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Shiksha Finance provided loans for talented children to achieve gold medal.
Shiksha provided loans to low-cost private schools and to the student from low-income families, Shiksha recognizes the importance of extra-curricular activity for the all-round development of a child, in addition to quality education at school.
Shiksha’s student loans cover expenses related to extra-curricular development in addition to tuition fees

Rajeshwari and this my son, Sabarinathasiva, I availed alone of INR 30,000 from Shiksha to support my son’s interest in skating. He participated in a national competition in Delhi and won the gold medal. This would not have been possible without the support from Shiksha Finance.
They processed my loan application in just four days, unlike other financial institutions I had approached in the past. I am grateful for Shiksha’s timely support. My son could enroll in the competition in time, Thanks to Shiksha!

Anu and this my daughter, Yogalakshmi. She participated in a national competition in Delhi and won the gold medal. Shiksha will help my daughter’s career growth Thanks to Shiksha Finance !!
Shiksha continues to support thousands of children like Sabarinathasiva and Yogalakshmi to achieve their full potential through its innovative finance products for education.

Northern Arc Capital, Triodos invest ₹30 cr in NCDs by Shiksha (The Hindu)
Northern Arc Capital, a leading debt platform for financial inclusion focussed institutions, and Triodos Investment Management, Netherlands-based impact investment fund, have together invested ₹30 crores in non-convertible debentures issued by Chennai-based school finance company Shiksha Financial Services.
Shiksha offers loans to educational institutions and education loans to parents.
According to a press release, Shiksha will use the money to grow its loan portfolio, to deepen presence in south India and expand to Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Rajasthan.
Founded by VL Ramakrishnan and Jacob Abraham in 2014, Shiksha provides loans to educational institutions for their working capital needs, to improve infrastructure and create new assets. Its study loan is designed to ensure uninterrupted education for children. It is present in five States in the South, serving more than 2,000 schools and over 2.2 million students.
Northern Arc Capital and Netherlands’ Triodos invest Rs 30 Cr in Shiksha (your Story)
Northern Arc Capital, a debt platform for financial inclusion focused institutions, and Netherlands based impact investment fund, Triodos Investment Management today announced a Rs 30 crore investment in Non-Convertible Debentures (NCDs) issued by Chennai-based education finance company Shiksha Financial Services.
Shiksha offers business loans to educational institutions and education loans to parents. The company will use the funds for growing its loan portfolio, to deepen presence in South India and expand to new states such as MP, Gujarat, and Rajasthan.
Kshama Fernandes, MD & CEO of Northern Arc said,
“Education financing is emerging as an important sector of focus at the Northern Arc. The financial inclusion landscape is expanding and we are noticing opportunities beyond traditional sectors like microfinance.”
Founded in 2014 by V L Ramakrishnan and Jacob Abraham, Shiksha offers business loans to educational institutions for their working capital needs, to create new infrastructure, and to purchase new assets. While its study loan is uniquely designed to partner with parents to deliver uninterrupted education for their children. The company is currently operational in five states in the South and is serving more than 2,000 schools and over 2.2 million students.
V L Ramakrishnan, CEO of Shiksha, said,
“Education finance has so much unmet demand in India. Our goal is to support the educational needs of 200+ million school student population in the country. We see a massive opportunity to expand across the country and debt financing will play a critical role in enabling us to scale faster and grow our books.”
With total assets under management of Rs 165 crore, Shiksha is backed by private equity investors like Aspada Investment, Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, and Zephyr Peacock India.
Sagar Thakar, Senior Investment Officer at Triodos Investment Management said,
“Shiksha plays an instrumental role in improving access to quality education in India. Education is an empowering force as it creates knowledge and equips children with the qualities and skills to shape and build their future. Parents from low-income families see education as a path out of poverty. With our loan, Shiksha can further expand its outreach, especially in semi-urban areas.”
