ProEves Services Pvt. Ltd, which operates preschool and day-care centre aggregator and booking platform, has raised Rs 3.6 crore (approximately $507,685 at current exchange rates) in a seed funding round.
The funding round was led by 1Crowd, a crowdfunding-based firm, ProEves said in a statement. Others that participated in the round include Roots Ventures’ Japan Vyas, Vimson Group director Swati Salgaocar, angel investor Llyod Mathias, and RateGain Apurva Chamaria.
Divya Agarwal, co-founder at ProsEves, said the funding has provided the company with the capital to drive its next phase of growth, including scaling up ProEves-enabled centres across cities such as Mumbai, Bengaluru, and the National Capital Region.
We have tracked ProEves’ progress closely as it has built upon its first-mover advantage in this space to establish a substantial market leadership position, 1Crowd co-founder Anil Gudibande said.
ProEves, which was co-founded by Ketika Kapoor and Agarwal in 2016, says it focusses on technology-enabled end-to-end childcare support solutions for both corporate and retail customers.
The company says it has so far partnered with over 7,000 day-care centres and preschools. Its services include providing access to verified centres, pre-bookings, and service request details, according to its website.
The firm also operates ProEves Edge, a preschool and day-care management app, which allows the institutions to manage aspects such as fees and receipts generation, holiday tracking, live updates, reminders, and CCTV linking.
It is the latest startup in the childcare segment to receive investor or strategic attention. In September last year, global alternative asset management firm KKR & Co. acquired a majority stake in EuroKids International Pvt. Ltd. In November, reports said that EuroKids was in talks to acquire the Essel Group-operated Kidzee for between Rs 1,000 and Rs 1,200 crore.
Other similar chains that have received funding in the past include Footprints Childcare Pvt. Ltd., and Your Kids ‘R’ Our Kids (India) Pvt. Ltd.