Media Coverage Details. CL Educate Limited. Coverage Dossier. From. Prepared by

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1 Media Coverage Details Of CL Educate Limited Coverage Dossier From 1 September to 29 October 2015 Prepared by

2 Publication: The Hindustan Times Page: Edition: All Date: Sept 2, 2015

3 Publication: The Hindu Business Line Page: 2 Edition: All Date: Sept 11, 2015

4 Publication: Hindustan Times Page: 4 Edition: Lucknow Date: Sept 15, 2015

5 Publication: Chak De Gujarat Page: 4 Edition: Ahmedabad Date: Sept 12, 2015

6 Publication: Divya Gujarat Page: 3 Edition: Ahmedabad Date: Sept 11, 2015

7 Publication: Gujarat Niti Page: 3 Edition: Ahmedabad Date: Sept 11, 2015

8 Publication: Gujarat Pranam Page: 2 Edition: Ahmedabad Date: Sept 11, 2015

9 Publication: Herald Youngleader Page: 11 Edition: Ahmedabad Date: Sept 12, 2015

10 Publication: Mahanagar Metro Page: 4 Edition: Ahmedabad Date: Sept 12, 2015

11 Publication: Marwad Mitra Page: 4 Edition: Ahmedabad Date: Sept 12, 2015

12 Publication: Metro Herald Page: 5 Edition: Ahmedabad Date: Sept 18, 2015

13 Publication: Prabhat Page: 3 Edition: Ahmedabad Date: Sept 11, 2015

14 Publication: Suryakaal Page: 6 Edition: Ahmedabad Date: Sept 14, 2015

15 Publication: Standard Herald Page: 4 Edition: Ahmedabad Date: Sept 12, 2015

16 Publication: Avadhnama Page: 14 Edition: Lucknow Date: Sept 14, 2015

17 Publication: Lucknow News Page: 3 Edition: Lucknow Date: Sept 12, 2015

18 Publication: Avadhnama Lucknow Page: 14 Edition: Lucknow Date: Sept 11, 2015

19 Publication: Rahat Times Page: 14 Edition: Lucknow Date: Sept 13, 2015

20 Publication: Nishpakshya Divya Sandesh Weekly Page: 11 Edition: Lucknow Date: Sept 12, 2015

21 Website: URL: Compnewsdet- CL_Educate_acquires_51_stake_in_EdTech_start_up_Accendere.htm#.VfJVVtKqqkp Date: Sept 11, 2015 CL Educate acquires 51% stake in EdTech start-up Accendere Education sector company CL Educate has acquired a majority stake in EdTech Startup Accendere. With the announcement of a definite agreement, CL Educate now holds 51% stake in Accendere KMS. Accendere's core business is to enable universities and colleges to improve on their academic standings by improving their research output in the fields of Engineering, Technology, Medicine, Arts and Law. In a release, CL Educate said that this acquisition enables Accendere to tap into over 700 universities in India by leveraging CL Educate's national reach across 100 cities in India. Satya Narayanan, Chairman of CL Educate, said, "Disruptive entrepreneurs like Praveen and Shiva are the future. At CL, we would love to partner with the next generation of audacious youngsters. Accendere is in a high margin scalable business that is not easy to copy quickly. Private Universities form the core TG. The synergy with testprep is an add-on sweetener." Further, Accendere also proposes to shortly start providing services in the International Market from Accendere's competence in advising students in their higher educational choices abroad is also expected to strengthen CL's presence in the GRE, GMAT, SAT and Admissions consulting business. R Shivaraman, Co-founder and Director - Research, Accendere, said, "Being a part of Accendere, our students have the strategic edge of being able to justify what they want to pursue which shows commitment. Also, their work contributes to the knowledge capital of the country."

