UTI Ventures exits Excelsoft, earns 50 times its investment

In one of the biggest exits by a private equity firm in India, UTI Ventures has made 50 times its investment by selling its 35.5% stake in e-learning firm Excelsoft Technologies for Rs 125 crore to hedge fund DE Shaw.UTI Ventures had invested Rs 2.5 crore in 2001 in the Mysore-based firm. Other firms reportedly in the fray for the UTI Ventures stake were Sequoia Capital, Fidelity Ventures, Cisco Ventures, Silicon Valley Bank and Softbank.

The deal marks DE Shaw’s first investment in the education space, an area which has attracted a lot of investor interest. E-learning is the fastest growing segment of the $2.3-trillion global education market and is growing at a CAGR of 40%.

Excelsoft, set up in 2000, does consulting, product design & engineering, custom software development and provides content development services in the area of e-learning. It caters to corporations, universities, schools, publishers, e-learning portals and governments across the world. Its clients include Pearson, Wolter Kluwer, Thomson Learning, Harvard Press and Oxford.

The DE Shaw group is a global investment and technology development firm with more than 1,300 employees and about $35 billion in aggregate investment capital as of January 1, 2008. Some of DE Shaw’s investments in India include DLF SEZ, Soham Renewable Energy and Crest Communications, among others.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

Sequoia, Singapore fund may invest in Excelsoft

Sequoia Capital and a Singapore-based private equity fund are learnt to be in the race to invest upwards of Rs 100 crore in Mysore-based e-learning firm Excelsoft.Excelsoft is a six-year-old firm which provides a range of customised learner-centric learning systems, test and assessment systems, and desktop tools.

According to industry information, the company, which has a topline of around Rs 50 crore is expected to be valued in the range of Rs 350-400 crore for the stake sale. A deal is expected to be sealed by early-January 2008.

Industry sources further indicate that in addition to Sequoia and the Singapore fund, ICICI Venture is also in the fray to invest in this high-margin firm.

Read more in The Business Standard article.