HCL Group has invested Rs 166 crore ($20 million) in digital learning firm Educational Initiatives Pvt Ltd (Ei), which has presence across India, UAE, South Africa, and Singapore, also marking the information technology major's foray into the sector.
The Group has picked up a minority stake in the Ahmedabad-based firm, which also counts homegrown private equity fund Gaja Capital as its early backer.
It was not immediately clear if Gaja had diluted its stake as part of the fresh investment. Gaja Capital had infused Rs 170 crore into the firm in July 2018.
The over two decades old Ei provides schools with research-backed assessments and personalised adaptive learning solutions to help improve learning outcomes at scale. The B2B edtech firm uses advanced analytics to identify learning gaps and has integrated generative AI into its products to improve students’ reading, writing and speaking experience. It is also investing in discovering how technologies like machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) can aid in student learning.
Ei claims to have more than 1 million paid users for its two offerings- assessments (Ei ASSET and Ei CARES) and personalised adaptive learning (Ei Mindspark).
"I’m excited to welcome HCL Group as investors who share our vision of leveraging the best of pedagogy and technology to improve learning outcomes for millions of students in India and around the world,” said Pranav Kothari, CEO of Ei.
The company is now looking to expand further in South Africa and enter new regions such as Kenya, Ghana and Saudi Arabia and is also exploring business partnerships in these markets with companies that align with Ei’s mission.
The company has also developed offerings like Ei ASSET Arabic to suit the local needs of these countries. Ei is looking to acquire edtech product companies focused on improving learning outcomes in their respective regions.
"The organization offers a distinctive blend of scalable technology, impactful social initiatives, and sustainable growth," said Shikhar Malhotra, director at HCL Group.
HCL Group has a presence across varied sectors that include technology, healthcare and talent management solutions and comprises three companies – HCL Tech, HCL Infosystems, and HCL Healthcare. The group generates annual revenues of over $13.1 billion and has over 2 lakh employees operating across 60 countries.
The deal comes at a time when the edtech sector is facing the brunt of the funding winter that has left even large companies such as Byju’s struggling to survive.
