreneurship focused on “Bridging the Skill Gap”. A partner of the National Skills Development Corporation, LAQSH offers skills training in the following segments:- IT-ITes, Retail, Banking, Hospitality, Electronics & Hardware, Beauty and wellness and Telecom. It delivers vocational education to students from 469 schools across 11 states. At Laqsh, Nation building by enhancing the employability of youth is a passion and priority.

2. MadGuy Labs

MadGuy Labs™ is a one-stop destination for all exam preparation related needs, right from finding suitable government exams to understanding /practicing topics to final selection. It is a personalized online exam preparation platform which represents the new era of the coaching institutes where students can study from the comfort of their homes in vernacular languages while having the same environment as a real classroom.

3. Meghshala

The success of any education system depends mainly on the quality of its teachers. Thus it becomes essential to train and develop teachers to ensure that students receive quality education. In December 2013, Jyoti Thyagarajan and Sridhar Ranganathan started Meghshala to address these concerns. The Meghshala team believes in the potential of teachers to be change makers. This automatically puts them in the driving seat towards the future. Now they must take their rightful place as the architects of the future generations.

Meghshala's content of over 2500 plus teachkits is used by over 16000 users across India. Using a combination of curriculum, technology and mentorship, Meghshala aims to meet the urgent need for quality education in India, keeping our teachers as a necessary focus.

4. Million Sparks Foundation

Million Sparks Foundation (MSF) is a not-for-profit organization set up in India with a vision to ensure that every child has access to great teachers and is building a mobile centered platform that focuses on teacher capacity building. The organization has been supported by Google.org, Central Square Foundation, and PayTM.

MSF has built a mobile centered platform called 'ChalkLit' which allows synergistic partnerships with NGOs, training organizations and Governments. MSF is already enabling online capacity building programs in the four states of Delhi, Goa, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh and is in the process of rolling out in multiple other states. There are three interventions- grade specific curriculum linked content for teachers to refer before each class, multi-grade & multi-level topic based trainings for deeper conceptual & pedagogical understanding, and a social platform for interactions, latest updates, and sharing of best practices amongst educators. All of the content on the app is made bite sized and contextually relevant through localized examples, activities and assessments suitable for Indian classrooms.

The platform is a solution built from the ground up for the teachers by an excellent technical founding team, which also has actively taught in classrooms for over two decades, because teachers best understand their peers, their students & the gaps in student understanding.

Also Read - Yes Bank Launches New Accelerator Programme for Startups in Smart City, Cleantech, Agritech, Lifesciences Tech and EdTech
5. Multibhashi

Multibhashi is a language learning app with close to a million installs on the Android playstore which is focused on upskilling blue and grey collared professionals in job related communicative English. The product is an interactive audio-visual journey for the learner where the user gets to work on his/her reading, listening and speaking skills with least focus on writing. The app also allows the users to connect with real human trainers virtually and get personalised milestones and feedback.

6. WhizKidz Media

WhizKidz Media Private Ltd. is building technologies to support preschool children. These days a lot of toddlers begin using gadgets early and it creates challenges and opportunities for using technology the right way. WhizKidz believes the future will be transformed with technology in various aspects of education.

WhizKidz Media launched a preschool learning app OckyPocky which is revolutionising edutainment for preschoolers with interactive and personalised content in English and languages in Indian vernacular mother tongues delivered via flipped classrom methodology. With over 150,000+ kids on its journey, parents are assured of wholesome and enriching learning content in the safest environment. The products include speech training for preschoolers in English.

7. Sarkari Pariksha (Graposs Edutech)

Transforming the lives of the last mile aspirants at their level of ease, with digital access, digital delivery with hand holding the process of change & transformation, Graposs Edutech embraces its expertise in education, technology and professional management to train and skill millions across India for a successful future.

8. Stones2Milestones

Stones2Milestones is on a mission to 'Create a Nation of Readers', gifting children the will and skill to read in English.

Children going to English medium schools are expected to learn, read and speak in English, a language that is aspirational yet alien to them and their surroundings. In India itself, an estimated 9 out of 10 children read below grade levels.

Stones2Milestones solves the problem by providing diagnostic, affordable, research-based and intuitive reading & literacy solutions for schools, teachers & parents, which are systematic, culturally relevant and age-appropriate. Stones2Milestones currently impacts more than 100,000 children across 21 cities.

