Educational Initiatives, a pioneer in pedagogy and technology, has announced that the HCL Group has invested INR 166 crore ($20 million) to buy a minority stake in the company. The acquisition is part of a secondary stake sale in which HCL Group acquired an interest from indigenous private equity firm Gaja Capital.
Educational Initiatives, founded in 2001, is a leading B2B education software firm that offers research-backed exams and personalized adaptive learning solutions to assist schools in improving learning results on a large scale. The platform has over 1 million paying customers for its two offerings: Assessments (Ei ASSET and Ei CARES) and Personalised Adaptive Learning (Ei Mindspark), and it operates in India, the UAE, South Africa, and Singapore. It is at the vanguard of education, with 23 years of pedagogical research, examining 5 billion data points to understand student learning patterns better. Ei has created a suite of assessment and adaptive learning solutions for students and instructors, drawing on cutting-edge research and technology. These new technologies have significantly improved learning results across subjects.
Speaking on the deal, Chief Executive Officer of Educational Initiatives said:
We have demonstrated our ability to improve learning outcomes and empower school teachers to achieve their intent of every child learning well regardless of their parent income. I’m excited to welcome HCL Group as investors who share our vision of leveraging the best pedagogy & technology to improve learning outcomes for millions of students in India and worldwide.
Ei Mindspark, the startup’s adaptive learning solution, has undergone three independent evaluations conducted by academics at J-PAL, IDInsight, Harvard, and Oxford and has been shown to improve learning outcomes by 300% to 700% when compared to the various control groups in these studies. It leverages advanced analytics to identify learning gaps and incorporates generative AI into its products to enhance students’ reading, writing, and speaking experiences. Ei continues to develop content aimed primarily at Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) as part of India’s national commitment to guarantee that children can read and perform basic math in the early grades. As part of NEP, the firm has worked as a technical partner to improve assessments in CBSE, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Nagaland.
Shikhar Malhotra, Director of HCL Group, stated:
We’re thrilled to invest in Ei; it is an excellent organization with technological prowess and a commitment to positive societal change. The organization offers a distinctive blend of scalable technology, impactful social initiatives, and sustainable growth.
Ei boasts a market-leading position in India and the UAE. The company is looking to expand into South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, and Saudi Arabia and is exploring business collaborations with organizations that share Ei’s aim. The company also developed services such as Ei ASSET Arabic to meet the local demands of these nations. It seeks to acquire EdTech product firms that enhance learning outcomes in their regions.
Gopal Jain, Managing Partner of Gaja Capital, commented on the acquisition:
Ei is a rare example of resilience, high growth, pedagogy and technology coming together in their vision of solving one of the biggest problems of our age – helping every child learn with understanding.
HCL, founded in 1976 as one of India’s early IT garage startups, is a pioneer of contemporary computing, having introduced the 8-bit microprocessor-based computer in 1978, much before its global contemporaries. Today, the company operates in various industries, including technology, healthcare, and workforce management solutions, and comprises three companies: HCL Tech, HCL Infosystems, and HCL Healthcare.