22 Website: business-standard.com URL: Date: Sept 11, 2015 CL Educate acquires 51% stake in EdTech start-up Accendere Education sector company CL Educate has acquired a majority stake in EdTech Startup Accendere. With the announcement of a definite agreement, CL Educate now holds 51% stake in Accendere KMS. Accendere's core business is to enable universities and colleges to improve on their academic standings by improving their research output in the fields of Engineering, Technology, Medicine, Arts and Law. In a release, CL Educate said that this acquisition enables Accendere to tap into over 700 universities in India by leveraging CL Educate's national reach across 100 cities in India. Satya Narayanan, Chairman of CL Educate, said, "Disruptive entrepreneurs like Praveen and Shiva are the future. At CL, we would love to partner with the next generation of audacious youngsters. Accendere is in a high margin scalable business that is not easy to copy quickly. Private Universities form the core TG. The synergy with testprep is an add-on sweetener." Further, Accendere also proposes to shortly start providing services in the International Market from Accendere's competence in advising students in their higher educational choices abroad is also expected to strengthen CL's presence in the GRE, GMAT, SAT and Admissions consulting business. R Shivaraman, Co-founder and Director - Research, Accendere, said, "Being a part of Accendere, our students have the strategic edge of being able to justify what they want to pursue which shows commitment. Also, their work contributes to the knowledge capital of the country."

23 Website: vccircle.com URL: Date: Sept 11, 2015 CL Educate buys 51% stake in education startup Accendere Education services company CL Educate Ltd, best known for its erstwhile test prep brand Career Launcher, has acquired 51 per cent stake in educational startup Accendere Knowledge Management Services Pvt. Ltd for an undisclosed amount. This acquisition will help Accendere tap into over 700 universities in India, the company said in a statement. Accendere helps universities and colleges improve their academic standings by enhancing their research output in the fields of engineering, technology, medicine, arts and law. Accendere s major service offerings are Concept Paper and Research Incubator. It offers a number of services ranging from vertical specific workshops to research mentoring and guidance. With its Research Incubator initiative, Accendere helps students with theme identification, literature survey, basics strengthening classes and research assignments, and paper writing and publication. In its vertical specific innovation (VSI) workshops, it offers courses such as architecture for engineers, advanced operating system design, ULSI/VLSI (ultra-large-scale Integration/very-large-scale integration) design, research in nanotechnology, etc. It was founded by R Shivaraman and Praveen Dwarakanath. Shivaraman holds a PhD in Nanotechnology and is a former visiting academic at University of Western Australia while Dwarakanath is an alumnus of IIM Lucknow. Having proven our model in two universities, we aspire to scale to a few hundred universities in three years. We anticipate reaching a business turnover of around Rs 200 crore in a few years starting with Rs 5 crore this year. The services we provide shall be relevant to universities in developing nations that include SAARC region, Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia and Africa, said Dwarakanath. The firm has plans to start offering its services in the international market from next year. Accendere s competence in advising students in their higher educational choices abroad is also expected to strengthen CL s presence in the GRE, GMAT, SAT and admissions consulting business, it said.

24 Accendere is in a high-margin scalable business that is not easy to copy quickly. Private universities form the core TG (target group). The synergy with test prep is an add-on sweetener, said Satya Narayanan, chairman of CL Educate. CL Educate started operations in 1996 as a provider of MBA test preparation courses and has diversified since then across four segments across the education value chain test preparation and training, generally referred to as test prep, under Career Launcher brand; publishing & content under GK Publications; K12 schools under the brand Indus World Schools with 10 schools across India; and vocational training programmes. The firm is also into certain recruitment, training and event management services for corporates through its subsidiary, Kestone. It struck two-three acquisitions in starting with a strategic investment in Threesixtyone Degree Minds Consulting Pvt Ltd, a Chennai-based firm which runs online higher education business under the brand 361minds. Later in November 2011 it entered publishing with the acquisition of the GK Publications to add a brand publishing niche test prep books, guides, mock test papers and question banks for popular professional and entrance examinations in India. Over the years, the firm has raised institutional capital from a string of investors. Intel Capital, one of the first investors in the company, exited the firm long time ago, but the firm later brought in Gaja Capital and recently raised Rs 35 crore from HDFC, which has investments in the education sector. Other small investors in the firm include Granite Hill, Edelweiss Finance and India Infoline Venture Capital. In April this year, CL Educate had deferred its proposed initial public offer (IPO) plans and withdrew its application to the securities market regulator for a public float. The proposed IPO was also to see its private equity backer Gaja Capital part-exit. CL Educate had filed its documents with market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for its IPO last September. The issue size was pegged at around $40 million of which Gaja Capital and the company's promoters were to get close to half. The firm was eyeing a valuation of around $ million at the time of proposed IPO, as per VCCircle estimates.