Announcing the 2018 program cohort, Ragini Chaudhary, India CEO, Gray Matters Capital said, “The Jury of the GMC Calibrator arrived at the final eight based on the parameters of vision articulation; potential to address problems at scale; potential to be disruptive; team quality; scope for impact in terms of gender and affordability; and the suitability of the mobile app for the GMC Calibrator. We are betting on the mobile apps of these eight organizations to help change the education and skilling paradigm as well as bridge gender gaps in education and workplace participation in India.”

The Accelerator Program commences with an in-person immersion week in Bengaluru from 20th June 2018 with the cohort members getting mentorship and engaging in on-on-one workshops in the areas of behavioural design, mobile product strategy, monetization and product optimization.

The GMC Calibrator is an accelerator program powered by ZingerLABS as anchor mentors, Final Mile Consulting as user behaviour specialists, besides Indian Angel Network, Amazon’s AWS Activate, EDUGILD and CL Educate’s Worldwide Academia Industry Network (WAIN).

Raj Lalwani (Monetization Lead - Ola Play, ANI Technologies), Siddharth Mathur (Founder & CEO, Fastah) and Vishalini Paliwal (Senior Director, Product Manager, MindTickle) are some of the other mentors besides experts from partner organizations such as Worldwide Academia Industry Network (WAIN) and Final Mile Consulting which the cohort will have access to via growth vouchers for the six month duration of the program.

Meet 8 Startups of 1st Cohort of Gray Matters Capital's Accelerator Program GMC Calibrator

Gray Matters Capital, an impact investor with a gender lens focused on enterprises working to improve access to affordable quality education and employability in India, has today announced the names of the eight participating organizations in the first cohort of its accelerator program – GMC Calibrator that was launched earlier in April this year.

The GMC Calibrator is India’s first accelerator program focused on improving learning outcomes via better ‘User Engagement Design’ of mobile apps of enterprises in the ‘Learning to Earning’ space.

In line with the impact investor’s gender focus, this six month blended zero-equity accelerator program will have its cohort work towards its mission of reaching one million users by 2020, of which 50% will be women and girls. This is to be achieved through focusing on behavioural understanding of users leading to product tweaks that improve learner engagement. The accelerator will also provide support around product strategy, monetization, optimization, distribution and user testing.

The eight enterprises selected for the first cohort of GMC Calibrator are listed below:

1. Laqsh Job Skills Academy

Laqsh Job Skills Academy Pvt Ltd is a social entrepreneurship focused on “Bridging the Skill Gap”. A partner of the National Skills Development Corporation, LAQSH offers skills training in the following segments:- IT-ITes, Retail, Banking, Hospitality, Electronics & Hardware, Beauty and wellness and Telecom. It delivers vocational education to students from 469 schools across 11 states. At Laqsh, Nation building by enhancing the employability of youth is a passion and priority.

2. MadGuy Labs

MadGuy Labs™ is a one-stop destination for all exam preparation related needs, right from finding suitable government exams to understanding /practicing topics to final selection. It is a personalized online exam preparation platform which represents the new era of the coaching institutes where students can study from the comfort of their homes in vernacular languages while having the same environment as a real classroom.

3. Meghshala

The success of any education system depends mainly on the quality of its teachers. Thus it becomes essential to train and develop teachers to ensure that students receive quality education. In December 2013, Jyoti Thyagarajan and Sridhar Ranganathan started Meghshala to address these concerns. The Meghshala team believes in the potential of teachers to be change makers. This automatically puts them in the driving seat towards the future. Now they must take their rightful place as the architects of the future generations.

Meghshala's content of over 2500 plus teachkits is used by over 16000 users across India. Using a combination of curriculum, technology and mentorship, Meghshala aims to meet the urgent need for quality education in India, keeping our teachers as a necessary focus.

4. Million Sparks Foundation

Million Sparks Foundation (MSF) is a not-for-profit organization set up in India with a vision to ensure that every child has access to great teachers and is building a mobile centered platform that focuses on teacher capacity building. The organization has been supported by Google.org, Central Square Foundation, and PayTM.

