Consumer internet company Info Edge (India) Ltd has invested Rs 37.10 crore ($5.2 million) in Sunrise Mentors Pvt. Ltd, a Delhi-based company that operates online learning platform CodingNinjas.
The company invested the capital via a mix of primary and secondary purchase of shares, the operator of jobs portal Naukri.com and property website 99acres.com said in a stock-exchange filing.
Info Edge will hold a 25% stake in CodingNinjas after this investment the filing said. The investment is in line with its strategy of expanding its presence in the online upskilling and reskilling space, which is in line with its recruitment and education businesses.
"Jobseekers looking to upskill and reskill, want a clear attribution before spending significant sums of money for such education. This need for attribution is giving rise to new business models such as income sharing agreements (ISA) or pay after placements (PAP,” the filing said.
Sunrise was incorporated in May 2016. According to its website, CodingNinjas says its mission is to train the next generation of developers and to transform the delivery of technological education. Its platform offers both advanced and beginner courses, including in languages such as Python and technologies such as machine learning.
CodingNinjas has also launched a new programme, the CodingNinjas Career Camp, which charges students after they are successfully placed with a job. According to Info Edge’s filing, the startup reported a turnover of Rs 2.23 crore, Rs 4.08 crore, and Rs 5.57 crore for the 2016-’17, 2017-’18 and 2018-’19 financial years.
Info Edge’s focus on India’s startup ecosystem
The Noida-headquartered Info Edge (India) Ltd has made several investments in startups across sectors as part of its larger strategy of maintaining a presence across the country’s growing internet and frontier services ecosystem.
Last month, Info Edge floated a venture capital fund to invest in tech and tech-enabled companies. In a filing at the time, the company said it would invest around Rs 100 crore ($14 million) in Info Edge Venture Fund, sponsored through wholly-owned unit Smartweb Internet Services Ltd.
One of the major investments the company has made outside of the fund is in food delivery and restaurant search platform Zomato, which earlier in January acquired Uber Technologies Inc's food delivery business, Uber Eats, in India.
Other bets it has made include education-technology startup Adda247, digital logistics platform Shipsy, Happily Unmarried Marketing Pvt. Ltd, and Greytip Software Pvt. Ltd.
Shares of the company were trading 1.23% down at Rs 2,974.50 apiece at the time of writing this report.
