SAIF Partners Invests $10 Million In English Fluency Institute Veta

Education sector continues to attract investment. This is the fourth deal in the space in the last two months. SAIF Partners has invested about $10 million in Veta, a Chennai-based English language fluency training institute. This is the second investment of SAIF Partners in this space. Last week, we reported SAIF Partners’ investment in ICA Infotech, a Kolkata-based non-IT training company (such as finance and personality development). We had also reported Gaja Capital Partners’ $8.25 investment in Career Launcher, a preparatory education company. Veta, owned by Amoha Education Pvt. Ltd, claims to be India’s largest academy for teaching spoken English. Earlier known as Vivekananda Institute, it claims to have trained more than 1.9 million students, job seekers and others to speak English over the last 25 years through a combination of direct class coaching and distance education course. The company was founded in 1981, and now it has some 150 centers across India. It also provides soft skill and personality development training. Says Ravi Adusumalli, General Partner, SAIF Partners, “Historically English has played a crucial role in the Indian social and business context serving as the common bridge in our country. And the recent job requirements from sectors like IT/BPO, retailing, Hospitality, financial services have further fuelled the demand for people with fluent spoken English.” VETA is one of the few businesses in this highly fragmented sector that have achieved scale. V. Ganesh Ram is the Managing Director of Veta.