iNurture Education Solutions, a pioneering EdTech firm in higher education, providing new-age and industry-relevant under-graduate and post-graduate degree programmes in partnership with recognised universities in India, has raised $15 million in a combination of debt and equity from  ADM Capital, an investment firm with a focus on financing growth, cross border transactions, acquisitions and special opportunities across the Asia Pacific region. As part of this transaction, ADM Capital has also acquired Ventureast’s stake in iNurture, facilitating a complete secondary exit.

The Bengaluru-based EdTech firm is looking to utilise these funds for propelling growth of its NEP-ready (National Education Policy 2020) programmes, expanding its one-of-a-kind Centres of Excellence model across more university partners across India and further enhancing its technology stack for student placement. With the ongoing disruption in the higher education space, iNurture is in pole position to take advantage of this great opportunity to accelerate growth, and further strengthen its global education network.

Founder and Managing Director, Mr Ashwin Ajila said, “Having established a profitable growth trajectory, our efforts in the last few years have been to strengthen our offerings in the online space, especially focused on student employability, through a robust technology infrastructure and effective academic constructs as well as powering the Smart University model through implementation of Centres of Excellence across our University partner network. Ventureast has been an exceptional partner to iNurture over the years and given that they wanted to distribute meaningful returns to their limited partners within the fund’s life, we have facilitated a successful exit for them.”

Speaking on the investment, Chris Botsford, Co-founding Partner at ADM Capital said, “ADM Capital is excited by the opportunity to fund a business that is enabling employability focussed education both through online and on campus programmes, thereby aligning with various UN Sustainable Development Goals. iNurture is a unique, omnichannel business expected to capitalise on strong demographics and an expected increase in student enrolment.”

Sarath Naru, Managing Partner at Ventureast said, “We are proud to have had the opportunity to work closely with Ashwin Ajila and our co-investors Ascent Capital/BII/Kimera. Ashwin and team have built an extremely sustainable, capital-efficient and profitable business in the higher ed-tech space. Leveraging its B2B2C model, with constant innovation, iNurture is best positioned to take advantage of India’s new National Education Policy and to solve the problem of employability of college students.”

Currently, the company has partnerships with over 30 University campuses across India, offering over 50 programmes on campus, and has more than 15,000 students enrolled in these differentiated programmes. iNurture Education also has partnerships with global universities providing programmes in digital business, sports, luxury and hospitality management including several courses in emerging technologies.

In the fiscal year 2022, iNurture grossed USD29m turnover with an EBIDTA of USD2.5m. The company is targeting to exceed its long-term revenue CAGR of  35% for fiscal year 2023 while expanding its profit margins on account of significant operating leverage.

About iNurture Education Services

iNurture Education Solution is a pioneering edtech solution provider, iNurture revolves around a university-industry partnership. It collaborates with premium Indian and global universities to power new-age undergraduate and postgraduate programs through industry-aligned curricula and advanced technology enablement. iNurture implements a holistic knowledge-imparting model to prepare students for new-collar jobs in emerging industries.

iNurture leverages its strong industrial associations to facilitate guest lectures, internships, industrial visits, live projects and placement assistance. Its artificial intelligence-based platform assesses the employability of a student and provides necessary interventions through on-campus career development programs and placement cells, strengthening the ‘employability quotient’ across the entire spectrum of adult learning – from college to corporate.

About ADM Capital

ADM Capital is a leading investment manager with specialist competence in private markets and a focus on sustainable investment. Over the past 20 years, ADM Capital has developed proprietary sourcing networks, extensive structuring capabilities and a reputation as a reliable and trusted source of capital with a focus on sustainability. ADM Capital pursues three main investment strategies, ESG integrated private debt capital solutions to mid-market corporates across Asia-Pacific, private debt capital for climate related transactions and private equity focused on sustainable food and agriculture investments primarily across North America, Europe and Australia.

Alongside ADM Capital, the ADM Capital Foundation, which was established in 2006, provides solutions to environmental challenges in Asia and acts as environmental, social and governance advisor to ADM Capital.