Edupreneurs - India 2013
Program Report
www.affordablelearningfund.com/edupreneurs | @affordablelearn | info.palf@pearson.com
Contents Page
1. Overview….…………………………………………………………………
2. Why PALF Launched Edupreneurs..…………………………………
3. Edupreneurs India 2013: Delivery Process...……….………….
4. Edupreneurs: Content and Peer Ranking Overview………….
5. Edupreneurs India 2013: Cohort……………………………………
6. Edupreneurs India 2013: Winners………………………………….
7. Key Insights………………………………………………………………..
8. The Future of Edupreneurs……………………………………………
APPENDIX
9. Media Coverage……………………………………………………………
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Foreword
As both a humane imperative and a logistical challenge, the task of educating the world’s children cannot
be underestimated. Few nations provide meaningful education to all levels of society. Even large, wellfunded public school systems do not necessarily produce even or consistent outcomes. Fortunately, while
education will always be a key concern of the state, it is increasingly apparent that the private market is
capable of being a vital and necessary contributor to meeting the challenge. Low-cost private schools are
one notable example, first appearing in Asia and Africa more than 30 years ago and now serving student
populations best measured in millions.
As the world’s leading learning company, Pearson is committed to bringing all viable solutions to bear on
the entrenched problems holding back aspiring learners worldwide. We created the Affordable Learning
Fund to discover, finance and mentor local, passionate entrepreneurs dedicated to developing relevant,
affordable, quality solutions for low-income learners. In cities like Lagos, where 72% of children attend
private schools and in nations like India, where poor families spend up to 13% of their income on private
education, there is as great a need to support the private sector as the public sector.iii More than financial
agreements, PALF’s investments are long-term relationships, where significant mentorship, co-creation
and strategic planning take place cooperatively.
However, it can be difficult to complete deals. It is a lot of work to invest equity, particularly across
borders, which can discourage investors from pursuing riskier, smaller deals with earlier stage companies.
The so-called “pioneer gap” arises, where innovative but unproven solutions struggle to secure capital to
survive the hardscrabble early days and prove the business model.iii Although plenty of investors are
eager to provide proven models with growth capital, the pioneer gap means these opportunities are few
and far between.
Focused on solutions, we searched for alternative ways of sourcing worthy early-stage enterprises. Village
Capital’s groundbreaking peer review process stood out as entrepreneur friendly, rigorous and affordable.
This report describes the inaugural edition of the Pearson Affordable Learning Fund-Village Capital
Edupreneurs program. The first cohort had 14 experienced, passionate founders deeply committed to
helping as many low-income learners as possible. These edupreneurs immersed themselves in the
process as whole-heartedly as they have invested into their companies and the result was outstanding.
Each company emerged from the three-month process stronger and more confident, with a better plan for
proving their model and eventually reaching scale. They practiced tirelessly before presenting at the
capstone event, the Investors’ Demo Day, where an audience of more than 30 funders and industry
leaders effusively praised their polished and informative pitches.
Encouraged by this example, PALF looks forward to continuing the Village Capital partnership in 2014 and
bringing the Edupreneurs model to new markets, where the judicious application of funding and expert
mentorship can nurture the seeds of even more solutions.
Katelyn Donnelly
Managing Director
www.affordablelearningfund.com/edupreneurs | @affordablelearn | info.palf@pearson.com
Overview
The Pearson Affordable Learning Fund-Village Capital Edupreneurs program (Edupreneurs) is our first, fullscale program specifically focused on low-income learners. The inaugural India 2013 cohort was a great
success and has ignited a flurry of creative ideas for expanding the program to both new segments of the
market and new geographies.
Edupreneurs is a three-month incubator program designed to support and catalyze growth in early-stage
low-income focused education startups. The first Edupreneurs program was launched in India in
September 2013, in partnership with Village Capital (VilCap), a non-profit that has developed and
successfully executed this unique incubator model for 22 previous cohorts across 8 countries,
serving over 350 entrepreneurs worldwide.
126
applicatio
ns from
across
India
Edupreneurs provides early stage entrepreneurs with a world-class, education domainspecific start-up curriculum, expert mentorship and, for the top two companies selected
by a peer review process, $75,000 of seed investment drawn from capital precommitted by PALF and VilCap.
