Aspire sells minority stake to Foundation Cap for $4.5 mn

Education services firm Aspire Human Capital Management today said it has sold an undisclosed stake in the company for $4.5 million (nearly Rs 20 crore) to US-based venture capital firm Foundation Capital.

The Gurgaon-based company, which provides training in communication skills and spoken English, said it will utilise the funds in expanding its operations to 25 cities from the present 14 cities in India.

"We have raised $4.5 million by selling a significant minority stake in our company. This fund will be used in our expansion programme and new product development," Aspire Founder and CEO Amit Bhatia said.

He said the company will grow its student base by three-fold from current 15,000 and extend offering from 14 cities in eight states to 25 cities in 15 states.

Foundation Capital's general partner Warren Weiss said that there is an opportunity to tap a market of $1.4 billion in the embedded employability education sector in India with over 70 million potential students.

The embedded employability education is the best answer for India's skills gap challenge, he added.

Besides Foundation Capital, Neeraj Bhargava, co-founder of private equity firm, Steer Capital, has also invested in Aspire.

"Aspire is on to something big and the investments from Foundation Capital and me is a strong endorsement of its strategy and team," Bhargava said.

Bhargava, however, did not disclose the details of the invested amount.

Aspire also announced the appointment of three new directors on its board: Warren Weiss, Neeraj Bhargava and Samit Sinha.