25 Website: thehindubusinessline.com URL: Date: Sept 11, 2015 CL Educate picks up 51% stake in Accendere CL Educate, which runs test prep chain Career Launcher, has acquired 51 per cent stake in start-up Accendere KMS, the company said in a statement on Thursday. The acquisition enables Accendere, an education technology start-up, to tap into over 700 universities in India by leveraging CL Educate s national reach. Accendere s core business is to enable academic institutions improve their research output in engineering, technology, medicine, arts and law. It also plans to offer services in overseas markets from Accendere s competence in advising students in their higher educational choices abroad is also expected to strengthen CL s presence in the GRE, GMAT, SAT and admissions consulting business, the statement said. Praveen, Co-founder and Director Business, Accendere, said, Having proven our model in two universities, we aspire to scale to a few hundred universities in 3 years. We anticipate reaching a business turnover of around Rs. 200 crore in a few years starting with Rs. 5 crore this year. The services we provide shall be extremely relevant to universities in developing nations that include the SAARC region, Eastern Europe, South East Asia and Africa.

26 Website: URL: stake-in-accendere/articleshow/ cms Date: Sept 11, 2015 CL Educate acquires 51% stake in Accendere CL Educate, which runs test preparation centre Career Launcher, today said it has acquired 51 per cent stake in an education technology start-up, Accendere KMS, for an undisclosed amount. However, the company did not disclose financial details of the transaction. In a statement, CL Educate said it now holds 51 per cent stake in Accendere KMS. CL Educate provides educational services across the value chain, including content and infrastructure, while Accendere's core business is to enable universities and colleges to improve their academic standings by improving their research output in the fields of engineering, technology, medicine, arts and law. The acquisition would enable Accendere to tap over 700 universities in India by leveraging CL Educate's national reach across 100 cities in the country. Earlier in April, CL Educate had deferred its initial public offer plans as it was looking to consolidate business operations that would alter its existing capital structure.

27 Website: moneycontrol.com URL: stakeaccendere_ html Date: Sept 11, 2015 CL Educate acquires 51% stake in Accendere CL Educate, which runs test preparation centre Career Launcher, today said it has acquired 51 percent stake in an education technology start-up, Accendere KMS, for an undisclosed amount. However, the company did not disclose financial details of the transaction. In a statement, CL Educate said it now holds 51 percent stake in Accendere KMS. CL Educate provides educational services across the value chain, including content and infrastructure, while Accendere's core business is to enable universities and colleges to improve their academic standings by improving their research output in the fields of engineering, technology, medicine, arts and law. The acquisition would enable Accendere to tap over 700 universities in India by leveraging CL Educate's national reach across 100 cities in the country. Earlier in April, CL Educate had deferred its initial public offer plans as it was looking to consolidate business operations that would alter its existing capital structure.

28 Website: dealstreetasia.com URL: Date: Sept 11, 2015 India: CL Educate picks 51% stake in EdTech start-up Accendere CL Educate, which runs test prep chain Career launcher, has acquired a majority 51% in education technology startup firm Accendere KMS, the company said in a press statement on Thursday. With the acquisition, Hyderabad-based Accendere will be able to tap into over 700 universities in India by leveraging CL Educate s national reach, the statement said. Accendere s core business is to enable academic institutions improve their research output in engineering, technology, medicine, arts and law. It also plans to offer services in overseas markets from Satya Narayanan, Chairman of CL Educate, said, Disruptive entrepreneurs like Praveen and Shiva are the future. At CL, we would love to partner with the next generation of audacious youngsters. Accendere is in a high margin scalable business that is not easy to copy quickly. Private Universities form the core TG. The synergy with testprep is an add-on sweetener. Accendere s competence in advising students in their higher educational choices abroad is also expected to strengthen CL s presence in the GRE, GMAT, SAT and admissions consulting business. Praveen, Co-founder and Director Business, Accendere, said, Having proven our model in two universities, we aspire to scale to a few hundred universities in 3 years. We anticipate reaching a business turnover of around Rs 200 crore in a few years starting with Rs 5 crore

29 this year. The services we provide shall be extremely relevant to universities in developing nations that include the SAARC region, Eastern Europe, South East Asia and Africa. Accendere was founded by Dr. R Shivaraman and Praveen Dwarakanath. Shivaraman is a PhD in Nanotechnology and former visiting faculty at University of Western Australia while Praveen is an alumnus of Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Lucknow. Led by a team of IIT-IIM alumni, CL Educate operates across a broad spectrum of segments in the education industry, including test preparation, K-12 education and vocational training.

