[Funding alert] Edufund raises $1M in seed round from Anchorage Capital Partners, others

Fintech startup for education planning EduFund has raised $1 million in seed funding. The round was led by Anchorage Capital Partners with participation from existing investor ViewTrade Holding and other angel investors.

Founded in June 2020, the Ahmedabad-based fintech startup helps parents plan the finances for their child’s higher education goals. The platform features a college calculator that helps one comprehend the cost of education in due time, considering factors such as inflation, currency, and accommodation expense of any educational organisation in different countries.

ViewTrade Holdings had invested Rs 2.5 crore as part of the startup's pre-seed round less than a year ago in February 2021. This and a part of the fresh funding raised is focused on product and tech development to expand its line of products and services, especially for students going abroad for further studies.

The startup plans to make the college calculator more robust and provide more granularity to parents and college going students to navigate their options to study abroad within their interests, academic background, the affordability and the career prospects, Eela Dubey, Co-founder of EduFund, told HerStory.

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However, a large part of the fresh funding will be spent on marketing efforts to acquire customers and expand brand visibility. Eela said financial literacy is important for parents to enable children to start saving while they are still young.

"While a majority of Indian parents save for their child's education, the concept of investing and creating a planned fund for their child, from an early age, is still a growing concept. Add to this the rising cost of attending a four-year college programme, which has been rising twice as fast as inflation each year; quality education is becoming more expensive," she added.

The number of Indian students opting to study abroad has increased over the years. According to India's Ministry of External Affairs, the number of Indian students abroad has increased from nearly 1.5 lakh (in 2006) to 1.8 lakh (in 2013), more than 5.5 lakh students (in 2017), and 5.9 lakh (in 2019). The pandemic caused a dip where only 2.6 lakh students flew abroad to study. The year 2021 reportedly saw more students venturing abroad.

Speaking on the investment, Arjun Sheth, Partner at Anchorage Capital Partners said, "There are millions of people in India who want to save money to send their child abroad, but they don't know how. EduFund helps them do just that by advising parents how much to save and offering services such as loans, different investment opportunities, and counselling services. We are thrilled to invest in a company that's making parents' lives much easier to plan for their child's education."