InnoVen Capital, on Thursday, announced a Rs 16 crores investment venture in Eruditus Executive Education. “The demand for high-quality learning continues to grow and Eruditus has built a fantastic global franchise, collaborating with top global and Ivy League universities to deliver a unique mix of classroom, online, and blended-learning education to professionals. We believe that Eruditus is well positioned to tap this opportunity and are pleased to be a part of their growth journey,.” says Ashish Sharma, the CEO at InnoVen Capital.

This is not the first instance where InnoVen Capital has invested in an ed-tech company. The new member of the Unicorn Club, Byju’s had also received funding from the capital investment firm and Eruditus is the newest addition to their portfolio with a 16 crores debt finance deal.

Learning apps, massive open online course (MOOCs) and distance learning have been gaining ground in India with pre-professionals and professionals seeking access to a plethora of knowledge and certification platforms. While that, on the one hand, has transformed work cultures, the specificity of job descriptions and the workforce in general, it also explains the interest of capital investment companies in ed-tech. 

"We are excited to partner with Innoven to raise venture debt. Innoven's team is very start-up oriented and they were able to provide us a perfect solution for our growth needs. We will use these funds to fuel our international growth into markets such as Latin America and South East Asia," is what co-founder, Eruditus, Ashwin Damera had to say. 

Professionalization courses have been in focus even with NIIT announcing their TPaaS initiative. With the workplace evolving, the expectations from present and future employees are changing as well. Keeping that in mind, it is no wonder that individuals and organizations are willing to invest in more evolved learning and learning platforms. 

Another point to be noted here is that with the improved ease and increased popularity of venture debt funds, startups no longer have to rely on equity finance. Companies like Trifecta Capital, InnoVen or IntelGrow are here to enable startups to fulfill their capital requirements and focus on growing their brands and expand the reach of their products and services. 

Eruditus, for example, is now all set to increase their number of courses from 28 to 52 by 2019. Whether it’s Embibe being acquired by Reliance or Alteria Capital funding Toppr, these stories definitely point towards the growing trend of venture debt funding a well as of the ed-tech sector.