30 Website: URL: Date: Sept 11, 2015 CL Educate acquires 51% stake in EdTech Start-up Accendere CL Educate, one of the leading education companies has acquired majority stake in EdTech Startup Accendere. With the announcement of a definite agreement, CL Educate now holds 51% stake in Accendere KMS. Accendere s core business is to enable universities and colleges to improve on their academic standings by improving their research output in the fields of Engineering, Technology, Medicine, Arts and Law. Given that research is the most important component in most International Rankings, Accendere s offerings help correct the anomaly of Indian Universities being a no show in the global picture. Accendere blends technology with innovation, and it aims to take its services to 200 universities in India first. This acquisition enables Accendere to tap into over 700 universities in India by leveraging CL Educate s national reach across 100 cities in India. Accendere also proposes to shortly start providing services in the International Market from Accendere s competence in advising students in their higher educational choices abroad is also expected to strengthen CL s presence in the GRE, GMAT, SAT and Admissions consulting business.

31 Accendere is a young EdTech start-up founded by Dr. R. Shivaraman and Praveen Dwarakanath. Dr. Shivaraman is a PhD in Nanotechnology and former visiting academic at University of Western Australia while Praveen is an alumnus of the prestigious IIM Lucknow. The name Accendere (pronounced as ah-chen-deh-ray) is a Latin word which means to ignite. Praveen, Co-founder and Director Business, Accendere, remarked, Becoming a part of the growing CL Educate conglomerate represents an exciting new chapter for Accendere, which will help accelerate our time-to-market in non penetrated geographies and expand the ways in which we can engage with our customers and provide innovative solutions. Having proven our model in two universities, we aspire to scale to a few hundred universities in 3 years. We anticipate reaching a business turnover of around Rs 200 crore in a few years starting with Rs 5 crore this year. The services we provide shall be extremely relevant to Universities in developing nations that include the SAARC region, Eastern Europe, South East Asia and Africa. Praveen further added, We look forward to seeing Accendere as a brand name when it comes to innovation, and will prove to be a major lever in enhancing the world s knowledge capital. Dr. Shivaraman, Co-founder and Director Research, Accendere, said, Most application forms of International Universities have a section which asks the student to fill in what research he/she has done as a part of his/her undergraduate course. Almost all students leave it blank as they are unaware of the appropriate response. Being a part of Accendere, our students have the strategic edge of being able to justify what they want to pursue which shows commitment. Also, their work contributes to the knowledge capital of the country. Satya Narayanan, Chairman of CL Educate, said, Disruptive entrepreneurs like Praveen and Shiva are the future. At CL, we would love to partner with the next generation of audacious youngsters. Accendere is in a high margin scalable business that is not easy to copy quickly. Private Universities form the core TG. The synergy with testprep is an add-on sweetener

32 Website: educationinsider.net URL: Date: Sept 11, 2015 CL Educate acquires 51% stake in EdTech Start-up Accendere Satya Narayanan, Chairman of CL Educate (Left) with Praveen Dwarakanath, Co-founder and Director Business, Accendere (Right) This acquisition enables Accendere to tap into over 700 universities in India by leveraging CL Educate s national reach across 100 cities in India New Delhi: CL Educate ( one of the leading education companies has acquired majority stake in EdTech Startup Accendere. With the announcement of a definite agreement, CL Educate now holds 51% stake in Accendere KMS. Accendere s core business is to enable universities and colleges to improve on their academic standings by improving their research output in the fields of Engineering, Technology, Medicine, Arts and Law. Given that research is the most important component in most International Rankings, Accendere s offerings help correct the anomaly of Indian Universities being a no show in the global picture. Accendere blends technology with innovation, and it aims to take its services to 200 universities in India first. This acquisition enables Accendere to tap into over 700 universities in India by leveraging CL Educate s national reach across 100 cities in India. Accendere also proposes to shortly start providing services in the International Market from Accendere s competence in