MSF has built a mobile centered platform called 'ChalkLit' which allows synergistic partnerships with NGOs, training organizations and Governments. MSF is already enabling online capacity building programs in the four states of Delhi, Goa, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh and is in the process of rolling out in multiple other states. There are three interventions- grade specific curriculum linked content for teachers to refer before each class, multi-grade & multi-level topic based trainings for deeper conceptual & pedagogical understanding, and a social platform for interactions, latest updates, and sharing of best practices amongst educators. All of the content on the app is made bite sized and contextually relevant through localized examples, activities and assessments suitable for Indian classrooms.

The platform is a solution built from the ground up for the teachers by an excellent technical founding team, which also has actively taught in classrooms for over two decades, because teachers best understand their peers, their students & the gaps in student understanding.

Also Read - Yes Bank Launches New Accelerator Programme for Startups in Smart City, Cleantech, Agritech, Lifesciences Tech and EdTech
5. Multibhashi

Multibhashi is a language learning app with close to a million installs on the Android playstore which is focused on upskilling blue and grey collared professionals in job related communicative English. The product is an interactive audio-visual journey for the learner where the user gets to work on his/her reading, listening and speaking skills with least focus on writing. The app also allows the users to connect with real human trainers virtually and get personalised milestones and feedback.

6. WhizKidz Media

WhizKidz Media Private Ltd. is building technologies to support preschool children. These days a lot of toddlers begin using gadgets early and it creates challenges and opportunities for using technology the right way. WhizKidz believes the future will be transformed with technology in various aspects of education.

WhizKidz Media launched a preschool learning app OckyPocky which is revolutionising edutainment for preschoolers with interactive and personalised content in English and languages in Indian vernacular mother tongues delivered via flipped classrom methodology. With over 150,000+ kids on its journey, parents are assured of wholesome and enriching learning content in the safest environment. The products include speech training for preschoolers in English.

7. Sarkari Pariksha (Graposs Edutech)

Transforming the lives of the last mile aspirants at their level of ease, with digital access, digital delivery with hand holding the process of change & transformation, Graposs Edutech embraces its expertise in education, technology and professional management to train and skill millions across India for a successful future.

8. Stones2Milestones

Stones2Milestones is on a mission to 'Create a Nation of Readers', gifting children the will and skill to read in English.

Children going to English medium schools are expected to learn, read and speak in English, a language that is aspirational yet alien to them and their surroundings. In India itself, an estimated 9 out of 10 children read below grade levels.

Stones2Milestones solves the problem by providing diagnostic, affordable, research-based and intuitive reading & literacy solutions for schools, teachers & parents, which are systematic, culturally relevant and age-appropriate. Stones2Milestones currently impacts more than 100,000 children across 21 cities.

Announcing the 2018 program cohort, Ragini Chaudhary, India CEO, Gray Matters Capital said, “The Jury of the GMC Calibrator arrived at the final eight based on the parameters of vision articulation; potential to address problems at scale; potential to be disruptive; team quality; scope for impact in terms of gender and affordability; and the suitability of the mobile app for the GMC Calibrator. We are betting on the mobile apps of these eight organizations to help change the education and skilling paradigm as well as bridge gender gaps in education and workplace participation in India.”

The Accelerator Program commences with an in-person immersion week in Bengaluru from 20th June 2018 with the cohort members getting mentorship and engaging in on-on-one workshops in the areas of behavioural design, mobile product strategy, monetization and product optimization.

The GMC Calibrator is an accelerator program powered by ZingerLABS as anchor mentors, Final Mile Consulting as user behaviour specialists, besides Indian Angel Network, Amazon’s AWS Activate, EDUGILD and CL Educate’s Worldwide Academia Industry Network (WAIN).

Raj Lalwani (Monetization Lead - Ola Play, ANI Technologies), Siddharth Mathur (Founder & CEO, Fastah) and Vishalini Paliwal (Senior Director, Product Manager, MindTickle) are some of the other mentors besides experts from partner organizations such as Worldwide Academia Industry Network (WAIN) and Final Mile Consulting which the cohort will have access to via growth vouchers for the six month duration of the program.

In An Inter-Accelerator Partnership Pune-based EduGild Ties With US-based Impact Investor Gray Matters Capital

Pune based EDUGILD, India’s first edtech startup accelerator promoted by Maharashtra Institute of Technology (MIT) and Avantika University as Knowledge Partners, today announced that it has entered into a strategic partnership with US-based impact investor Gray Matters Capital.

