Pearson Plc, publisher of the Financial Times, has acquired a controlling stake in TutorVista, an online education startup founded by serial entrepreneur Krishnan Ganesh. The British company has paid $127 million (Rs 577 crore) to increase its stake in TutorVista to 76 per cent. It already owned about 17 per cent in the Bangalore-based startup, which it had acquired at an investment of $12.5 million in mid-2009.
The deal provides an exit for TutorVista’s venture capital investors Sequoia Capital India, Lightspeed Ventures and Silicon Valley Bank. Strategic investor Manipal Education is also exiting the company. TutorVista has raised over $50 million over multiple rounds of fund-raising since being founded in 2005 (see fund-raising timeline). The company employs over 800 people, 2,000 tutors and has over 20,000 registered students globally, said a press release.
Founder Ganesh is an old hand at starting companies and turning them into money-spinners both for his investors and himself. His second startup, a call center company called CustomerAsset, which he founded in 2000, was acquired by Firstsource Solutions in 2002 for $19.3 million.
TutorVista Fund-Raising Timeline
- Jun 2006: $2 million Series A from Sequoia
- Dec 2006: $10.7 million Series B from Sequoia, Lightspeed and Silicon Valley Bank
- Oct 2007: $2.5 million from Manipal Education
- Jul 2008: $18 million Series C from Sequoia and Lightspeed
- Jun 2009: $19 million in Series D from Pearson, Lightspeed and Manipal
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