Financiers acquire debt paper from PHL startup

ENGADIN Corp., the firm behind the Edtech startup concept “Edukasyon.ph,” announced last Wednesday it has raised a convertible note—a short-term debt paper that converts into equity. Engadin said follow-on investors KSR Ventures Inc. and Lorinet Foundation Inc. and new investor Bisk Ventures Inc. acquired the note.

Engadin Founder Henry Mottemuñoz told the Businessmirror the funds raised from the issuance would go to enhancing the startup firm’s online K-12 tutoring services in English and Math. This service, which Engadin launched last May, targets students aged 4 to 16.

Motte-muñoz said the platform now already has a thousand classes booked and hundreds of hours of English and Math classes held.

Today, the Philippines is worth around a $20-billion education market open for “disruptive” action, according to him.

“We are very excited to enter the local academic support space—a fast growing, fragmented and still very traditional multi-billion industry,” Motte-muñoz told the Businessmirror. “The Philippines is now where India was seven years or ten years ago.”

Rising demand

MOTTE-MUÑOZ further said their new product, called “EDGE Tutor,” hopes to meet the rising demand for “quality, affordable” academic support for the country’s 27 million learners navigating the K-12 curriculum in the digital world.

Further, Motte-muñoz stressed they focused on developing “EDGE Tutor” to provide parents and their children support and education using the curriculum, in line with the requirements of the Department of Education.

“EDGE Tutor” was “crafted to be globally competitive” using our “tried and tested online learning platform,” he added. It is being developed as the third vertical for Engadin’s Edukasyon.ph platform, in addition to the firm’s college and career counseling platform—called “Finder”—and future skills training—called “Advance.”

Engadin CEO Grace David, meanwhile, underscored the needs of Filipino parents and students for live online tutoring, which centered on “ensuring quality teachers, motivating lessons, effective learning and convenient scheduling.”

Since the close of its Series A in 2020, Motte-muñoz pointed out Engadin achieved tripled revenues and achieved profitability for its business-to-business division. He added they are close to reaching its first million registered users and has built a community of eight million students.

Motte-muñoz said the company will continue to collaborate with brands and institutions to create informative and resourceful content for learners.

Changed dramatically

ENGADIN operates the country’s largest platform for “Edtech,” or “education technology,” which is the combination of information technology tools and educational practices.

The Edtech landscape has changed dramatically in the Philippines, with improvements in internet infrastructure, explosive growth of e-wallets (estimated 63-percent penetration by 2025) and massive exposure to online education (more than seven million students in 2021).

Pierre Lorinet, founder of Lorinet Foundation, said that the developing Edtech landscape in the Philippines is “both exciting and critical” for the country’s learners.

In a statement, Bisk Ventures CEO Mike Bisk was quoted as saying their firm is quite bullish for the growth of Edtech in the Philippines.

“The next 12 months for Edtech look very promising and we look forward to being a part of it.”

According to Bloomberg News, Bisk Ventures operates as a venture capital fund. The company invests in edtech companies in the higher education and corporate learning space. Bisk Ventures serves investors in the State of California, Bloomberg News said.