Gray Matters Capital recently launched GMC Calibrator – a six month blended accelerator program focused on enhancing user engagement and improving product monetization of mobile apps and digital platforms of organizations in the ‘Learning to Earning’ space.

What’s the Partnership all about?

• Through this ‘inter-accelerator’ partnership, EDUGILD and Gray Matters Capital’s GMC Calibrator will look to create and nurture a pipeline of ‘investment-worthy’ enterprises in the edtech sector. These entities will have the potential for scale as well as higher impact in terms of promoting self-learning, improving learning outcomes, employability and bridging of gender gaps - both in education and the workforce.



• Besides collaborating to facilitate institutional partners for advisory, mentoring and scaleup, both EDUGILD and Gray Matters Capital aspire to jointly select and curate education and skilling enterprises for their respective accelerator programs.



• Cross promotional opportunities to showcase solutions of cohort members of both accelerator programs to each other’s network including but not limited to access to revenue enhancement opportunities



• The India based enterprises of the EDUGILD cohort will be considered for investment evaluation by Gray Matters Capital and its network of co-investors and funds.



• The cohort of GMC Calibrator will be able to access the canvas of education institutions under the MIT group and their other partner institutions comprising over 80,000 students in the KG to PG spectrum for product testing and piloting of technology led solutions.

Throwing light on the significance of this partnership, Rishi Kapal, CEO, EDUGILD said, “Our partnership with Gray Matters Capital is based on a common vision that we share of Edtech being a catalyst to change the education paradigm in India. This inter-accelerator partnership entailing joint application sourcing, access to mentors, product testing right up to unlocking funding opportunities will help in building a robust edtech sector in India."

Since its launch in June 2015, the global edtech accelerator has benefited 24 startups across 5 cohorts by providing access to sales and go-to-market opportunities, product lifecycle management support, organisation development inputs, UI/UX maturity, PR strategy, coworking spaces, Investor Relations and global scale-up opportunities. EDUGILD has partners in UK, Israel, China, Japan and ANZ for access to their companies.

“As impact investors, it is equally important for us to nurture the ecosystem. While we have many early stage enterprises in the edtech space in India, not many of them are able to attract investor interest,” said Ragini Chaudhary, India CEO, Gray Matters Capital. She added, “This partnership with EDUGILD is an attempt to scout for those edtech enterprises with break through solutions that can benefit the mass market, especially those women and girls in the lower-income groups. The product testing and piloting opportunities that the cohort of the GMC Calibrator can avail will be priceless”

In India, Gray Matters Capital has invested in for-profit education ventures with a focus on access to affordable quality education and on employability leading to a future job ready workforce with 21st century skills. It is the anchor investor in CBA Capital’s Education Catalyst Fund.

Based in Pune, EDUGILD is a global edtech startup accelerator which offers intensive mentorship and product realization program to EdTech start-ups around the world. Participants with creative, technology-based solutions to improve and enhance the learning experience in any field are welcome to apply.

In January 2017, EDUGILD expanded its global footprint when it partnered with JMDedu of China and Edtech Israel of Israel to enhance the number of Indian startups who would like to expand horizons in China, Israel and likewise.

Gray Matters Capital (GMC) is an Atlanta based impact investor with a mission to support "An education leading to a more purposeful life for 100 million women by 2036." In India, it invests in for-profit education ventures with a focus on access to affordable quality education and on employability leading to a future job ready workforce with 21st century skills. Investments in education focused funds; enterprises with break through solutions in education with its edLABS initiative; building markets through ecosystem development and providing value beyond capital through portfolio management constitute the key focus areas of its India strategy.

In An Inter-Accelerator Partnership Pune-based EduGild Ties With US-based Impact Investor Gray Matters Capital

Pune based EDUGILD, India’s first edtech startup accelerator promoted by Maharashtra Institute of Technology (MIT) and Avantika University as Knowledge Partners, today announced that it has entered into a strategic partnership with US-based impact investor Gray Matters Capital.

Gray Matters Capital recently launched GMC Calibrator – a six month blended accelerator program focused on enhancing user engagement and improving product monetization of mobile apps and digital platforms of organizations in the ‘Learning to Earning’ space.

What’s the Partnership all about?

