Edtech SaaS startup ExtraaEdge raises seed, to expand overseas

ExtraaEdge Technology Solutions, B2B (business to business) platform for admissions and marketing at educational institutions, has raised $700,000 in a seed round led by Sprout Venture Partners and Indian Angel Network.

The Pune-based marketing automation and CRM (customer relationship management) platform will utilise the capital towards its product development, data science capabilities as well as overseas expansion, according to a statement released on Wednesday.

Currently, a domestic-only player, ExtraaEdge Technology is in advanced talks with stakeholders in the middle-east and south-Asian regions, Sprout Ventures partner Sahil Gupta told TechCircle.

TiE Pune Angels, First Cheque LLP, UIncept and other angels also participated in the current round. The company has previously raised seed rounds from various high net worth individuals in 2016 and 2017, Gupta added. 

The company’s client base of over 130 educational institutes uses the service offerings to make data-driven enrollment decisions and increase admission conversions and optimise marketing spend, the statement added.

Its clientele includes MIT Group, Jain University, CMR University, ASM Group, ALLEN, FIITJEE’s myPAT, Aakash Digital, Deeksha Learning, ICA Eduskills, K11 Academy of Fitness Sciences, amongst others.

“Education marketing is going through a paradigm shift. Education sector spending is growing at 18% CAGR (compound annual growth rate) and expected to reach about $30 billion by 2025… admission teams need to understand the intent and behavioural signals which becomes the key to build the brand, powerful outreach campaigns & the ultimate admission strategy…” Abhishek Ballabh, co-founder at ExtraaEdge was quoted as saying in the statement.

Founded in 2015 by Abhishek Ballabh and Sushil Mundada, ExtraaEdge’s primary solution involves a cloud-based data science powered platform for student acquisition, admission management, marketing automation, conversational artificial intelligence bots and a full-stack CRM.

Delhi-based NoPaperForms Solutions, which also runs an enrolment management platform, for educational institutes had last raised a Series B round worth about $4 million from returning investor Info Edge (India), which owns job portal Naukri.com, in December 2018.

ExtraaEdge is Sprout Venture Partners’s first edtech investment. The portfolio at venture capital firm headed by partners Gupta and Sunil Jain and Sahil Gupta, also consists of virtual reality content tool makers Absentia, transaction behaviour intelligence company Goals101, video blogging app Trell, patient financing platform HealthFin, health and fitness app Fitso and employee rewards platform Advantage Club. It also announced an investment into Ayurveda wellness brand Aadar, earlier this week.