Matrix Partners invests in Education Technology Startup Purple Squirrel

Purple Squirrel Eduventures, an online marketplace for supplementary education recently received an undisclosed amount as an investment from Matrix Partners India. Founded by IIT Bombay graduate Aditya Gandhi and Christ University alumna Sahiba Dhandhania in 2013 at the IIT Bombay’s incubator, Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the startup is primarily backed by India Quotient who have also invested in this round.

Matrix Partners which has Rs 3,000 crore under management, is for the first time investing in the education technology space, which is also seeing increasing interest from investors. "We are positive in the education technology space in India and will make multiple investments in the future," said Gourav Bhattacharya, vice president at Matrix Partners.

Purple Squirrel connects students with industry partners for field visits, workshops and hands-on experiences for students in engineering, arts, science and commerce. Similarly, there have been several other startups in the education technology space, which have also raised funding in the past few months. SuperProfs which is an online platform that connects students preparing for various competitive exams with professors has raised Rs. 18 crore from Kalaari Capital and IDG Ventures India. Another example is Simplilearn, an online professional certification platform that has raised about Rs 90 crore in a round led by Mayfield India Fund in January.

The startup will use the funds from the latest round to expand its product and operations. "We found an expectation-reality mismatch in our first jobs. Therefore, we decided that we had to change the way they learned in the first place in order to help the students choose better careers," Dhandhania said in a statement.