• Through this ‘inter-accelerator’ partnership, EDUGILD and Gray Matters Capital’s GMC Calibrator will look to create and nurture a pipeline of ‘investment-worthy’ enterprises in the edtech sector. These entities will have the potential for scale as well as higher impact in terms of promoting self-learning, improving learning outcomes, employability and bridging of gender gaps - both in education and the workforce.



• Besides collaborating to facilitate institutional partners for advisory, mentoring and scaleup, both EDUGILD and Gray Matters Capital aspire to jointly select and curate education and skilling enterprises for their respective accelerator programs.



• Cross promotional opportunities to showcase solutions of cohort members of both accelerator programs to each other’s network including but not limited to access to revenue enhancement opportunities



• The India based enterprises of the EDUGILD cohort will be considered for investment evaluation by Gray Matters Capital and its network of co-investors and funds.



• The cohort of GMC Calibrator will be able to access the canvas of education institutions under the MIT group and their other partner institutions comprising over 80,000 students in the KG to PG spectrum for product testing and piloting of technology led solutions.

Throwing light on the significance of this partnership, Rishi Kapal, CEO, EDUGILD said, “Our partnership with Gray Matters Capital is based on a common vision that we share of Edtech being a catalyst to change the education paradigm in India. This inter-accelerator partnership entailing joint application sourcing, access to mentors, product testing right up to unlocking funding opportunities will help in building a robust edtech sector in India."

Since its launch in June 2015, the global edtech accelerator has benefited 24 startups across 5 cohorts by providing access to sales and go-to-market opportunities, product lifecycle management support, organisation development inputs, UI/UX maturity, PR strategy, coworking spaces, Investor Relations and global scale-up opportunities. EDUGILD has partners in UK, Israel, China, Japan and ANZ for access to their companies.

“As impact investors, it is equally important for us to nurture the ecosystem. While we have many early stage enterprises in the edtech space in India, not many of them are able to attract investor interest,” said Ragini Chaudhary, India CEO, Gray Matters Capital. She added, “This partnership with EDUGILD is an attempt to scout for those edtech enterprises with break through solutions that can benefit the mass market, especially those women and girls in the lower-income groups. The product testing and piloting opportunities that the cohort of the GMC Calibrator can avail will be priceless”

In India, Gray Matters Capital has invested in for-profit education ventures with a focus on access to affordable quality education and on employability leading to a future job ready workforce with 21st century skills. It is the anchor investor in CBA Capital’s Education Catalyst Fund.

Based in Pune, EDUGILD is a global edtech startup accelerator which offers intensive mentorship and product realization program to EdTech start-ups around the world. Participants with creative, technology-based solutions to improve and enhance the learning experience in any field are welcome to apply.

In January 2017, EDUGILD expanded its global footprint when it partnered with JMDedu of China and Edtech Israel of Israel to enhance the number of Indian startups who would like to expand horizons in China, Israel and likewise.

Gray Matters Capital (GMC) is an Atlanta based impact investor with a mission to support "An education leading to a more purposeful life for 100 million women by 2036." In India, it invests in for-profit education ventures with a focus on access to affordable quality education and on employability leading to a future job ready workforce with 21st century skills. Investments in education focused funds; enterprises with break through solutions in education with its edLABS initiative; building markets through ecosystem development and providing value beyond capital through portfolio management constitute the key focus areas of its India strategy.

Gray Matters Capital Launches Its Accelerator Program ‘GMC Calibrator’ for Education and Skilling Startups

Gray Matters Capital, an impact investor focused on enterprises working to improve access to affordable quality education and employability in India, has today announced the launch of ‘GMC Calibrator’ -- a 6 month Zero Equity Blended Accelerator Program.

This is India’s first accelerator program focused on improving ‘User Engagement’ on mobile apps and digital platforms of enterprises in the ‘Learning to Earning’ space. The participants will be provided end-user behavioural insights which will enable product improvements leading to improved learning outcomes.

Speaking about the launch of its latest initiative in India, Ragini Chaudhary, India CEO, Gray Matters Capital said, “The GMC Calibrator is aimed at those enterprises with digital solutions which have the disruptive potential to change the paradigm of education and skilling in the country. We are also looking to bridge the gender gap that exists in education and workforce participation with this.”

Gray Matters Capital has partnered with consultancy firm, ZingerLABS; behavioral architecture firm, Final Mile Consulting; Amazon’s AWS Activate and angel investor network, Indian Angel Network (IAN) for this program. It will look to select 8 participants in the first cohort of the GMC Calibrator and will keep the application window open until 5th May,2018.