14
Finalists
entering
the 3month
Incubator
Experifun: low-cost, next-generation
science learning products for grades 610. 15 schools in pilot program
2 Peer
Selected
Winners
Sudiksha: a network of affordable
private pre-schools for underprivileged
children in India. Currently at 22 schools
Each team ranks the other participating ventures against a 6-category rubric developed by VilCap. This
rubric framework was modified specifically for Edupreneurs by drawing on insights from Pearson’s thought
leadership and research on measuring the efficacy of education, delivery of quality outcomes and global
education best practice.
Experifun and Sudiksha received $75,000 each, drawn from $100,000 and $50,000 of capital committed
by the Pearson Affordable Learning Fund (PALF) and VilCap respectively.
The Edupreneurs India cohort falls roughly into five categories of education interventions:
1) Direct Delivery (5 ventures) – school chains from various parts of India, including one pre-school
chain and one unique approach, leveraging equity partnerships with existing operators to enable
successful school leaders to launch additional schools.
2) Mobile (2 ventures) - flexible mobile-based curriculums, ubiquitous in even the most remote areas.
www.affordablelearningfund.com/edupreneurs | @affordablelearn | info.palf@pearson.com
3) Rural Delivery (3 ventures) - companies targeting under-served rural areas - including a “classroom
in a box” system - tapping into the population of local women to facilitate tablet education; a livestreaming after-school tutoring program, simultaneously
presented in multiple rural areas; and an activity-based
learning kit, mapped to a science curriculum.
Mobile
Direct
Delivery
(LCPS)
Edupreneurs
Cohort Split
Teacher
Training
Rural
targetin
g
Other
Edtech
4) Teacher Training (2 ventures) – pioneering new
approaches to teacher training. One is a service that
conducts paid, individualized assessments over SMS. The
other is a combination of teacher professional development
and a school certification program.
5) Other EdTech (2 ventures) - one company has
developed a learning ma) nagement system with robust,
rapid response analytics on a per-student, per-concept
level, and another has developed a gamification-based
online learning platform.
PALF recruited experts from across the industry and from
several business lines within Pearson, such as Inside
Services and Pearson Schools India, to contribute to
education-specific content and/or serve as mentors
throughout the 12-week program. The program ran from September to November 2013, hosting three
workshop sessions in Hyderabad, Delhi and Bangalore. Throughout the program, participating teams
continually assessed one another in great detail and received coaching from more than 30 entrepreneurs,
investors, and industry experts who graciously volunteered their time.
While it will take time to analyze the full impact of Edupreneurs India, early indicators are extremely
encouraging. The participating teams gave very positive feedback, frequently commenting that the
quality of connections alone would have been worth the time and resources committed. The amazing
synergies between ventures, with more than one intra-cohort sale now signed, has created lasting bonds,
which participants believe ameliorate the loneliness of entrepreneurialism. Without a doubt, every single
company has emerged far stronger than it entered, having benefited from detailed and repeated feedback
from the other participants - each an expert in their own right - and the engagement with so many
mentors.
The capstone event, the Investors’ Demo Day, drew a notable crowd of investors and funders interested in
education, several of whom were impressed by the polished, professionally delivered pitches, rare at this
stage of development. In the long-term, PALF looks forward to the results of a standing partnership
between Village Capital and the Goizueta School of Business at Emory University, which has been tracking
past alumni progress for previous Village Capital programs and will continue tracking Edupreneurs alumni.
Both PALF and VilCap are keen to continue the partnership, with market scoping underway now to
determine which country will be home to the next Edupreneurs cohort. As new and innovative affordable
education models are incubated across different markets, Edupreneurs will not only help to create a robust
pipeline of education deals for PALF and other funds but it will also strengthen the ecosystem as a whole
by creating entrepreneur and expert networks across borders, bound by a shared purpose. Pearson is
proud of the 2013 India cohort and looks forward to welcoming more inspiring entrepreneurs to future
incubator programs.
www.affordablelearningfund.com/edupreneurs | @affordablelearn | info.palf@pearson.com
Why PALF Launched Edupreneurs
About PALF
The Pearson Affordable Learning Fund (PALF) makes minority equity investments in for-profit companies
to meet a burgeoning demand for affordable education services across the developing world. The fund was
launched in June 2012, with $15 million of initial Pearson capital, to invest in innovative models of high
quality education delivery for the poorest families in the world. PALF works in collaboration with
governments, donor agencies, NGOs, entrepreneurs, investors and other corporations, to share best
practice, support entrepreneurs and catalyze the most promising innovations. The fund’s work reinforces
Pearson’s wider organizational commitment to help deliver affordable, accessible and quality education to
the world’s poorest communities.
