Education Kaizen closes its second fund at $42million

Kaizen Management Advisors Pvt Ltd, a private equity firm that focuses on the education sector, has invested in Hyderabad-based professional skills training firm INSOFE Education Pvt. Ltd., which runs International School of Engineering.

According to Dakshinamurthy V. Kolluru , Founder, INSOFE, the funds will be used to expand research activity, hire faculty members and grow operations both in the country and overseas.

Kaizen also made the first close of its second fund at $42 million (Rs 285 crore). Five investors came on board as limited partners for the fund.

Sandeep Aneja, Managing Partner, Kaizen PE, said, "The fund had a target corpus of $150 million, including a greenshoe option of $25 million. It had aimed to mark the first close at nearly $50 million."

Having backed 10 companies from its debut fund, Kaizen is likely to invest in a little over a dozen firms from the new fund.

The company’s focus for investment is mainly in four categories namely, personalised learning space, pre-school, education finance and micro learning.

The PE firm is targeting to invest in Southeast Asia from the new fund. It plans to initially invest in the Philippines and Sri Lanka from the new fund and further add countries such as Bangladesh, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand.

The company is also looking to exit pre-school chain, Your Kids R Our Kids India Education Pvt. Ltd through a "strategic deal".