Shiksha Financial to kickstart USD 20m Series C round in 4Q20 – founder – Mergermarket
Shiksha Financial Services, the Chennai, India-based student and educational institutions nancier, will initiate its Series C round of about USD 20m in the last quarter of FY20 ending March, Founder Director and CEO VL Ramakrishnan said.
It will mandate an advisor closer to the timeline, he said, adding that the company prefers investors that are education-centric.
Funds raised will be used predominantly for lending. A part of the proceeds will also be used to expand geographically to more states in the country and also to make its tech processes more seamless, the CEO said.
Shiksha’s promoters are Ramakrishnan, who previously co-founded Suryoday Micro Finance, and Jacob Abraham. Its other backers are Zephyr Peacock, which led the company’s Series B round of INR 550m (USD 7.87m) earlier this year. The round also saw participation from earlier investors Aspada Investment and Michael & Susan Dell Foundation. The investors together own a majority stake in the company, cited the CEO.
Shiksha began operations in mid 2015 as a South India-focussed lender and currently has 48 branches across ve states – Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra. It aims to add 12 more branches this year and spread operations to Odisha, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh soon, Ramakrishnan said.
The company offers student loans to borrowers from the bottom of the pyramid. These are mainly parents working in the unorganized sector, such as roadside tailors, shermen, auto rickshaw drivers, those working as security guards, electricians, plumbers, etc. The typical borrower earns income in cash and therefore has no proof of income, Ramakrishnan said.
Shiksha has developed a good understanding of this segment’s pro le and behavioural pattern. The sizes of the student loans it offers range from INR 15,000 – INR 30,000, with a tenure of up to 12 months.
The school loans are given to educational institutions. Unsecured loans for working capital needs range from INR 100,000 – INR 1m, whereas secured loans for building infrastructure and purchasing assets vary from INR 1m – INR 25m.
The lender’s loan book stood at INR 1.1bn (USD 15.75m) at the end of FY19. Of this, INR 200m comprised student loans made to 21,000 borrowers and INR 900m were school loans offered to nearly 1,900 schools.
Shiksha’s current net worth is INR 780m and it has 220 employees. Its objective as a lending institution is to reduce school dropout rates and increase quality infrastructure in education, Ramakrishnan stated.
ISFC, Varthana are other domestic players lending to educational institutions. ISFC, as recently reported by this news service, is aiming an INR 2bn (USD 28.75m) capital raise, following an unsuccessful acquisition attempt by Manappuram Finance [NSE:MANAPPURAM] In the student loan segment, the company believes it has no competition.
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Shiksha Finance – Sales Credit meet
Sales and Credit interconnect team meeting was held at Chennai Deluxe Hotel.
National Sales Head and National Credit Head were introduced to the team.
PAN India team participated and the Sales team was educated with the processes and expectation on the quality of the proposal. Inter team discussion was conducted to understand the practical blocks in the proposal submission and processing of the proposal with in the time and solution and the mitigation plan was discussed and agreed by the team during the meet.
Shiksha Financial Services raises ₹55 crore. (The Hindu)
Funds will be used for new offerings, expand management team
City-based education finance company Shiksha Financial Services India Pvt. Ltd. has raised ₹55 crore to provide financial aid to educational institutions and school children, said a top official.“We have raised successfully ₹55 crore, at a time when the fintech start-ups are finding it difficult,” said V.L. Ramakrishnan, founder director and CEO, Shiksha Financial Services India Pvt. Ltd. “The funds would be used to provide working capital to educational institutions and to parents as non-collateral loans to pay school education fees,” he said.
“Besides, we will use the funds for expanding our distribution presence to States, including Maharashtra, strengthening the management team and work on new product offerings within the education finance sector,” he added.
According to Mr. Ramakrishnan, this is the third time the fintech start-up had raised funds. Till 2017, it had raised ₹21 crore. Zephyr Peackock India Growth Fund and existing investors Aspada Investment Company and Michael & Susan Dell Foundation had invested in the second round.
