Matrix Partners India, an investment firm with Rs 1,500 crore under management, has invested Rs 50 crore in the first institutional round of funding of Maharana Infrastructure and Professional Services Private Ltd (MIPS), a service provider to higher education institutes in northern India. Matrix is the sole investor to participate in this round. This investment marks Matrix’s third deal in the fast-growing education space. Its other education portfolio firms include test prep firm FIIT JEE and pre-school chain Tree House.
With this round, Matrix India director Amit Kapoor will join the board of MIPS. “MIPS has an innovative business model to address the needs of the country’s fast-growing education sector. It is well-positioned to become a dominant player in India with its focus on providing state-of-the-art facilities and high quality, job-oriented training,” said Kapoor.
Matrix Partners started in Boston in 1977 as Hellman Ferri Investment Associates. In 1982, Paul Ferri re-established the firm as Matrix Partners while Matrix Partners India was established in 2006.
“MIPS provides curriculum support, marketing, HR consulting and infrastructure services to educational institutes. The company aims to become the market leader in northern and central India,” said Shailendra Bhadauria, chairman and managing director of Maharana Infrastructure and Professional Services Pvt Ltd.
MIPS counts the MPGI Group as its core client. The group runs 20 courses with 10 campuses and over 10,000 students. The courses offered under the MPGI umbrella include engineering, medical, dental, hospital, pharmacy, mass communication, information technology, K-12 and pre-school.
The education sector is seeing high interest in India from both financial and strategic investors. The annual government spend on education is approximately $30 billion with an annual private spend of $43 billion, said a 2010 note from Kaizen Management Advisors, an education-focussed private equity firm. According to data from VCCEdge, there were investments worth $190 million across 23 deals in 2010, compared to 10 deals worth $128 million in 2009.