[Portfolio News] Zephyr Peacock leads Rs. 55 crore funding round in Shiksha Finance
Zephyr Peacock India Growth Fund invests in small and medium sized enterprises operating across financial services, food and agriculture, and infrastructure ancillaries sectors. The Fund identified education finance as a high growth sector in India and invested in Shiksha Finance, an innovative education finance company in India.
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Below are excerpts from the post that first appeared on Livemint on 15 February 2019:
Private equity fund Zephyr Peacock India Growth Fund has led a ₹55 crore funding round in Shiksha Finance, a Chennai-based education finance company, said a senior executive. The round also saw participation from existing investors, Aspada Investment Company and Michael and Susan Dell Foundation. Shiksha finances students in classes I-X and also provides financing for working capital and capital expenditure to schools that run classes from nursery/kindergarten to Class 12.
“Shiksha is uniquely placed in the education financing ecosystem as a lender to both schools and students. Its product offerings help improve the quality of affordable private schools and help children from low-income backgrounds access quality education,” said Pankaj Raina, managing director, Zephyr Peacock India.
Access to quality education is an aspiration for most lower and lower middle income households in India and Zephyr Peacock India believes this is a multibillion dollar market, he said. “Zephyr Peacock has been closely tracking the education finance space. Our investment in Shiksha fits well with Zephyr’s investment thesis in the education financing sector,” Raina said.