PALF’s Vision
To help provide millions of the poorest children in the world with a quality education and demonstrate to
governments and the international community that low-cost private education can help them in their goal
to ensure every child has access to a high quality education.
Investment Mandate



Low-cost private school chains (LCPS) in emerging markets
Service providers to LCPS (e.g. assessment solutions, teacher training)
Education technology solutions (e.g., innovative, blended learning content, student data and
information systems)
Market Findings
Several key insights gathered by the PALF team around the affordable education market:





The low-cost education market is currently very fragmented and lacks a focus on quality
There are many small, one-off schools run by local entrepreneurs that require credible
management team support and education expertise in order to scale with efficacy
There is a lack of for-profit companies ready to absorb strategic equity investor capital
The growing affordable edtech market needs further focus on efficacy and strategic business
growth support
Many cross-sector, base of the pyramid investors need to acquire key education sector expertise in
order to drive strategic value
To tackle these issues, PALF explored a range of solutions to help source new deals, capacity develop
existing entrepreneurs and attract high caliber entrepreneurs to the sector, and build a global pipeline of
affordable education investment opportunities for the entire market. Edupreneurs was conceived and
championed as one of the central delivery mechanisms to achieving these objectives.
Partnering with Village Capital
PALF analyzed accelerator and incubator programs around the world to compare different instructional
approaches. Most existing models were either too narrow or lacked demonstrable results. Village Capital,
however, was different.
Village Capital (VilCap) uses the power of peer support to build enterprises that change the world. Inspired
by the concept of the “village bank” in microfinance, VilCap puts the hard tasks of building companies –
www.affordablelearningfund.com/edupreneurs | @affordablelearn | info.palf@pearson.com
criticism, strategy, feedback, and basic business fundamentals – in the hands of entrepreneurs
themselves. The company organizes cohorts worldwide and runs business education programs on such
topics as value proposition, customer validation and building a team to reach scale. The VilCap incubator
model has been refined continuously with multi-sector cohorts in several nations worldwide.
The VilCap Incubator Model:
Launched
23
incubators
worldwide
Supported
over 350
founders,
from over
30 countries
Created
over 5000
jobs
Served 4
million
customers
PALF and VilCap share a joint mission to help catalyze entrepreneurial activity within the global affordable
education sector. Both organizations have built a strong partnership, underpinned by the belief in the
power of entrepreneurs and the private sector to improve the education and lives of low-income
populations.
For the delivery of Edupreneurs, VilCap brings content, curriculum, and - through their unique incubator
model - process know-how for catalyzing early-stage companies. PALF has incorporated education-specific
training, materials and workshops, delivered in the standard VilCap format throughout the incubator
program. PALF is also able to tap into a network of in-market education mentors who help provide
invaluable advice and strategic support to the cohort.
www.affordablelearningfund.com/edupreneurs | @affordablelearn | info.palf@pearson.com
www.affordablelearningfund.com/edupreneurs | @affordablelearn | info.palf@pearson.com
Edupreneurs India 2013: Delivery Process
Date
Apr - Jul 2013
Activity
1) Analysis of existing VilCap model. Creation of
education-specific content and training.
2) Source and hire 2 VilCap Frontier Market Scouts
to assist with the start-up cohort recruitment
3) Internal network marketing campaign
Jul 2013
1) Full PR and marketing campaign
2) Open up online cohort application process
3) Begin to recruit program mentors and initial plan
for workshop logistics
Jul - Sep 2013
1) Applications screened
2) Shortlist created with further telephone interviews
3) 2nd shortlist, narrowed down to final cohort of 14
4) Final due diligence on selected cohort; offer
letters sent out and confirmed
6) Continue workshop and logistics planning and
mentor recruitment
Launch and workshop 1, Hyderabad: 4 days focusing
on the peer-review process, understanding each of
the 14 business models, including value proposition
and customer segmentation
Sep 2013
Sep – Oct 2013
Continued support given to cohort – materials,
access to mentors etc.
Creation of a Google group for the cohort to
knowledge share and for facilitators to share
resources.
Planning for workshop 2.