33 advising students in their higher educational choices abroad is also expected to strengthen CL s presence in the GRE, GMAT, SAT and Admissions consulting business. Accendere is a young EdTech start-up founded by Dr. R. Shivaraman and Praveen Dwarakanath. Dr. Shivaraman is a PhD in Nanotechnology and former visiting academic at University of Western Australia while Praveen is an alumnus of the prestigious IIM Lucknow. The name Accendere (pronounced as ah-chen-deh-ray) is a Latin word which means to ignite. Praveen, Co-founder and Director Business, Accendere, remarked, Becoming a part of the growing CL Educate conglomerate represents an exciting new chapter for Accendere, which will help accelerate our time-to-market in non penetrated geographies and expand the ways in which we can engage with our customers and provide innovative solutions. Having proven our model in two universities, we aspire to scale to a few hundred universities in 3 years. We anticipate reaching a business turnover of around Rs 200 crore in a few years starting with Rs 5 crore this year. The services we provide shall be extremely relevant to Universities in developing nations that include the SAARC region, Eastern Europe, South East Asia and Africa. Praveen further added, We look forward to seeing Accendere as a brand name when it comes to innovation, and will prove to be a major lever in enhancing the world s knowledge capital. Dr. Shivaraman, Co-founder and Director Research, Accendere, said, Most application forms of International Universities have a section which asks the student to fill in what research he/she has done as a part of his/her undergraduate course. Almost all students leave it blank as they are unaware of the appropriate response. Being a part of Accendere, our students have the strategic edge of being able to justify what they want to pursue which shows commitment. Also, their work contributes to the knowledge capital of the country. Satya Narayanan, Chairman of CL Educate, said, Disruptive entrepreneurs like Praveen and Shiva are the future. At CL, we would love to partner with the next generation of audacious youngsters. Accendere is in a high margin scalable business that is not easy to copy quickly. Private Universities form the core TG. The synergy with testprep is an add-on sweetener

34 Website: biznewsindex.com URL: Date: Sept 11, 2015 CL Educate acquires 51% stake in Accendere CL Educate, which runs test prep chain Career Launcher, has acquired 51 per cent stake in start-up Accendere KMS, the company said in a statement on Thursday. The acquisition enables Accendere, an education technology start-up, to tap into over 700 universities in India by leveraging CL Educate s national reach. Accendere s core business is to enable academic institutions improve their research output in engineering, technology, medicine, arts and law. It also plans to offer services in overseas markets from Accendere s competence in advising students in their higher educational choices abroad is also expected to strengthen CL s presence in the GRE, GMAT, SAT and admissions consulting business, the statement said. Praveen, Co-founder and Director Business, Accendere, said, Having proven our model in two universities, we aspire to scale to a few hundred universities in 3 years. We anticipate reaching a business turnover of around Rs. 200 crore in a few years starting with Rs. 5 crore this year. The services we provide shall be extremely relevant to universities in developing nations that include the SAARC region, Eastern Europe, South East Asia and Africa.

35 Website: URL: Date: Sept 11, 2015 CL Educate acquires 51% stake in Accendere CL Educate, an education company known through its flagship test prep centres running under the brand name Career Launcher, today said it had acquired majority stake in EdTech start-up Accendere. With the announcement of a definite agreement, CL Educate now holds 51% stake in Accendere KMS, a press release from the company said. The release said Accendere s core business is to enable universities and colleges to improve on their academic standings by improving their research output in the fields of Engineering, Technology, Medicine, Arts and Law. "Given that research is the most important component in most international rankings, Accendere s offerings help correct the anomaly of Indian universities being a no show in the global picture. Accendere blends technology with innovation, and it aims to take its services to 200 universities in India first," it said. This acquisition enables Accendere to tap into over 700 universities in India by leveraging CL Educate s reach across 100 cities in India. Accendere also proposes to start providing services in the international market from Accendere s competence in advising students in their higher educational choices abroad is also expected to strengthen CL s presence in the GRE, GMAT, SAT and Admissions consulting business, it said. Accendere is a young EdTech start-up founded by Dr. R. Shivaraman and Praveen Dwarakanath. Dr. Shivaraman is a PhD in Nanotechnology and former visiting academic at University of Western Australia while Praveen is an alumnus of Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Lucknow. Praveen, co-founder and Director Business, Accendere, said, Becoming a part of the growing CL Educate conglomerate represents an exciting new chapter for Accendere, which will help accelerate our time-to-market in non penetrated geographies and expand the ways in which we can engage with our customers and provide innovative solutions. Having proven our model in two universities, we aspire to scale to a few hundred universities in three years. We anticipate reaching a business turnover of around Rs 200 crore in a few years starting with Rs 5 crore this year. The services we provide shall be extremely relevant

