Venture capital firm India Venture Partnership is investing Rs 10 crore ($2.2 million) in daycare firm Your Kids ‘R’ Our Kids (YKROK) Education Private Limited. The company, founded in 2002, provides services like corporate day care, pre-school and after school services across 12 centers.
YKROK currently has a capacity of serving over 2,000 children with a target to create a network of 65 centres in the next three years. It is targeting to serve over 10,000 children in 10 cities across India. YKROK currently has centres in Delhi, Pune and Bangalore. The funds would be used for this expansion plan.
YKROK has exclusive tie-ups with more than 20 corporates like IBM, Accenture, Deutsche Bank, Infosys, CGI, Dell, Fidelity Investments, ANZ, among others. The company had raised seed funding from IBM’s Global Work Life Fund (aimed to back projects which help IBM attract, retain, and motivate employees) in 2007.
YKROK helps in enhancing children's English language development, cognitive development in math and science and socio-emotional development.
“One of our key areas of focus has been education and we have been looking for high-end service providers with a differentiated edge. We found YKROK’s concept of workplace day care centres to be unique that directly addresses the huge demand gap for employee sensitive service provisions enabling retention and corporate growth,” said Navneet Gosal – Advisor, India Venture Partners.
“Majority of urban children today grow up in a nuclear family wherein working parents don’t have the luxury of extended support system akin the past. YKROK aims to address this need via innovative programs in conjunction with employee sensitive corporate," said Suman Kapoor- Co-Founder & Managing Director, Your Kids ‘R’ Our Kids.
Education sector has seen investments of $186 million across 19 deals till date this calendar year, according to VCCEdge. This compared to 10 deals worth $128 million in the entire calendar year 2009. Among day care and pre-school firms, Mumbai's Tree House Education and Accessories has raised funding from Matrix Partners India and Foundation Capital.
Educomp Solutions also acquired a 50% stake in pre-school educator EuroKids International for $8.7 million in 2008. Other players in the space include Kidzee (backed by Zee's Subhash Chandra), Shemrock Schools and Delhi-based Mothers Pride.
India Venture Partnership (IVP) manages funds with close to $15 million and invests in sectors like clean tech, life sciences, and education sectors. It had earlier invested $4-6 million in carbon consultancy services firm Gensol Consultants.
