Edu-Fintech Start-up EduFund Raises $3.5M In Pre-Series A Funding Led By MassMutual Ventures, DSP Investment Managers, and Kunal Shah
EduFund, an India-based edu-fintech company, today announced that it has raised a Pre-Series A investment of $3.5M, led by global venture capital firm MassMutual Ventures (MMV). The start-up boasts of 70,000 successfully engaged parents on its platform. The round also saw participation from prominent investors DSP Investment Managers, Anchorage Capital Partners, and Kunal Shah.
Started in 2020 by founders Eela Dubey and Arindam Sengupta, the company offers a full stack solution dedicated to helping Indian parents plan, save and invest for their children’s future education. With education inflation hovering between 8-10% domestically, and over 4% in countries with high enrolment of Indian students, EduFund empowers parents to plan ahead and save across different asset classes to meet these rising costs over time. It also helps parents bridge financing needs by providing education loans and scholarships.
The app-based solution has partnered with leading Asset Management Companies (AMC) including Tata, DSP, UTI, ICICI, Aditya Birla and HDFC to offer investment products, and notable lenders such as ICICI Bank, HDFC Credila, IDFC, etc. to offer education loans. It also provides education counselling services to help prospective students understand their best-fit university.
“The demand for world class education in India is growing rapidly, and EduFund’s innovative approach to addressing the funding gap for higher education is very exciting. The founders’ asset management expertise and deep understanding of the market, coupled with the significance of education in Indian culture, makes the company a compelling investment opportunity. We are excited to partner with EduFund in their mission to make higher education accessible to all,” said Anvesh Ramineni, Managing Partner at MMV.
Co-Founders Dubey and Sengupta said: “Our goal at EduFund has always been to help parents start saving early and to provide solutions that will financially enable the aspirations they have for their children. Today, the entire education planning journey in India is very siloed. If a parent wants to save, they may visit a financial planner. If their child needs an education loan, they may approach a bank. We wanted to reduce these pain points, and bring the entire journey on to one platform so that parents can have a more seamless and centralized experience. With this new funding, we plan to accelerate our growth, create new solutions, and invest in technology.”
“Returns are a function of time (compounding). The luxury of time is available only to those investors who start early. Parents with young children have the advantage of having time on their side,” writes Managing Director and CEO of DSP Mutual Fund, Kalpen Parekh. He went on to mention that “this investment in EduFund is our way of encouraging two important objectives: real compounding and creating a corpus for our children’s education.”
About EduFund
EduFund is India’s first full stack planning product that allows parents the unique opportunity to save for the future, take education loans, and avail a scholarship for all their short term and long term education needs. The start up’s app also provides access to courses offered through its partnerships with ed-techs, counseling services and immigration. EduFund was started to help combat rising costs in education, and make the planning journey for parents easier. EduFund has over 70,000 parents successfully engaging on its platform and has over 200,000 downloads. For more information please visit www.edufund.in
About MassMutual Ventures
MassMutual Ventures (MMV) is a multistage global venture capital firm investing in financial technology, enterprise SaaS, climate technology, digital health, and cybersecurity. With teams based in Boston, Singapore, and London, MMV manages over $1 billion in investment capital across the globe. We help accelerate the growth of the companies we partner with by providing capital, connections and advice. With our deep expertise and extensive Fortune 500 network, MMV helps entrepreneurs build compelling and scalable companies of value. For more information, visit www.massmutualventures.com
