Flinto Learning Solutions Pvt. Ltd, a startup offering activity-based education kits for children, has raised Rs 6 crore ($870,000) in venture debt from InnoVen Capital, a press statement said.
InnoVen is the venture debt arm of Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings.
Chennai-based Flinto will use the funds to expand its domestic presence and enter markets such as Southeast Asia and West Asia (the Middle East), InnoVen said in a statement on Wednesday.
Flinto was founded by Arunprasad Durairaj, Vijay Babu Gandhi and Shreenidhi Srirangam in 2013.
The company caters to children in the age group of two to 12 years. It focuses on children’s learning and development at home and pre-school through Flintobox, a service that delivers theme-based monthly activity box. The company recently expanded in the unorganised pre-school segment through its offering, FlintoClass, which has reached over 350 pre-schools across eight countries.
"Having built a subscription business on solid unit economics that gives us optimal cash flow, debt investment makes a huge impact in scaling up business rapidly," said Durairaj, CEO and co-founder at Flinto.
Tarana Lalwani, director at InnoVen Capital India, said that the space has great potential as more parents look for activities that help children learn in a fun way.
Last year, Flinto had raised $7 million (Rs 45 crore) in a Series A round led by venture capital firm Lightbox. The company had previously raised funds from US-based venture capital firm Globevestor and venture capitalist Ashwin Chadha.
InnoVen Capital
The venture debt firm usually writes cheques after Series A, and mentors early-stage startups.
InnoVen’s other portfolio companies include Oyo Rooms, Swiggy, Byju’s, Nestaway, Pepperfry, Prizm Payments, Shaadi.com, Shopclues, and Myntra.
Last September, Nasdaq-listed Yatra Online, Inc., which runs travel portal Yatra.com, raised $15.4 million (Rs 100 crore) from InnoVen in the largest-ever venture debt deal in India.
The venture debt firm committed funding worth Rs 418 crore in January-June this year, of which Rs 300 crore was disbursed, it had said earlier.
Deals in education space
The education space witnessed some active dealmaking last month.
Earlier in July, InnoVen Capital backed Eruditus Education Pvt. Ltd, which offers executive learning programmes globally.
Later in the month, NSPIRA Management Services Pvt. Ltd, which offers services in the education sector, raised $75 million (Rs 515 crore) from Morgan Stanley’s private equity arm and mid-market PE firm BanyanTree Capital.
In the same month, mid-market PE firm Gaja Capital invested $25 million (Rs 171 crore) in Ahmedabad-based ed-tech firm Educational Initiatives Pvt. Ltd.
In a potential big-ticket deal, VCCircle reported in June that serial investor Suresh Kalpathi was in talks with PE firm AION Capital to buy out Hyderabad-based Varsity Education Management Pvt. Ltd, which offers operational and support services to educational institutes.