36 to Universities in developing nations that include the SAARC region, Eastern Europe, South East Asia and Africa. Dr. Shivaraman, co-founder and Director Research, Accendere, said, Most application forms of international universities have a section which asks the student to fill in what research he/she has done as a part of his/her undergraduate course. Almost all students leave it blank as they are unaware of the appropriate response. Being a part of Accendere, our students have the strategic edge of being able to justify what they want to pursue which shows commitment. Also, their work contributes to the knowledge capital of the country. Satya Narayanan, Chairman of CL Educate, said, Disruptive entrepreneurs like Praveen and Shiva are the future. At CL, we would love to partner with the next generation of audacious youngsters. Accendere is in a high margin scalable business that is not easy to copy quickly. Private universities form the core target group. The synergy with testprep is an add-on sweetener." Led by a team of IIT-IIM alumni, CL Educate Ltd has diversified and now operates across a broad spectrum of segments in the education industry, including test preparation, K-12 education and vocational training.

37 Website: URL: Date: Sept 11, 2015 CL Educate acquires 51% stake in Accendere CL Educate, which runs test preparation centre Career Launcher, today said it has acquired 51 percent stake in an education technology start-up, Accendere KMS, for an undisclosed amount. However, the company did not disclose financial details of the transaction. In a statement, CL Educate said it now holds 51 percent stake in Accendere KMS. CL Educate provides educational services across the value chain, including content and infrastructure, while Accendere's core business is to enable universities and colleges to improve their academic standings by improving their research output in the fields of engineering, technology, medicine, arts and law. The acquisition would enable Accendere to tap over 700 universities in India by leveraging CL Educate's national reach across 100 cities in the country. Earlier in April, CL Educate had deferred its initial public offer plans as it was looking to consolidate business operations that would alter its existing capital structure.

38 Website: URL: Start.htm Date: Sept 11, 2015 CL Educate acquires 51% stake in Accendere With the announcement of a definite agreement, CL Educate now holds 51pc stake in Accendere KMS. Accenderes core business is to enable universities and colleges to improve on their academic standings by improving their research output in the fields of Engineering, Technology, Medicine, Arts and Law. Given that research is the most important component in most International Rankings, Accenderes offerings help correct the anomaly of Indian Universities being a no show in the global picture. Accendere blends technology with innovation, and it aims to take its services to 200 universities in India first. This acquisition enables Accendere to tap into over 700 universities in India by leveraging CL Educates national reach across 100 cities in India. Accendere also proposes to shortly start providing services in the International Market from Accenderes competence in advising students in their higher educational choices abroad is also expected to strengthen CLs presence in the GRE, GMAT, SAT and Admissions consulting business. Accendere is a young EdTech start-up founded by R. Shivaraman and Praveen Dwarakanath. Shivaraman is a PhD in Nanotechnology and former visiting academic at University of Western Australia while Praveen is an alumnus of the prestigious IIM Lucknow. The name Accendere (pronounced as ah-chen-deh-ray) is a Latin word which means to ignite. Praveen, Co-founder and Director Business, Accendere, remarked, Becoming a part of the growing CL Educate conglomerate represents an exciting new chapter for Accendere, which will help accelerate our time-to-market in non penetrated geographies and expand the ways in which we can engage with our customers and provide innovative solutions. Having proven our model in two universities, we aspire to scale to a few hundred universities in 3 years. We anticipate reaching a business turnover of around Rs 200 crore in a few years starting with Rs 5 crore this year. The services we provide shall be extremely relevant to Universities in developing nations that include the SAARC region, Eastern Europe, South East Asia and Africa.

