Veta gets $10mn funding, set for global foray

Private equity fund SAIF Partners has invested $10 million in Amoha Education Pvt Ltd, the holding company of spoken English training academy Veta.

With this investment, US-based SAIF Partners has increased its Indian portfolio of investments to 14 companies, including NSE, Sify, IL&FS Investsmart, Intelligroup, Makemytrip.com, HomeShop18 and Slashsupport, among others.

Armed with fresh funds infusion, Veta is set to extend its success in India into the global arena, Veta chairman V Rajagopalan said.

From 150 centres in 90 Indian cities currently, Veta plans to upgrade this to 500 centres on its educational rollcall by 2010.

The company operates a centre in every district of India, and will commence operations in Singapore by December, before diversifying to other Asian countries like Malaysia, Thailand, Korea, Indonesia and China.

''China will be a huge market for us with 350 million people in that country wanting to converse in English,'' Sreenadha Reddy, general manager - branding, Veta, said. ''We also plan to reach out to American and European markets.''

The company will also open 60 fully-owned spoken English training academies throughout the country in the next two months, Rajagopalan said.

Veta has trained over 2 million students to date. ''We are looking at having Veta centres in every district of India,'' Reddy said.

The privately-held company declined to disclose its revenue figures. Founded in 1981, Veta offers courses through direct classes as well as distance education, and offers home study courses in seven different languages.

''We plan to extend the same situational model, where English is taught through a person's mother tongue, in international markets as well,'' Reddy said.

Veta set up its first centre outside TN in Kerala in 2005, before moving to establish a pan-Indian presence.

The academy's students fall predominantly in the 18-26 age group, with graduates and undergraduates comprising 65 per cent of the total student population.