"Encouraging startups in the 'Learning to Earning’ space will have a huge impact in bridging the skill shortage in India. In addition, the void such startups can fill by nudging learners to complete their education is immense. Indian Angel Network will be actively assisting the GMC Calibrator team to turn these fledgling startups to promising enterprises," said Padmaja Ruparel, President & Co-Founder, Indian Angel Network (IAN) & Founding Partner, IAN Fund

Highlighting the importance of such an accelerator program in the Edtech space, Anurag Vaish, Co-Founder, Final Mile Consulting said, “We see that retention rates on edtech platforms is on an average less than 15% which eventually translate into poor learning outcomes. There is an urgent need to solve this. We see that the GMC Calibrator, with its uniqueness of being focused on applying principles of behavioral design to enhance user engagement on mobile apps and digital platforms, is an attempt in doing so.”

Who Can Apply?

• Gray Matters Capital is receiving applications from India based organizations operating in the education and skill building sector focused on improving access to quality education (Pre-KG, K12, Test prep), imparting 21st century skillsets, preparing learners for the future of work and those facilitating life-long learning.



• Applicants can also be enterprises catering to the growing 'gig economy' as well as those with solutions for women and girls that help bridge gender gaps in education and workforce participation



• Every applicant needs to have a digital / mobile based solution in the above listed categories

Enterprises will go through a rigorous selection process by an esteemed jury led by Archana Priyadarshini, Partner, Unicorn India Ventures; Parag Dhol, Managing Director, Inventus; Savitha Singh, Global IT leader and Retail technologist among others.

Selected enterprises for the cohort can access up to $ 35,000 worth growth voucher based customized one-on-one expertise on user engagement and product strategy. The objective is to solve a specific product challenge in the six months of the program which can help in them scaling up and gain traction of the targeted users.

The top 2 enterprises in the cohort with the highest potential for impact will win a cash prize of $ 30,000 and $ 20,000. At the end of program, the cohort gets to pitch to a network of investors for funding.

“Designing for User Engagement is a deliberate endeavour that can increase both impact and value of products and services. The GMC Calibrator will help enterprises journey beyond user acquisition to ‘User Engagement’”, said Bhanu Potta, Founding Partner – ZingerLABS, who will serve as a mentor to the cohort.

The GMC Calibrator does not charge any participation fees.

To recall, GMC has recently invested undsiclosed amount in Chennai based EZ Vidya Pvt Ltd, a parent company which runs Chrysalis, an education reform startup

Gray Matters Capital (GMC) is an Atlanta based impact investor with a mission to support "An education leading to a more purposeful life for 100 million women by 2036." In India, it invests in for-profit education ventures with a focus on access to affordable quality education and on employability leading to a future job ready workforce with 21st century skills. Investments in education focused funds; enterprises with break through solutions in education with its edLABS initiative; building markets through ecosystem development and providing value beyond capital through portfolio management constitute the key focus areas of its India strategy.

Gray Matters Capital Launches Its Accelerator Program ‘GMC Calibrator’ for Education and Skilling Startups

Gray Matters Capital, an impact investor focused on enterprises working to improve access to affordable quality education and employability in India, has today announced the launch of ‘GMC Calibrator’ -- a 6 month Zero Equity Blended Accelerator Program.

This is India’s first accelerator program focused on improving ‘User Engagement’ on mobile apps and digital platforms of enterprises in the ‘Learning to Earning’ space. The participants will be provided end-user behavioural insights which will enable product improvements leading to improved learning outcomes.

Speaking about the launch of its latest initiative in India, Ragini Chaudhary, India CEO, Gray Matters Capital said, “The GMC Calibrator is aimed at those enterprises with digital solutions which have the disruptive potential to change the paradigm of education and skilling in the country. We are also looking to bridge the gender gap that exists in education and workforce participation with this.”

Gray Matters Capital has partnered with consultancy firm, ZingerLABS; behavioral architecture firm, Final Mile Consulting; Amazon’s AWS Activate and angel investor network, Indian Angel Network (IAN) for this program. It will look to select 8 participants in the first cohort of the GMC Calibrator and will keep the application window open until 5th May,2018.