39 Praveen further added, We look forward to seeing Accendere as a brand name when it comes to innovation, and will prove to be a major lever in enhancing the worlds knowledge capital. Shivaraman, Co-founder and Director Research, Accendere, said, Most application forms of International Universities have a section which asks the student to fill in what research he/she has done as a part of his/her undergraduate course. Almost all students leave it blank as they are unaware of the appropriate response. Being a part of Accendere, our students have the strategic edge of being able to justify what they want to pursue which shows commitment. Also, their work contributes to the knowledge capital of the country. Satya Narayanan, Chairman of CL Educate, said, Disruptive entrepreneurs like Praveen and Shiva are the future. At CL, we would love to partner with the next generation of audacious youngsters. Accendere is in a high margin scalable business that is not easy to copy quickly. Private Universities form the core TG. The synergy with testprep is an add-on sweetener.

40 Website: Inc 42 URL: Date: Sept 11, 2015 CL Educate Acquires 51% Stake In EdTech Startup Accendere Chennai-based education services company, CL Educate, formerly known as Career Launcher, has acquired 51 percent stake in Hyderabad-based educational startup, Accendere Knowledge Management Services, for an undisclosed amount. With this acquisition, Accendere can tap into the countrywide reach of CL Educate 700 Indian universities, said the company in a statement. Accendere is in a high margin scalable business that is not easy to copy quickly. Private universities form the core target group. The synergy with test prep is an add-on sweetener, said Satya Narayanan, chairman of CL Educate, in the release. Founded by Dr. R Shivaraman and Praveen Dwarakanath, Accendere s core business is to enable academic institutions improve their research output in engineering, technology, medicine, arts and law. It also plans to expand its operations to overseas markets from Praveen, said, Having proven our model in two universities, we aspire to scale to a few hundred universities in 3 years. We anticipate reaching a business turnover of around INR 200 crore in a few years, starting with INR 5 crore this year. The services we provide shall be extremely relevant to universities in developing nations that include the SAARC region, Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia and Africa. Earlier in April, CL Educate deferred from its plans for a public sale of shares. It withdrew the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP), which it had filed with Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for its IPO during September last year. It may refile a fresh DHRP in the next three months. In an exclusive chat with Inc42, Satya confirmed that this acquisition was one of the major reasons for postponing the company s IPO plans. He said that there are two major things that need to be taken care of before focusing on the IPO plans one being this acquisition and the other being some organizational restructuring, which will take another 5-7 weeks. He also confirmed that CL Educate is not looking to raise any funding in the near future; at least not before the IPO process. It s expected to re-file a fresh DRHP during the first quarter of next year. Founded in 1996, CL Educate offered MBA test preparation courses under the brand Career Launcher. It has now diversified into various segments of the education industry, including

41 test preparation, K-12 education and vocational training. It aspires to grow from the current 1.4 Mn students to about 5 Mn paid customers in the next three years. The firm is backed by investors like Gaja Capital, HDFC, Granite Hill, Edelweiss Finance and India Infoline Venture Capital.

