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Home-grown private equity firm ChrysCapital led an Rs 350-crore ($55-million) Series C funding round in Bengaluru-based Varthana operated school finance company Thirumeni Finance Pvt. Ltd.
According to Thirumeni Finance, the investment was a combination of primary infusion and secondary stake sale by early-stage investors. Existing investors, Elevar Equity, LGT Impact, Omidyar Network and Kaizen Private Equity also participated in the round.
The non-banking financial company is committed to expanding or improving school infrastructure, besides investing in solutions that help improve student learning outcomes by providing loan facilities. Originally the loans are given to private schools catering to students from low-income households.
Varthana, which was launched by Brajesh Mishra and Steve Hardgrave in 2013, supports 3,500-plus schools, comprising 84,000 teachers and 2.5 million students, according to the press note.
Hardgrave and Mishra said in a joint-statement that ChrysCapital’s experience in helping companies grow to new heights will help Varthana to build on its early progress.
Ashish Agrawal, director, ChrysCapital said, “ChrysCapital believes that Varthana is well poised to create a dominant platform in a niche segment, given a very passionate set of entrepreneurs along with a deep network, excellent customer relationships, and a committed workforce.”
Last October, the company had raised Rs 20 crore ($3 million) from Michael and Susan Dell Foundation.
In 2016, it had raised Rs 93 crore in its Series B round led by Kaizen Private Equity and Zephyr Peacock India. Its existing investors, Elevar Equity, LGT Impact and Omidyar Network have also participated in the current round.