Oct 2013
Workshop 2, Delhi: 4 days focusing on efficacy,
education best practice and business growth;
integration of feedback, reports on progress made
since Workshop I; in-depth analysis of financial
models; review of organizational structure required
to sustain growth
Continued support given to cohort – materials,
access to mentors, relevant market scope or other
research; planning for workshop 3.
Workshop 3 and Investor Demo Day, Bangalore: 4
days to assist the cohort in developing and delivering
their investor pitch; negotiating term sheets with
investors as well as continuing in-depth review of
their business plans and financial forecasts.
Oct – Nov 2013
Nov 2013
Outcomes
1) Updated PALF-VilCap
Edupreneurs content
and curriculum
2) 2 Frontier Market
Scouts recruited
3) Beginning of program
launch marketing
Applications for
incubator program
opened online, with full
marketing and PR
campaign
14 startups selected and
confirm entrance for the
incubator program
The cohort begins to
understand the peerreview process. Deep
dive into business
models and trial peerreview and ranking
process conducted
2 highest peer-ranked
winners announced.
Introductions between
wider cohort and other
investors
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Edupreneurs: Content and Peer Ranking Overview
PALF and VilCap expect to refine and improve the content and curriculum used in Edupreneurs India, for
future programs. Below is a sample overview of the content delivered throughout the program and the
specific four-day workshop events to the entire cohort.
Business Modules
 Start-up value proposition
 Organizational structure
 Building for scale
 Understanding your funding requirements
 Managing your team
Education Modules
 Pearson’s Efficacy Framework and Review toolkit
 Partnering with government to deliver systemic change
 Impact measurement
 Pedagogical models
Presentation Modules
 Building your business plan
 Preparing your pitch deck
 Preparing your investor presentation
Investment Readiness
 Negotiating with investors
 Reviewing a term sheet
 Valuations
Village Capital’s Peer Review and Ranking Process
VilCap has distilled 6 key criteria that form the basis of the incubator peer review and ranking process: (1)
Team Strength, (2) Product Quality, (3) Customer Validation, (4) Financial Model, (5) Scaling and Impact
and (6) Return of Capital Strategy.
Inspired by groundbreaking Pearson research on delivering quality education outcomes and verifying the
efficacy of educational interventions, the six-category rubric was adapted from the Efficacy framework.
Four sub-categories were added to each of the six categories, so that teams had more clarity on the
specific parameters that make up each broad category. The new ranking received immediate positive
feedback from participating entrepreneurs, who preferred the 24-point ranking system because it allowed
for more consistency and objectivity.
Trial rankings provide crucial feedback, often and early, so start-ups can improve before their final
ranking. Companies do not rank themselves and all rankings are performed in public, in front of the rest of
the cohort. The top and bottom rankings for each company are discarded to reduce the influence of outlier
rankings. After each ranking, teams must explain their rationale to the whole group, enabling
entrepreneurs to learn how others perceive them and improve specific areas before the final rank.
www.affordablelearningfund.com/edupreneurs | @affordablelearn | info.palf@pearson.com
Edupreneurs India 2013: Cohort
40K Plus Education sets up learning ‘pods’ in rural villages and
offers gamified, tablet-based after-school tutoring to students of
government and low-cost private schools.
Founders: Clary Castrission, Karyn Avery
Year Founded: 2012
Website: www.40k.com.au
“We set up dynamic learning spaces called ‘pods’ in villages and
employ a local woman to help facilitate the class. Our pedagogy
focuses on self-paced learning, peer-led learning and complete
‘mastery’ of concepts; we utilise tablet technology to teach kids a
40K-created, gamified English and Maths curriculum, reducing the
need for a qualified, skilled teacher (which is difficult to find in most
villages).”
Callystro is an award-winning learning games company. Products
include CoBELS – India's only game / activity-based scholastic and coscholastic learning solution that is mapped to the entire curriculum for
grades I-VIII and Mapoosa, a curriculum-based, online virtual world
for children.