"Encouraging startups in the 'Learning to Earning’ space will have a huge impact in bridging the skill shortage in India. In addition, the void such startups can fill by nudging learners to complete their education is immense. Indian Angel Network will be actively assisting the GMC Calibrator team to turn these fledgling startups to promising enterprises," said Padmaja Ruparel, President & Co-Founder, Indian Angel Network (IAN) & Founding Partner, IAN Fund

Highlighting the importance of such an accelerator program in the Edtech space, Anurag Vaish, Co-Founder, Final Mile Consulting said, “We see that retention rates on edtech platforms is on an average less than 15% which eventually translate into poor learning outcomes. There is an urgent need to solve this. We see that the GMC Calibrator, with its uniqueness of being focused on applying principles of behavioral design to enhance user engagement on mobile apps and digital platforms, is an attempt in doing so.”

Who Can Apply?

• Gray Matters Capital is receiving applications from India based organizations operating in the education and skill building sector focused on improving access to quality education (Pre-KG, K12, Test prep), imparting 21st century skillsets, preparing learners for the future of work and those facilitating life-long learning.



• Applicants can also be enterprises catering to the growing 'gig economy' as well as those with solutions for women and girls that help bridge gender gaps in education and workforce participation



• Every applicant needs to have a digital / mobile based solution in the above listed categories

Enterprises will go through a rigorous selection process by an esteemed jury led by Archana Priyadarshini, Partner, Unicorn India Ventures; Parag Dhol, Managing Director, Inventus; Savitha Singh, Global IT leader and Retail technologist among others.

Selected enterprises for the cohort can access up to $ 35,000 worth growth voucher based customized one-on-one expertise on user engagement and product strategy. The objective is to solve a specific product challenge in the six months of the program which can help in them scaling up and gain traction of the targeted users.

The top 2 enterprises in the cohort with the highest potential for impact will win a cash prize of $ 30,000 and $ 20,000. At the end of program, the cohort gets to pitch to a network of investors for funding.

“Designing for User Engagement is a deliberate endeavour that can increase both impact and value of products and services. The GMC Calibrator will help enterprises journey beyond user acquisition to ‘User Engagement’”, said Bhanu Potta, Founding Partner – ZingerLABS, who will serve as a mentor to the cohort.

The GMC Calibrator does not charge any participation fees.

To recall, GMC has recently invested undsiclosed amount in Chennai based EZ Vidya Pvt Ltd, a parent company which runs Chrysalis, an education reform startup

Gray Matters Capital (GMC) is an Atlanta based impact investor with a mission to support "An education leading to a more purposeful life for 100 million women by 2036." In India, it invests in for-profit education ventures with a focus on access to affordable quality education and on employability leading to a future job ready workforce with 21st century skills. Investments in education focused funds; enterprises with break through solutions in education with its edLABS initiative; building markets through ecosystem development and providing value beyond capital through portfolio management constitute the key focus areas of its India strategy.

Chennai based Education Reform Startup Chrysalis Raises Pre Series-A Funding

Chennai based EZ Vidya Pvt Ltd, a parent company which runs Chrysalis, an education reform startup, has raised a pre-series A funding round from Indian education sector focused investor Gray Matters Capital.

The capital raised by the startup will be used to build on its research and development, and to strengthen its multichannel approach leading the company to further target on its goal of improving education in K-12 schools. There are currently 250 million children enrolled in these schools of which 100 million are in the private school segment.

The development was first reported by Economic Times.

According to Chrysalis, "There was a huge and fundamental problem at hand - the education system was killing the human potential in the children in for 15,16,892 private and Government schools in India."

Chrysalis thus designed solutions that were essential for the child, ones that helped bring out the human potential in every child.

Founded 16 years ago by Chitra Ravi, Chrysalis works closely with schools on areas such as teacher empowerment, curriculum development and administrative processes. We lend our expertise in education and pedagogy to leading organizations in their socio-educational initiatives to deliver high-impact interventions in schools.

"Our mission is to stand up for the child, by reforming the Indian education system in a way that every child realizes his/her human potential. In our estimation, we have more than 15,00,000 schools failing in this regard. We have established a roadmap to bring in a fundamental change in the system by engaging 5 principal mediums - policy makers, government schools, private schools, parents and public, by open-sourcing our intellectual property selectively. We are committed to this mission and were seeking investors who were aligned to it. We found the right fit in Gray Matters Capital, which has a vision to transform human lives using education as a medium", said Chitra who is also CEO of the company.

