Educomp Solutions

Educomp Solutions Limited was founded as a private limited company by Shantanu Prakash, an alumnus of Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad and Shri Ram College of Commerce along with his wife, Dr. Anjlee Prakash in September 1994.[8] The organization was engaged the business of setting up and maintaining of computer labs in private schools under the BOOT model and in government-run schools under subcontracts awarded by Indian government undertakings.[9] The company launched eCampus and PlanetVidya.com in 1998.[10] In 2000, the company started its trading operations with CD-ROMs. In September 2000, the firm was converted into a public limited company. In October 2000, the company received a US$2.5 million strategic investment from The Carlyle Group.[11] The company entered the India's e-learning market in 2002 by launching LearningMate in partnership with US-based educational technology company Blackboard Inc.[12] In June 2003, it launched Educomp Smartclass,[13] a hardware for digitally equipping classrooms. In August 2004, it entered the American market by signing a US pilot project with Santa Barbara-based Franklin Elementary School.[14] In 2005, Educomp was conferred the “CNBC-ICICI Bank Emerging India Award” as the ‘Company of the year 2005’ in the ICE and ITeS category.[15] In 2008, it acquired 51% stake in Takshila Management Services. The company was on the height of its success between the years 2008 and 2012.[16] In 2013, the firm signed a memorandum of understanding with Singapore's Raffles Institution.[17] In July 2016, ESL announced a joint venture called Ebix Educomp Solutions in which ESL held 49% stake, while the remaining 51% stake is held by Ebix Software.[18] In May 2017, the company filed for insolvency in National Company Law Tribunal.[19] In January 2018, Educomp launched an e-learning platform, SmartclassOnline.[20] In April 2018, Ebix purchased a majority stake of US$8 million for Smartclass Educational Services Pvt. Ltd (SESPL),[21][22] thus paving the way for the former to enter India's 30 billion dollar digital education market.[23] In May 2018, the International Finance Corporation submitted a petition to the National Company Law Tribunal asking to probe Educomp's alleged 'preferential transactions' after the company filed for bankruptcy.[24] In September 2021, Supreme Court of India rejected Ebix's plea to withdraw its Rs. 400 crore offer for Educomp.[25]