An exam preparation platform company, Vriti Infocom Pvt Ltd has raised $5 Mn in series-B funding from JAFCO Asia and follow-on investment from its existing investor Intel Capital.

The fund raised will be used for sales expansion besides continuing investment in technology.

Transaction Reference: ITnews

Vriti's business model involves creating a knowledge exchange where students consume practice examinations and quality content aggregated from numerous authors and publishers. This is distributed via schools, coaching classes and colleges. Knowledge exchange also provides each student preparing for a particular exam with aggregated, national-level comparative performance assessment reports and highly granular and personalized study tips.

Its cloud-based, SaaS business model enables even the smallest distributor - such as a coaching centre run by an individual - to offer students the benefits of quality content, online testing, benchmarking against peers nationwide and personalized assessment. Vriti's per-student pricing model means the distributor does not need to incur any upfront costs or change any pre-existing business process related to acquiring students and teaching them.

Vriti's proprietary nationwide platform has seen over 450 partner deployments in schools, coaching centres and colleges with over 375,000 students enrolled

Vriti is into three verticals - education, hotels and shopping, although their primary focus is online education.

The company has developed six portals such as testonline.in (online testing for exam preparation), goIIT.com (science community for IIT aspirants), indiahotelreview.com (hotels directory), collegesearch.in (college directory), myeducation.in (internet notice board for colleges), onlinedeals.in (e-commerce portal), onlineclassroom.in (hosted solution for e-learning), and easyapply.in (a hosted solution for application form submission and management).

In 2008, it raised its first round of funding of $2.5 Mn from Intel Capital's Intel Capital India Technology Fund. Funds from the first round were used in building the platform and getting key clients, which include companies like Punjab Technical University, Brilliant Tutorials, etc. The company, which currently focuses on domestic expansion, also has clients in London and Dubai.

Intel Capital is the venture capital arm of chip maker Intel. Founded in 2005, Intel Capital India Technology Fund is a $250 million india focused fund of Intel Capital. The fund invests in Indian technology companies to help stimulate local technological innovation and the continued growth of India's information technology industry.

Its Indian investment includes KLG Systel, One97 Communications, Global Talent Track, Emnet Samsara Media, Tag Media Network, ILANTUS Technologies and Maya Entertainment and had exited from Deccanet Designs Limited.

JAFCO Investment (Asia Pacific) Ltd is a venture capital firm specializing in investments in technology and technology related companies. The firm typically invests in companies based in Asia Pacific region. The firm seeks to exit its investments through an IPO or a trade sale.

JAFCO's has invested in Indian companies like Si2 Microsystems, Apnapaisa, Mistral Solutions, Microqual Techno, Telsima Corp, Vignani Technologies and Microland.

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