Founders: Sampath Shetty, Rajeev Gopalakrishnan, Sabina Jain,
Sampath Menon
Year Founded: 2012
Website: www.callystro.com
“Our solutions run on both tablets and PCs. Since the content is highly
interactive, engaging, self paced, learner-centric and requires minimal
adult supervision, they are ideal for schools, home schooling and
social organisations focusing on improving education in the BoP
segment.”
www.affordablelearningfund.com/edupreneurs | @affordablelearn | info.palf@pearson.com
www.edwell.in
Edwell Solutions operates cost-effective learning centers
with an integrated multimedia tech platform to project live
presentations from urban-based tutors to multiple rural
locations simultaneously, targeting students of primary
standard. Edwell also implements e-learning solutions for
government schools in Uttarakhand.
Founders: Ram Kumar, Vivek Kaushik
Year Founded: 2012
“Edwell’s vision is to reach 25,000 under-served students of
primary and secondary standard students enrolled in
government and non-government schools, bringing
enhancement in learning outcomes in the next 3 years.”
Effect International is a scalable network of sustainable,
affordable private schools. A lean operational model trains
qualified educators to successfully run individual schools
supported by a centralized management staff with
supplemental curriculum, mentoring, and quality control.
Founders: Casey Allred, Bushra Zaman
Year Founded: 2010
“Our approach frees up valuable teacher and headmaster time
so they can focus on what matters most: the students.
Students learn according to century appropriate techniques
like blended learning, peer-to-peer teaching, and self-paced
progression. The result is a quality school with key
functionality and full sustainability to service the poor with
price points they can afford.”
www.affordablelearningfund.com/edupreneurs | @affordablelearn | info.palf@pearson.com
Experifun Learning Solutions designs and develops
curriculum based innovative and first-of-its-kind next
generation science kits for both urban as well as rural
schools. Designed in their R&D lab in Bangalore,
Experifun products bring concept interaction with real
objects and introducetruly interactive learning to
classrooms.
Founders: Rakesh Kumar, Vivek Pandey
Year Founded: 2012
Website: www.experifun.com
“Experifun designs and sells next-generation, curriculummapped science activity kits to bring affordable, interactive
learning to classrooms regardless of available infrastructure.
To date, Experifun has sold to 40 schools in a pilot, and is
looking to scale.”
Magic Pathshala endeavors to help millions of rural
children learn Maths and English through a fun,
informative, easy-to-use mobile based education
program. A child in rural India takes her parent's entry
level Android smartphone, accesses Magic Pathshala
and progresses through the lessons at her own pace,
achieving basic proficiency in Maths and English,
validated through assessments.
Over the next 3 years, Magic Pathshala aspires to impact
1 million users across India.
Founders: C Rajagopalan and Vimalendu Verma
Year Founded: 2012
Website: www.magicpathshala.com
“Magic Pathshala is solving India's biggest education problem that of poor literacy and numeracy learning outcomes amongst
primary school children in rural India. The widely quoted ASER
report says that half the children in class V are unable to read
even class II level or complete two-digit subtraction”
www.affordablelearningfund.com/edupreneurs | @affordablelearn | info.palf@pearson.com
MangoReader allows users to create, share and learn
from stories using simple tools for mobile and web.
Teachers, parents and educational institutions can
create new stories or remix existing content for varying
competencies or languages. The company mission is to
make learning an engaging, enriching and fun-filled
experience.
Founders: Jagdish Repaswal
Year Founded: 2012
Website: www.mangoreader.com
“MangoReader offers a learning space that encourages
creativity, personalization and self-regulated learning for
children from Pre-K to 8th grade. Stories include games,
activities and quizzes to engage and reinforce learning.
Teachers can personalize the learning experience for children
and align stories to curriculum, monitor progress and measure
learning outcomes. It is available online and offline and is a
multi-platform solution available via web, mobile and tablets,
working seamlessly on Aakash2, Raspberry PI and others.”
RMinds Education is an education management
company that works independently or in association
with promoters to establish, operate, manage and
develop quality-driven, affordable schools in India.
Founders: Francis Joseph and Willibrord George.
Year Founded: 2013
Website: www.rmindseducation.com
www.affordablelearningfund.com/edupreneurs | @affordablelearn | info.palf@pearson.com
Sage Schools provides pre-school to 10th class education
in low income communities by managing societies which
in turn run schools. Sage either starts new schools
under its brand name, or acquires already running
schools to improve the quality of education offered. All
the schools established will be under a society called
Sage Seva Society, with Sage Services India Private
Limited acting as the management company,.
