MT Educare in talks with PEs to raise up to Rs150 crore

Coaching service provider MT Educare Ltd is in talks with private equity firms and structured finance funds to raise as much Rs150 crore, according to two people with direct knowledge of the development.

Earlier, the K-12 tutoring and test preparation firm was looking to raise capital through a qualified institutional placement (QIP) for its Robomate+ platform.

“The company has dropped its plans to raise money through QIP due to a valuation mismatch and is now in talks with private equity firms including those who provide mezzanine financing for the same,” said one of the people cited earlier. Both people spoke on condition of anonymity.

According to a BSE filing by MT Educare, its Robomate+ mobile app has been downloaded more than 500,000 times on Google’s Play Store as of 11 June.

Several mails and calls to MT Educare seeking a response and further information on the development went unanswered.

In December, MT Educare launched Robomate+ in coordination with Global Education Trust, its CSR partner.

The app provides recorded video lectures by experts to help students revise and sharpen concepts by viewing lectures repeatedly.

Earlier this year, MT Educare had received approval from its board to raise an undisclosed amount from qualified institutional investors.

Meanwhile, the company is raising Rs15 crore in debt from Ambit Finvest Ltd and Reliance Financial Ltd. While Ambit Finvest will lend Rs10 crore, Reliance Financial will give Rs5 crore as a term loan for a period of 12 months, it said in a BSE disclosure last week. Mahesh Shetty, the promoter of the company, has offered 3.25 million shares as a security towards the loans by way of pledge.

Founded in 1998, MT Educare, (formerly Mahesh Tutorials Pvt. Ltd), is a coaching services provider for students in the secondary and higher secondary school and those pursuing graduation in commerce, preparing for various competitive and chartered accountancy examinations.