Till date, Shiksha Finance had disbursed business loans aggregating ₹170 crore to 1,700 educational institutions benefitting 6.5 lakh students and education study loans to parents of 15,300 children.
“Within the next 18-24 months, our aim is to increase our offerings to 4,000 educational institutions to cover 16 lakh students and school education fees to one lakh students. Currently, we have a loan book of ₹102 crore against 10 crore some two years back,” he said.
“Shiksha Financial operates in 23 districts of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra. It is also planning to enter new territories,” said Jacob Abraham, founder-director and COO, Shiksha Financial Services.
Shiksha Finance raises Rs 55 Cr. (YourStory)
Chennai-based Shiksha Financial Services India raised funding Rs 55 crore from Zephyr Peacock India Growth Fund and existing investors Aspada Investment Company and Michael & Susan Dell Foundation. With the current funding, Shiksha Finance is looking at expanding its distribution presence to new states, including Maharashtra, financing the company’s growth plans and strengthening the management team.
Angel Tax: startups and investors are running out of patience
Recently, Pushpinder Singh, Co-founder of Travel Khana, found himself in a tight spot after the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) withdrew Rs 33 lakh from him account as tax remittance. Travel Khana was not the only one. Siddharth Ahluwalia, Co-founder and CEO of Babygogo, too received a message that Rs 72 lakh had been deducted from the company account by the CBDT. The two incidents have served quite a setback to the startup ecosystem and it is now considering drastic workarounds if the DPIIT doesn’t act soon.
What makes Betterhalf.ai different from all other dating apps
Tired of dating apps and sick of swiping right in hopes of the right match? Maybe it’s time you give a break to the usual platforms and go the smart way. Betterhalf.ai is an artificial intelligence-driven app that operates differently from other dating apps such as Tinder, Hinge, or Bumble. The swipe mechanics are gone, the sign-in via LinkedIn gives you a more ‘grown-up’ feel, and the phone number authentication keeps fake profiles away.
Narayana Murthy on how Hubli startups could be No. 1 in India
The recent Startup Dialogue 2019 event at Hubli, North Karnataka was evidence that there is a thriving environment for innovation beyond the metros. The event, held at the emerging startup hub of North Karnataka, attracted some of the most notable tech names like NR Narayana Murthy and Gururaj ‘Desh’ Deshpande among others. Murthy even spoke on what it would take for Hubli startups to gain prominence. The key, according to him, is not to worry about “what we don’t have”. But focus on the good things in Hubli and do “everything that is necessary to make it even better”.
On mastering the four laws of creativity for business success
In a globalised, digitally connected world, the power of creativity is more important than ever before. While there are certain existing myths when it comes to the right formula for success, Allen Gannett’s new book, The Creative Curve: How to Develop the Right Idea, at the Right Time, helps burst some of these misconceptions. The insightful book lists consumption, imitation, creative communities, and iteration as the four laws of creative success and demonstrates these with a wealth of examples.
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Shiksha Finance raises Rs 55 Cr growth capital from Zephyr Peacock, existing investors. (YourStory)
Chennai-based Shiksha Financial Services India Private Limited on Friday said it has raised Rs 55 crore from Zephyr Peacock India Growth Fund and existing investors Aspada Investment Company and Michael & Susan Dell Foundation.
Chennai-based Shiksha Financial Services India Private Limited on Friday said it has raised Rs 55 crore from Zephyr Peacock India Growth Fund and existing investors Aspada Investment Company and Michael & Susan Dell Foundation.
According to Founder Director and CEO VL Ramakrishnan, the funds will be used to finance the company’s growth plans and strengthen the management team. With the current fund raise, Shiksha Finance is also looking at expanding its distribution presence to new states, including Maharashtra.
The company had raised its Series A round of Rs 21 crore in 2017, and continues to work on new product offerings within the education finance sector. Speaking on the growth Shiksha Finance has achieved, VL Ramakrishnan said,
“Shiksha has cracked an innovative lending model centered around the education sector and has disbursed 1700 business loans to education institutions and 15,300 school education study loans to parents. The company is now present in 40 locations across five states with cumulative disbursement of Rs 170 crore.”