Founders: Kishore K Puli, Chandra S Puli
Year Founded: 2013
Website: www.rmindseducation.com
“Leveraging intimate knowledge of the rural market and
mindsets of rural customers, learned in a previous, successful
microfinance institution, the management team is poised to
address the growing demand for quality English-medium
schools that cater to low-income students.”
Scholowiz Educational Solutions provides need-based
pedagogical support to teachers in affordable schools.
Examples of tested strategies and practices are
delivered to teachers in video modules through costeffective technology and are followed up in-person to
ensure that the strategies are translated into effective
actions in the classrooms. Pre-diagnostic tests, surveys
and interviews help in understanding the pain points of
individual teachers in order to deliver the best-fitting
modules. Continuous evaluation and feedback collected
helps in better meeting the needs of the supported
teachers.
Founders: Saurav G Roy & Priyamvada Tiwari,
Year Founded: 2013
Website: www.scholowiz.com
www.affordablelearningfund.com/edupreneurs | @affordablelearn | info.palf@pearson.com
SEED Corp
www.SeedSchools.in
SEED Edu Corp is developing a chain of high quality lowcost private schools (K-10) in India. Through effective
pedagogy and technology-driven solutions integrated in
the core curriculum, SEED will address the existing
learning gaps in the LCPS. SEED brings professional,
dynamic and passionate young talent to the LCPS sector,
where lack of quality human resources has been a
challenge. SEED currently runs 2 schools in Hyderabad
serving 1,500 students.
Founders: Harish Mamtani and Manish Kumar
Year Founded: 2013
Website: www.SeedSchools.in
Sudiksha Knowledge Solutions helps young minds get
the head start they need with a unique approach to preschool learning that nurtures their curiosity and builds
their confidence for wanting more and getting further in
life.
Founders: Naveen Kumar and Nimisha Mittal
Year Founded: 2013
Website: www.sudiksha.in
www.affordablelearningfund.com/edupreneurs | @affordablelearn | info.palf@pearson.com
Teachers Like Me is an affordable teacher education
mechanism to improve learning outcomes in schools by
providing teachers a tool that is available anytime,
anywhere. With a mobile application and interactive,
video-based content, teachers will be able to innovate
pedagogy in classrooms on-the-go. The company aims to
benefit teachers of low-income schools by making free
courses available on their handsets.
Founders: Rahul and Bharti Batra.
Year Founded: 2013
Classalyze, the flagship product of Teer Design, is an
online analytics and reporting platform that integrates
with the school system and analyzes test scores at a per
concept level. While designing the assessment, teachers
tag questions with concepts that they wish to test, along
with the corresponding topic and level of difficulty. Once
the assessment scores are collected and entered into the
platform, analysis uncovers meaningful insights into
classroom and student performance. These statistics are
presented in a visually intuitive dashboard that teachers
and administrators can track continuously and use to
draw trends. The platform is cloud-based, and can be
accessed on any device, anywhere. Classalyze empowers
principals to implement data driven instruction to
improve teacher effectiveness and student learning. It
provides parents with personalized information on their
child’s development, thus facilitating more meaningful
parent-teacher interaction. Ultimately, it helps all
educators recognize the potential of data towards
improving educational outcomes.
Founders: Rahul Joseph, Nikhil Swaminathan
Year Founded: 2013
Website: www.classalyze.com
www.affordablelearningfund.com/edupreneurs | @affordablelearn | info.palf@pearson.com
6. Edupreneurs India 2013: Winners
Experifun Learning Solutions offers low-cost, interactive science
learning products, called Caboodle, aimed at improving science learning at
the 6-10 grade level (Bangalore, India).
To Date: developed a patent-ready product, selected for Indian
Government Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DiPP)
funding; pilot programs launched in 15 schools (2013)
Route to market: the company sells to LCPS serving poor students in
two forms: a teacher kit and a student kit. The company uses a onetime sale model to sell to K12 schools with average an sale value of 1L
to 1.5L INR. Experifun products also come with a user guide, warranty
and teacher training.
Sudiksha: is a network of affordable private pre-schools for
underprivileged children in India. (Hyderabad, India).
To Date: currently at 22 schools in Andrha Pradesh and Hyderabad,
with 92 employees and teachers.
