ExtraaEdge Raises $1M Pre-Series A From Pentathlon Ventures

ExtraaEdge, a Pune-based martech startup focused on the education sector has raised $1 million in a pre Series A round from Pentathlon Ventures. The round also saw participation from other investment firms -- 9Unicorns, Indian Angel Network, Faad Network and DevX Innovation. Prominent angels like Monish Darda (Co-Founder & CTO, Icertis a SaaS Unicorn ), Manasij Ganguly ( ex CEO – Threadsol ) & Aditya Somani ( ex - Premji Invest) also participated in the round along with the existing investors Sprout Venture Partners, and TiE Pune Angels.

Founded in 2015 by Abhishek Ballabh and Sushil Mundada, ExtraaEdge is a new-age, vertical SaaS marketing technology player in the education marketing industry. It leverages its full-stack revenue assurance platform and CRM software to help the education industry increase, manage & predict their admissions while automating their entire sales and leads processes. Its goal is to empower admission teams across the globe to make smart, data-driven decisions to maximise admission outcomes, optimise market expenditure, and boost conversion rates.

Abhishek Ballabh, Co-Founder ExtraaEdge, says, “The onset of Covid-19 has accelerated the digital adoption in the education sector. Conventional marketing processes have now been digitized. Education institutes and other important stakeholders of the ecosystem are on a look out for a technology stack to run their admissions process in a seamless manner. Although new business models are getting validated in the education industry along with a new age technology stack, student acquisition is still a white space. ExtraaEdge is building that stack via leveraging power of machine learning and new-age marketing automation to make admission predictable. We currently enable the 225+ education brands to digitally acquire the next thousands of GenZ & millennial students. This fund-raise will help us cement our category leadership as the leading admission technology player in the Indian market, double down on product capabilities to power admission teams, and look at a wider global expansion.”

The cloud-based student acquisition platform currently manages the entire range of operations from outreach and marketing to admission and recruitment of more than 225+ education institutes in India and overseas. Some of the solutions offered by the platform include vertical CRM, marketing automation, conversational AI bots, application management software, predictive analytics, and mobile CRM. The software helps admission teams to identify and prioritize the right prospects and gain in-depth insights and feedback into their overall marketing and team performance in the form of real time analytical reports.

Sandeep Chawda, Partner, Pentathlon Ventures, says, "Technological disruption has brought education institutes face-to-face with Digital Darwinism. As institutes evolve to survive, we are seeing an exciting shift in how they leverage marketing automation and predictive analytics to acquire customers. This is a billion dollar opportunity that ExtraaEdge is capturing at an impressive rate. Their team and product exhibit a DNA of scale, proven by a solid client base and consistent ARR growth despite the pandemic. This strong DNA, the energy, the maturity, and the know-how that Abhishek and Sushil possess make us confident that ExtraaEdge will emerge as a winner."

Dr. Apoorv Ranjan Sharma, Co-founder & Managing Director – 9Unicorns, adds, “We were quite impressed with the team’s execution capabilities. Abhishek & Sushil are founders who have found a product-market fit in this domain which is existential for success & we found them persistent & passionate. The budget allocation of digital marketing across sectors has consistently increased in the past few years and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. In sync with the education sector, the demand for a platform that can leverage the power of AI for predicting admissions and increasing conversion rates has also surged. ExtraaEdge is addressing this need-gap which is an untapped market yet. Their ability to use data analytics to drive client acquisition and streamline the admission process makes them well-equipped to disrupt India’s education market valued at USD 1.5 billion. The start-up’s innovative approach will be the recipient of countless positive feedbacks from the burgeoning education industry and we are thrilled to be their partner on this journey.” 

The funds raised will be used for increasing its customer base, bolstering product development primarily in the area of robotic process automation and data science team, as well as expanding into the international markets. ExtraaEdge has currently launched operations in the UAE and the UK, which are well known international education destinations.