According to the company, its student loan product is designed to ensure uninterrupted education for children. The product’s perpetual design enables a child to continue education, eliminating the fear of drop-outs on account of lack of access to financial resources. The company’s credit assessment model has been developed to address the needs of customers who have income, but are not able to produce financial records like balance sheets and income tax returns.
Speaking on the investment, Pankaj Raina, Managing Director, Zephyr Peacock said,
“Shiksha is uniquely placed in the education financing ecosystem as a lender to both schools and students. Its product offerings help improve the quality of affordable private schools and help children from low-income backgrounds access quality education. Access to quality education is an aspiration for most lower and lower middle income households in India and we believe this is a multibillion dollar market.”
Kartik Srivatsa, Managing Partner, Aspada said, “We are delighted that Shiksha’s unique business model has demonstrated a sustained ability to raise both debt and equity at scale. Equity infusion in a challenging market environment is a strong reaffirmation of the fundamentals of Shiksha’s business model and the role the company plays in offering much needed capital to India’s educational institutions.”
In November of 2016, Shiksha Finance had raised $1 million (Rs 6.7 crore) from the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation in a round that also saw participation from Aspada Investment Advisors.
Vikas Verma, Director at Michael & Susan Dell Foundation (MSDF) said on the current investment,
“We are delighted to see the progress that Shiksha has been making since 2016 and are confident that the Shiskha team will continue to build on the progress that it has made till date.”
Zephyr Peacock leads ₹55 crore funding round in Shiksha Finance. (LiveMint)
- Shiksha will use the funding to expand its presence in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka and enter Maharashtra
- Shiksha provides student loans to parents of school-going children, and school loans to educational institutions
Topics Shiksha Finance |Zephyr Peacock
Mumbai: Private equity fund Zephyr Peacock India Growth Fund has led a ₹55 crore funding round in Shiksha Finance, a Chennai-based education finance company, said a senior executive.
The round also saw participation from existing investors of the company. Shiksha finances students in classes I-X and also provides financing for working capital and capital expenditure to schools that run classes from nursery/kindergarten to Class 12.
“ ₹55 crore of growth capital has been raised from new investor Zephyr Peacock India Growth Fund and existing investors Aspada Investment Company and Michael and Susan Dell Foundation,” said Shiksha chief executive officer and director V.L. Ramakrishnan. Shiksha will use the funds to expand its presence in existing locations and foray into new locations such as Maharashtra. It is currently present in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka.
Prior to the current round, Shiksha raised a ₹21 crore Series A round from Aspada and the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation in 2017. It has also raised an additional ₹115 crore of debt so far. “Shiksha is uniquely placed in the education financing ecosystem as a lender to both schools and students. Its product offerings help improve the quality of affordable private schools and help children from low-income backgrounds access quality education,” said Pankaj Raina, managing director, Zephyr Peacock India.
Access to quality education is an aspiration for most lower and lower middle income households in India and Zephyr Peacock India believes this is a multibillion dollar market, he said. “Zephyr Peacock has been closely tracking the education finance space. Our investment in Shiksha fits well with Zephyr’s investment thesis in the education financing sector,” Raina said.
Shiksha provides student loans to parents of school-going children, and school loans to educational institutions. The average student loan is for ₹25,000 for 12 months, while the average school loan is of ₹7 lakh for a tenure of four years, said Ramakrishnan. It has a loan book of ₹102 crore, which it aims to double over the next 5-6 quarters.
For many of our customers, it is their first time borrowing from a formal financier. They usually approach private money lenders, said Ramakrishnan.
“In many cases, the interest that the customer pays for our loan is less than half of the interest paid to a private financier. In that way, Shiksha’s loan helps our customers reduce their interest burden and enhance financial inclusion in India. What is unique about our model is that credit delivery happens at the customer’s doorstep,” he added.