Route to market: utilizes local, unemployed women as teachers and
employees. Tuition-fee model of $8 per month per student. The
company’s main customers are the parents of urban, poor children from
ages 2-6 years old who cannot afford traditional pre-school education.
www.affordablelearningfund.com/edupreneurs | @affordablelearn | info.palf@pearson.com
7. Key Insights
The inaugural cohort of Edupreneurs was an important learning experience and the insights gained will be
integrated into the design and delivery of future PALF incubators. In particular, the recruitment and
selection process, peer review model, highly involved mentors and creating the right cohort culture have
emerged as the most important elements of a successful incubator program.

Cohort recruitment requires significant time: recruiting a great cohort can take up to 5
months of work and requires construction of a large investor and grassroots entrepreneur
network before the online program application is opened.

Keep the initial application screening flexible: several rounds of phone calls are required
as the initial online written application can mask many interesting dimensions of a start-up’s
business model, which are only uncovered through further dialogue.

Peer review really works: peer review appears to work exceptionally well with sector-specific
cohorts. The very first introductions facilitated by PALF and VilCap revealed deep sector
experience amongst the cohort, which led entrepreneurs to respect one another. Moreover, a
concentrated number of same-sector start-ups allowed for quick and natural revelation of
synergies and knowledge sharing amongst peers.

Mentors are crucial to delivering a world-class program: mentors act as key brand
ambassadors for PALF and VilCap and bring with them an extensive network of like-minded
stakeholders. They also help to reinforce feedback received from facilitators and peers and
deliver key domain knowledge. Additionally, they really add value in preparing the companies
for investments, which helps build the investment pipeline.

The importance of establishing a cohort culture based on trust, openness and shared
purpose. Messaging is a key element of getting the peer review process to succeed as an
investment process. By frequently reiterating the shared fiduciary responsibility, teams took
ownership of the process and very seriously sought the information they needed to make
responsible investing decisions.
www.affordablelearningfund.com/edupreneurs | @affordablelearn | info.palf@pearson.com
8. The Future of Edupreneurs
The 2013 India program helped PALF and VilCap begin to catalyze innovation and entrepreneurial activity
within affordable education across India. However, there is a lot more work to do.
Village Capital will continue to revise the modules of their curriculum, integrating what learning from
ongoing programs with various partners worldwide. PALF will capture and codify refinements and additions
made to the VilCap curriculum, including the addition of new sessions on pedagogy, efficacy and impact
measurement, and enhancements of existing sessions on value chain, organizational structure, and
customer validation.
In the near term, PALF and VilCap will complete investments in Experifun and Sudiksha, as well as provide
ongoing support and investor connections to the wider cohort. Both partners are currently engaged in
market scoping of prospective locations for future cohorts, with an agreement in place for Edupreneurs
Brazil in July 2014. Other future target geographies include Kenya, South Africa, Pakistan, Indonesia,
China and Mexico. We are convinced of the value of the peer review process, both as a means of providing
crucial perspective to improve the judgment and decision making of entrepreneurs and as a method of
selecting early-stage investments.
www.affordablelearningfund.com/edupreneurs | @affordablelearn | info.palf@pearson.com
9. APPENDIX
Media Coverage
Launch announcement: www.edsurge.com/n/2013-07-22-pearson-village-capital-launch-india-s-firstedtech-incubator
Cohort announcement: www.edsurge.com/n/2013-09-18-edupreneurs-announced-for-pearson-s-indianincubator
Winner’s announcement: www.edsurge.com/n/2013-11-25-edtech-startups-recognized-around-the-world
http://blog.pearson.com/2013/10/edupreneurs_get_unde.trackback.html
http://blog.pearson.com/2013/11/edupreneurs_startup.html
http://blog.pearson.com/2013/11/edupreneurs_-_andth.trackback.html
www.businessinsider.in/Are-You-An-Edupreneur-Heres-How-Peer-Review-Can-EarnYou-SeedMoney/articleshow/23631803.cms
http://www.4-traders.com/PEARSON-PLC-4000637/news/Pearson-plc--Pearson-invests-in-two-educationstartups-in-India-17501014/
i Härmä, J (2011); Lagos private school census report: a DFID-ESSPIN report;
http://www.esspin.org/index/php/resources/abs/lagos/296
iiAffordable Private Schools: Sector Analysis (2012) Gray Matters Capital India
iii “From Blueprint to Scale: The Case for Philanthropy in Impact Investing” Monitor Inclusive Markets,
Acumen Fund. April 2012
www.affordablelearningfund.com/edupreneurs | @affordablelearn | info.palf@pearson.com