Chrysalis' flagship product is ThinkRoom, a student-centric academic programme based on a 'Human Potential' framework developed through 16 years of pedagogic research.

Chrysalis is operational in schools of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Delhi NCR, Haryana, Orissa and Punjab.

On investment in Chrysalis, Ragini Bajaj Chaudhary, India CEO, Gray Matters Capital, said "We see Chrysalis as one of the most innovative, mission driven and student centric educational enterprises in India, which has the potential of bringing about a tangible change in the way education is imparted in our schools."

In an another funding of education related startup, Ed-tech start up GreyAtom, has raised a $1M funding round led by early-stage fund Pravega Ventures, this month only.

The Educational startups space in India is seeing lot of traction off late, as in recent months number of funding and M&A took place. Just last week, Bengaluru-based enterprise platform for educational institutions CollPoll has raised its pre-series A funding round led by Manipal Global Education Services [MaGE].

In November 2017, AEON Learning Private Limited, which is backed by Kris Gopalkrishnan, acquired Acadgild, an online edtech startup, for $10 million in an all stock deal.

In the same month, an another edtech startup Perspectico raised seed funding from Delhi University and Government of Delhi Incubator.

Additionally, AICTE tied-up with Fourth Ambit, a Kerala-based edtech startup, to connect over 10,000 tech insitutes across India through online portals.

Chennai based Education Reform Startup Chrysalis Raises Pre Series-A Funding

Chennai based EZ Vidya Pvt Ltd, a parent company which runs Chrysalis, an education reform startup, has raised a pre-series A funding round from Indian education sector focused investor Gray Matters Capital.

The capital raised by the startup will be used to build on its research and development, and to strengthen its multichannel approach leading the company to further target on its goal of improving education in K-12 schools. There are currently 250 million children enrolled in these schools of which 100 million are in the private school segment.

The development was first reported by Economic Times.

According to Chrysalis, "There was a huge and fundamental problem at hand - the education system was killing the human potential in the children in for 15,16,892 private and Government schools in India."

Chrysalis thus designed solutions that were essential for the child, ones that helped bring out the human potential in every child.

Founded 16 years ago by Chitra Ravi, Chrysalis works closely with schools on areas such as teacher empowerment, curriculum development and administrative processes. We lend our expertise in education and pedagogy to leading organizations in their socio-educational initiatives to deliver high-impact interventions in schools.

"Our mission is to stand up for the child, by reforming the Indian education system in a way that every child realizes his/her human potential. In our estimation, we have more than 15,00,000 schools failing in this regard. We have established a roadmap to bring in a fundamental change in the system by engaging 5 principal mediums - policy makers, government schools, private schools, parents and public, by open-sourcing our intellectual property selectively. We are committed to this mission and were seeking investors who were aligned to it. We found the right fit in Gray Matters Capital, which has a vision to transform human lives using education as a medium", said Chitra who is also CEO of the company.

Chrysalis' flagship product is ThinkRoom, a student-centric academic programme based on a 'Human Potential' framework developed through 16 years of pedagogic research.

Chrysalis is operational in schools of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Delhi NCR, Haryana, Orissa and Punjab.

On investment in Chrysalis, Ragini Bajaj Chaudhary, India CEO, Gray Matters Capital, said "We see Chrysalis as one of the most innovative, mission driven and student centric educational enterprises in India, which has the potential of bringing about a tangible change in the way education is imparted in our schools."

In an another funding of education related startup, Ed-tech start up GreyAtom, has raised a $1M funding round led by early-stage fund Pravega Ventures, this month only.

The Educational startups space in India is seeing lot of traction off late, as in recent months number of funding and M&A took place. Just last week, Bengaluru-based enterprise platform for educational institutions CollPoll has raised its pre-series A funding round led by Manipal Global Education Services [MaGE].

In November 2017, AEON Learning Private Limited, which is backed by Kris Gopalkrishnan, acquired Acadgild, an online edtech startup, for $10 million in an all stock deal.

In the same month, an another edtech startup Perspectico raised seed funding from Delhi University and Government of Delhi Incubator.

Additionally, AICTE tied-up with Fourth Ambit, a Kerala-based edtech startup, to connect over 10,000 tech insitutes across India through online portals.