VCCircle Education Investment Summit 2010
The only way to capture the true potential of India’s demographic dividend (the rise in the rate of economic growth due to a rising share of working age people in a population) is unarguably through the “education for all” thesis. India has embarked upon game-changing policy measures such as right to free elementary education to all and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, which are now consuming a big share of public spending on education. Challenges remain on the efficacy of education, enrolment statistics and tangible outcomes but such drastic measures have the potential to achieve an undiminished focus on education which will result in multipliers and increased demand in secondary and higher education as also job-oriented vocational training.
While government remains a large spender, 50% of the $86-billion education market is in the private sector domain, according to a report by Kaizen PE, a fund focused on investments in this space, which will benefit from the expansion of market as basic education becomes a rule rather than the exception. From a private equity standpoint, the non-cyclical and recession-proof nature of this business holds that extra carrot.
As a theme, sector watchers will tell you that education holds enormous opportunity given its spread from KG (kindergarten) to PG (post-graduation) and the long demand lifecycle starting as early as age 2 and going up to age 30 in an individual’s lifespan. With a population of 600 million in that age group in India, the opportunity obviously is quite explosive and cannot be serviced by public spending alone. Besides, government education, though subsidized or even free, does not necessarily promise quality of delivery, high enrolment and lower dropouts. So, is private sector the way forward for education in India? Why is it tough to scale in core education? Are regulatory constraints making it an unattractive or challenging play for private players? Is profit still a dirty word in the education business? The core education is most suited to scale but is highly regulated and, ironically, not very high on the PE radar or large-scale private investments and consolidation given the complexities in deal structuring. How to navigate this maze to make a game for this vast spread?
While the KG to PG niche is the standard and core segment in education, what is seeing unprecedented growth is the parallel segment—from test prep, pre-school, corporate and vocational training and offline and online tutoring—riding mainly on inefficiencies in mainstream offerings. This is because a plain vanilla college degree is not landing graduates a job as many of these courses are not aligned to industry needs. Similarly, the huge growth in test preparation tutorial businesses is particularly targeting the coveted streams of engineering, medical and MBA driven by a widespread middle-class aspiration on career choices. But the rosy part of this segment of business is that it is non-regulated and therefore is attractive for great private sector and even private equity play. An analysis of the VCCEdge deal data suggests that a lion’s share of PE deals have gone into the lateral education segment.
In education too, there is a growing demand for ultra premium offerings be it state-of-the-art international schools with plush campuses catering to the well-heeled and residential and finishing schools. What started, in a small way, to cater largely to kids of diplomats, is now increasingly becoming mainstream. Every year, more and more international schools, that charge more than Rs 2 lakh per annum as fees are mushrooming catering to high net worth Indians seeking seamless education (as they get posted in global locations) for their kids. These campuses require a huge capex as they are loaded with frills. Is there a case for investments in high-end schools?
Besides, there is a huge market and spend by students opting for foreign degrees. About 1.5 lakh students travel abroad every year and spend $13 billion on education, says the Kaizen report. Now, with the government proposing the Foreign Universities Bill allowing global varsities to set up campuses in India, it looks like a huge untapped opportunity. Is it for real? Will global campuses see merit in setting shop in India? Will this move drastically reduce the number of students going abroad for degrees?
VCCircle Educating India Investment Summit seeks to delve into some recurrent themes and trends in deal-making in this space and also ways to navigate the regulatory loop that adds a very high level of complexity to doing business. Over two dozen education entrepreneurs, investors, bankers and regulators will head to the classroom to take a capsule course on India’s most compelling yet tough investment theme.
8:00am to 9:00am
Tea & Registration
9:00am - 9:15am
Introduction Note
9:15am – 9:45am
Knowledge Session : Challenges in Deal-making in education and how to overcome them?
- Vivek Gupta - Partner, BMR Advisors
9:45am – 11:00am
Panel I: Indian Education’s Broad KG-To-K12 Spectrum: The Spread Is Vast But How To Scale?
Opportunity mapping of the broad spread. K12 schools have an investment cycle of up to 14 years, are a price inelastic business and have an ever-growing demand (going by the waiting period for school admissions). The investment requirement and market opportunity are high and so are entry barriers and scale challenges. Why is this sector not hot? How to scale core education enterprises? The most crucial bottleneck in deal-making in education is the regulatory challenge. How do you work around the maze of complex structures, trusts and charitable societies to make big-ticket investments? How to scale and be profitable? How to raise debt and equity? Which structures are more viable? Is consolidation a far cry? Technology in classrooms, digital content and tutoring are clearly on a roll. Online coaching and tutoring: Is it education or consumer internet business in terms of valuations? ICT-enabled schools: High on capex but is the future here?
