Ed-tech startup NoPaperForms bags $4 mn in Series B round

Delhi-based NoPaperForms Solutions Pvt. Ltd, which runs an enrolment management platform for educational institutes, has raised Rs 28 crore (about $3.98 million) in a Series B funding round in an all-cash deal from existing investor Info Edge (India) Ltd, which owns job portal Naukri.com.

In a press note, the company stated that Info Edge’s shareholding will increase to 48.1% post this investment. In November last year, Info Edge had invested Rs 5.66 crore (about $872,000 then) in an all-cash deal and picked up a 27.92% in the software-as-a-service (SaaS) firm.

Naveen Goyal, founder and chief executive of the venture, said that the latest investment round valued the company at Rs 100 crore ($14.23 million at current rates).

The venture will use the fresh capital to expand its business development, deploy teams, and strengthen its technology infrastructure and product line.

“Offering programmes like digital marketing and then asking students to apply in a paper application is an anomaly that must go. Educational institutions in the country are at a tipping point with respect to digital transformation,” Goyal added.

NoPaperForms

Incorporated in February 2017, the startup was originally part of online career counselling and education services firm Careers360, which it acquired in 2015. In June, Careers360 sold the venture to its chief strategy officer Goyal in a cash-and-equity deal worth around $3 million.

Colleges can go on NoPaperForms’ SaaS platform to sell their application forms, where they can manage the entire enrolment process, right from application to admission. This involves collecting money, creating a payment gateway, managing payments, and more.

The firm also provides machine learning-enabled smart data analytics modules to help institutes interpret data, benchmark performance, and measure returns on investment on a real-time basis.

“Within a year and a half of launch, we are already servicing four out of the five largest private universities in the country,” Suraj Sapra, vice-president of growth at NoPaperForms stated.

SRM University, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Shiv Nadar University, O.P Jindal Global University, Bennett University, Faculty of Management Studies and more comprise its client base.

For the financial year 2017-18, NoPaperForms clocked a turnover of Rs 3.13 crore, a filing by Info Edge stated.

Info Edge

Info Edge operates a slew of Internet properties, including real estate portal 99acres.com, matrimonial website Jeevansathi and education services portal Shiksha. Besides, it holds stakes in several technology firms such as restaurant search platform Zomato, coupons site Mydala, online insurance aggregator PolicyBazaar and e-learning firm Meritnation.

The company has been actively making investments in other new and existing portfolio firms as well.

Earlier this month, Indore-based Shop Kirana E Trading Pvt. Ltd, which runs business-to-business platform ShopKirana, raised $2 million (Rs 14 crore then) from Info Edge and others

Last month, it invested an additional Rs 3 crore ($422,000) in online business-to-business footwear marketplace ShoeKonnect, its portfolio firm.

In August, it invested Rs 2.64 crore ($377,071 then) in medical healthcare records platform MedCords.

In July, Info Edge was part of a $27.7-million funding round into online insurance selling platform PolicyBazaar, which it co-invested with Temasek. The investment was part of the larger $200-million round that the insurance firm raised in June.