IDGVI invests in iProf- tablet based e-learning marketplace

Mumbai, May 2: iProf Learning Solutions India Pvt. Ltd, an innovative e-learning marketplace company offering India's first personal education tablet and chain of Wi-Fi-enabled e-learning centers across the nation, announced that it has secured Rs 22 crores in Series A funding from Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) and IDG Ventures India (IDGVI).

iProf Learning Solutions said that the capital will be used to fuel aggressive expansion of iProf's e-learning centers (iProf iStudy Zones) in metros and tier 2/3 cities throughout India and abroad, as well as bring a large number of new iProf products to market by continued partnerships with India's best professors, subject matter experts and organisations.

"India's test preparation market is expected to reach USD 1 billion in three years," said Sanjay Purohit , Founder & CEO, iProf. "However, primary growth restraints to date have been the lack of strong teachers, the limited reach of classroom programs into tier two and tier three cities and the high price of classroom coaching for IIT/MBA courses. To meet the needs of this growing market in India, iProf has created an innovative e-learning marketplace by which a large number of courses can be provided in extremely engaging and interactive formats at an affordable price to millions of students worldwide. This is available to even those students who don't have computer or internet access" he added.

iProf offers India's first personal education tablet which is highly affordable and delivers study material in multiple formats such as audio-video lectures, animations, structured tests, solutions, performance analysis and a lot more. Students will be able to download various education contents in minutes from retail hotspots called iStudy Zones. Presently nearly 20 iStudy Zones are operational and will reach 100 by the end of 2011.

The iProf solution gives complete flexibility to students to study at their pace, anywhere and at anytime. Content development has been done by partnering with most eminent professors and education institutes.

iProf also announced that it has tied up with IGNOU, the World's largest Open University with an enrollment of more than 3.2 million students. IGNOU has approximately 1400 study zones across India and has partnered with iProf to conduct diploma programs for 75 of its courses on the iProf platform.

"Students, particularly in tier two and tier three cities in India, are looking at alternatives to gain convenient access to quality test preparation materials and Distance Learning courses. At the same time, traditional content and classroom instruction providers are seeking strong technology partners with innovative content distribution platforms," said Sudhir Sethi, Founder CMD, IDG Ventures India.

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