- Sanjeev Aggarwal - MD, Helion Venture Partners (Moderator)
- Sandeep Aneja - MD, Kaizen Private Equity
- G.V. Ravishankar - Principal, Sequoia Capital India
- Gopal Jain - Partner, Gaja Capital Partners
- Arun Kapur - Director, Vasant Valley School
- Samudra Sen - CEO, Learning Mate
- Subrat Mohanty - Founder & CEO, Hurix Systems
- Ashish Rajpal - Founder, iDiscoveri
11:00am - 11:30am
Tea & Networking Break
11:30am – 12:00pm
VCCircle Keynote Interview: The Making of TutorVista Story
- Praveen Chakravarty - UIDAI, Govt of India (Moderator)
- K.Ganesh - Founder & Chairman, Tutorvista
- Meena Ganesh - CEO, Manipal K-12 Education
12:00pm – 12:30pm
Legal Session: Indian Education – the Regulatory Maze
- Seema Jhingan - Senior Partner, LexCounsel Law Offices
12:30pm- 1:30pm
Lunch & Networking
1:30pm - 2:15pm
Panel II: VCCircle Redhot - Test Preparation Companies & Their Way Forward
Test preparation segment is driven by star teacher-led schools. How risky is this game?
- Rajesh Singhal - Managing Partner, Milestone Capital Advisors (Moderator)
- Deepesh Garg - Director, o3 Captial Advisors
- Kamlesh Sajnani - MD, IMS Learning Resources
- Pramod Maheshwari - Chairman, MD & CEO, Career Point
- Ram Kishan Verma - Founder, Resonance Eduventures Pvt. Ltd.
- Swapnil Shrivastav - CEO, Vriti Infocom
2:15am - 2:30am
Tea & Networking Break
2:30pm - 3:15pm
Panel III: VCCircle Redhot - Play Schools
Play schools are very neighbourhood-focussed, high on realty costs and have only a two-year play in the education lifecycle of every child. Is the play too niche and non-scalable?
- Cyrus Driver - MD, Helix Investments (Moderator)
- Amol Arora - MD, Shemrock Schools
- Shaily George - CEO, Aadyant Education
- Amitabh Nagpal - CEO, Educomp Investment Management Ltd.
3:15am - 3:30am
Tea & Networking Break
3:30pm - 4:15pm
Panel IV: VCCircle Redhot - Vocational Training & Higher Education
Universities, medical and engineering colleges, B-schools and international schools: They are all high on capex and PE will increasingly become one of the fund-raising options at the right valuation and structuring. Will PE take this risk? Vocational and corporate training: Short gestation in terms of course schedules but it is the last and crucial link in the education food chain. How attractive is this piece?
- Mukul Gulati - MD, Zephyr Peacock India Management (Moderator)
- Dilip Chenoy - CEO & MD, National Skill Development Corporation
- Vinay Pasricha - Chairman, WLC College India Ltd.
- Vishal Vasishth - Founder & MD, Song Investment Advisors
- Sharad Talwar - CEO, IndiaCan
4:15pm- 4:30pm
Concluding Remarks
4:30pm – 6:00pm
VCCircle Lounge
VCCircle Lounge is a new initiative from VCCircle where companies and investors can meet and network in a structured manner in a separate enclosure. Here companies can make their elevator pitch to a group of select private equity investors and venture capitalists, while investors can sell their funds to India's fastest growing enterprises.
5:00pm onwards
VCCircle Unwind
VCCircle introduces Unwind, an informal networking zone over cocktails.
BMR is a professional services organization offering a wide range of Mergers & Acquisition (M&A), Tax, and Risk Advisory Services for local and global businesses of all sizes. The firm comprises of a seasoned team of 400+ industry professionals with extensive domain expertise across diverse sectors including Energy and Infrastructure, Financial Markets, Logistics, Food and Agriculture, Media and Entertainment, Technology and Outsourcing, Healthcare and Education. BMR has 4 offices in India, 5 offices overseas and a vast international network.
