K-12 Dealmaking: India’s Byju’s Raises $75 Million; Permission Click Secures $1.75 Million

Contributing Writer

A diverse array of ed-tech companies, including an app provider based in India and an attendance and communication platform based in the United States, recently announced having pulled in significant investment dollars.

In the VC world:

Byju’s Raises $75 Million: Bengaluru, India-based educational app provider Byju’s has raised $75 million from venture capital firm Sequoia Capital and Belgian investment firm Sofina, according to various press reports. They say the deal represents the largest ed-tech investment ever in India. Byju’s provides test preparation tools as well as video classes for school kids.

Permission Click Secures $1.75 Million: Permission Click, a digital permission slip platform provider, has raised $1.75 million from investors including Friesens Corp. and Real Ventures, among others.

Permission Click’s cloud-based platform aims to enable schools to create registration forms and permission slips for field trips, fundraising programs, yearbook sales, and other school events, according to the Winnepeg, Manitoba-based company.

Tinkergarten Takes in $1.6 Million: Tinkergarten, a provider of outdoor early childhood education, has raised $1.6 million in seed financing led by Omidyar Network, with participation from Blue {Seed} Collective, City Light Capital, 500 Startups, and Outbound Ventures.

Tinkergarten said it has been rolling out its program to a number of major U.S. markets including the greater New York Metro Area, San Francisco Bay Area, Boston, and Los Angeles, in addition to a range of locations across the country.

Kinvolved Receives Investment From Notation Capital: Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Notation Capital has invested in Kinvolved, an ed-tech startup that provides a mobile and web app designed to track attendance student attendance data and facilitate communication between parents and teachers.

Terms of the investment were not disclosed. Miriam Altman, CEO and co-founder of Kinvolved, confirmed that the NYU Innovation Venture Fund and Connectivity Venture Fund, among several other firms and angels, participated in the investment round.

In a March 14 blog posting by Notation Capital on Medium.com, which included an interview with Kinvolved, Notation Capital said Notation is “fascinated by [Kinvolved’s] vision for how school attendance and communication should work, as well as their pragmatic approach, and so we’re thrilled to formally announce our partnership with the team at Kinvolved.”

In M&A news:

TES Global Acquires Stake in EduKey: The London-based digital education business has invested in Edukey Education Ltd., a provider of education software to teachers and schools. The acquisition “further positions TES as a leading edtech investor and provider of digital services to teachers and schools,” according to a statement from TES.

UK-based EduKey’s portfolio of products has a global user base of over 350,000 teachers and 4 million students. Terms of the investment were not disclosed.

ReadCube Acquires Papers: The Boston-based software developer serving researchers, publishers, academic and commercial organizations has acquired Papers from academic publisher Springer Nature. London-based Papers is a reference manager tool which helps researchers find and organize a personal library and cite research literature. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Be sure to check back on Marketplace K-12 for updates on mergers, acquisitions, fundraising, and other dealmaking. Also see EdWeek Market Brief, a service that gives companies operating in the market insights on the needs and priorities of school officials.

12 thoughts on “K-12 Dealmaking: India’s Byju’s Raises $75 Million; Permission Click Secures $1.75 Million

  1. Hey Alexa, thanks for the update. I heard about this funding in an event, recently held in Bangalore and was interested in reading the facts rather than believing those gossips. Thanks again for sharing. 🙂

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