Education services firm Karadi Path Education Company Pvt Ltd said on Wednesday it has raised $2.3 million (Rs 15 crore) in a Series A round of funding from Pearson Affordable Learning Fund (PALF) and existing VC investor Aavishkaar India II Company Ltd.
Chennai-based Karadi Path is an offshoot of Karadi Tales Company Pvt Ltd. Karadi Tales is one of the children education-entertainment comic labels acquired by ACK Media, a firm backed by Future Consumer and PE firm Elephant Capital.
Karadi Path was founded in 2011. The company, which runs English learning courses across the country through its platform, had at the time raised funding from social VC firm Aavishkar.
The company operates in about 1,200 schools, both private and government-run, across eight states, reaching more than 200,000 students. It has also trained almost 6,000 teachers to date.
“We want to reach a broader range of learners, including early childhood and college students, explore new ways to leverage technology and ultimately reach the scale of impact that is so important to us,†said CP Viswanath, founder and CEO of Karadi Path.
PALF, launched in July 2012 by publishing and education services company Pearson Plc, makes minority equity investments in for-profit companies operating in the affordable education services in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
PALF was launched with $15 million of capital. Early this year its parent committed an additional $50 million to expand PALF’s work in emerging markets.
For PALF, this is the tenth investment globally and the fifth in India. The fund had test prep startup Avanti early this year.
Last year it invested Rs 1.6 crore in Bangalore-based Experifun Learning Solutions Pvt Ltd, which designs next-generation science learning aids; Mumbai-based Zaya Learning Pvt Ltd, which operates under the brand name Zaya Labs; and in Sudiksha Knowledge Solutions, which operates pre-schools in underprivileged areas in urban Hyderabad.