BMR has been ranked consistently amongst the top advisory firms in various League Tables. In 2009, the organization was ranked as the No. 1 mid-market deal maker by Thomson Reuters. BMR has successfully completed transactions for several organizations including Network18, France Telecom, Sumitomo, Flextronics, Radhakrishna Hospitality, Yanmar and iDiscoveri, to name a few. Our M&A team, which comprises of 45+ professionals and 5 partners with wide-ranging domain and sector expertise, advises clients on the following services:
1. M&A Advisory - Buy-side, sell-side and fund raising advisory
2. Business Reorganizations and Restructuring – Tax efficient reorganizations, valuations, share exchange ratios, fiscal, regulatory and stakeholder analysis and accounting considerations
3. Transaction Support - Due diligence, valuation support, transaction structuring, negotiation support, and comprehensive implementation support
LexCounsel is a corporate and commercial law firm based in New Delhi with a close network of associate offices in Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chennai. The Firm has a substantial practice representing in the areas of mergers & acquisitions, education, infrastructure projects (power, oil & gas, roads, ports, telecommunications), financial services, insurance, venture capital and private equity, life sciences, media and entertainment, licensing & franchising, software and IT, business process outsourcing, labour and employment, taxation (direct and indirect).
The Firm also has considerable expertise representing investors, education services providers, education equipment and infrastructure providers, private equity/venture capital funds, on regulatory and licensing issues, investment structuring, joint collaborations, funding, tax structuring, statutory affiliations and related documentation in the education sector including from K12 to higher education, vocational studies, test prep and other unregulated areas.
With the diverse expertise of its partners and its network of associate offices and professional relationships, LexCounsel is sufficiently well placed to provide legal representation throughout all major Indian cities. The Firm is highly responsive and prides itself on the quality of its work and excellence in legal services.
Senior Partners of the Firm, in recognition of their exemplary work, have been consecutively for three years voted leading lawyers in IT, Telecommunications & Media, Venture Capital and Private Equity, and Labour & Employment, respectively. In addition, other professionals/consultants of the Firm are noted for their work in Project Finance, Mergers and Acquisitions, etc.
LexCounsel has been nominated and successfully recognized in Chambers and The Legal 500 rankings in several practice areas including Corporate/M&A, Dispute Resolution, Project and Energy, Tax, and Telecommunication, Media & Technology.
Members of the firm are members of the International Bar Association and the Firm is a member of International Lawyers Network and Alliott Group.
Helion Ventures Partners is a $605 Million India-focused, early to mid-stage venture fund, investing in technology-powered and consumer service businesses in sectors like Outsourcing, Internet, Mobile, Technology Products, Retail Services, Healthcare, Education and Financial Services.
Our mission is “Partnering with entrepreneurs to build world-class companies”.
We believe that companies are fundamentally built from inside, but as Board members we play an active role. Typically we help companies in making strategic choices and in building an organization that can execute on strategy. We have access to world-class executives that we can bring to our portfolio companies. We also help in building a high quality Board of Directors / Advisors.
We also team with the management and provide operational value add in the area of finance, HR, technology, marketing and operations.
In helping manage rapid growth, we participate in future rounds of financing in syndication with other venture partners. Our prior experience in M&A is also available to entrepreneurs in driving inorganic growth.
Most of all, we act as a sounding board to the CEOs as they navigate challenges of building world-class organizations.
o3 Capital is a mid-market investment bank, providing financial and strategic advice to clients. The company is built on two core businesses – Corporate Finance and Alternate Asset Management.
o3 Capital serves a wide range of clients including cutting-edge start-ups, established market leaders, private equity houses and large global corporate entities, across select verticals - Consumer, Healthcare, Industrials, Financial services, Technology and Digital. o3 Capital has successfully consummated 110+transactions in the last 9 years aggregating to over USD 4.5 bn in transaction value.
o3 Capital is a mid-market investment bank, providing financial and strategic advice to clients. The company is built on two core businesses – Corporate Finance and Alternate Asset Management.
o3 Capital serves a wide range of clients including cutting-edge start-ups, established market leaders, private equity houses and large global corporate entities, across select verticals - Consumer, Healthcare, Industrials, Financial services, Technology and Digital. o3 Capital has successfully consummated 110+transactions in the last 9 years aggregating to over USD 4.5 bn in transaction value.
VCC Events opens up the avenues for participation. Join hands to be a part of India’s largest gathering of alternative investments leaders, industry stakeholders and Asia’s influential limited partners, general partners and marquee advisors. Your chance to actively participate and augment yourself as thought leaders.
The Leela Kempinski, Gurgaon
The Leela Kempinski, Gurgaon
Distance: Ambience Island National Highway - 8 Gurgaon -122
Drop us a line and we will call you.