42 Website: Equity Bulls URL: Date: Sept 10, 2015 CL Educate acquires 51% stake in EdTech Start-up Accendere CL Educate, one of the leading education companies has acquired majority stake in EdTech Startup Accendere. With the announcement of a definite agreement, CL Educate now holds 51% stake in Accendere KMS. Accendere's core business is to enable universities and colleges to improve on their academic standings by improving their research output in the fields of Engineering, Technology, Medicine, Arts and Law. Given that research is the most important component in most International Rankings, Accendere's offerings help correct the anomaly of Indian Universities being a no show in the global picture. Accendere blends technology with innovation, and it aims to take its services to 200 universities in India first. This acquisition enables Accendere to tap into over 700 universities in India by leveraging CL Educate's national reach across 100 cities in India. Accendere also proposes to shortly start providing services in the International Market from Accendere's competence in advising students in their higher educational choices abroad is also expected to strengthen CL's presence in the GRE, GMAT, SAT and Admissions consulting business. Accendere is a young EdTech start-up founded by Dr. R. Shivaraman and Praveen Dwarakanath. Dr. Shivaraman is a PhD in Nanotechnology and former visiting academic at University of Western Australia while Praveen is an alumnus of the prestigious IIM Lucknow. The name Accendere (pronounced as ah-chen-deh-ray) is a Latin word which means "to ignite". Praveen, Co-founder and Director - Business, Accendere, remarked, "Becoming a part of the growing CL Educate conglomerate represents an exciting new chapter for Accendere, which will help accelerate our time-to-market in non penetrated geographies and expand the ways in which we can engage with our customers and provide innovative solutions. Having proven our model in two universities, we aspire to scale to a few hundred universities in 3 years. We anticipate reaching a business turnover of around Rs 200 crore in a few years starting with Rs 5 crore this year. The services we provide shall be extremely relevant to Universities in developing nations that include the SAARC region, Eastern Europe, South East Asia and Africa." Praveen further added, "We look forward to seeing Accendere as a brand name when it comes to innovation, and will prove to be a major lever in enhancing the world's knowledge capital."

43 Dr. Shivaraman, Co-founder and Director - Research, Accendere, said, "Most application forms of International Universities have a section which asks the student to fill in what research he/she has done as a part of his/her undergraduate course. Almost all students leave it blank as they are unaware of the appropriate response. Being a part of Accendere, our students have the strategic edge of being able to justify what they want to pursue which shows commitment. Also, their work contributes to the knowledge capital of the country." Satya Narayanan, Chairman of CL Educate, said, "Disruptive entrepreneurs like Praveen and Shiva are the future. At CL, we would love to partner with the next generation of audacious youngsters. Accendere is in a high margin scalable business that is not easy to copy quickly. Private Universities form the core TG. The synergy with testprep is an add-on sweetener".

44 Website: Exams Watch URL: Date: Sept 12, 2015 CL Educate claims 51% stake in Education startup Accendere CL Educate Limited which is a renowned Education Services company and also famous for its erstwhile test prep brand Career Launcher has acquired 51 per cent stake in start-up Accendere Knowledge Management Services Pvt. Ltd for an undisclosed amount. The procurement will let Accendere tap in about 700 universities across India by leveraging CL Educate s national reach. Further it will help the universities and colleges in developing their individual research outputs in the fields of engineering, technology, medicine, arts and law thereby improving the academic standards of the institution. Satya Narayanan, Chairman of CL Educate, said, Disruptive entrepreneurs like Praveen and Shiva are the future. At CL, we would love to partner with the next generation of audacious youngsters. Accendere is in a high margin scalable business that is not easy to copy quickly. Private Universities form the core TG. The synergy with test prep is an add-on sweetener. Shiva and Praveen are the founders of Accendere. Shivaram holds a Ph.D. Degree in Nanotechnology and is a former visiting academic at University of Western Australia while the latter i.e. Praveen is an alumnus of IIM Lucknow. The next step in their business planning or managements is to offer its services in the International Market too and to from next year onwards. Further the chairman added, Accendere being one of the most admired Firm among the students and parents in advising them best in their higher educational choices abroad is also expected to that it will surely strengthen the presence of CL presence in the GRE, GMAT, SAT and admissions consulting business. In the views of Satya Narayanan, Accendere is in a high-margin scalable business that is not easy to copy quickly. Private universities form the core TG (target group). The synergy with test prep is an add-on sweetener. The major services sector in which Accendere operate is Concept Paper and Research Incubator. Moreover they offer several others services ranging from vertical specific workshops to research mentoring and guidance. CL Educate Limited is a provider of MBA test preparation courses. The fir through its subsidiary branch Kestone is also into certain recruitment, training and event management services for corporates.

45 Earlier this year in the month of April, CL Educate has planned its proposal initial public offer (IPO) and later withdrew the same to the securities market regulator for a public float. The proposed IPO was also to see its private equity backer Gaja Capital part-exit. In the year 2014 in the month of September CL Educate had filed its documents with market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for its IPO. At that point of time the issue size was pegged at around $40 million of which Gaja Capital and the company s promoters were to get close to half.

46 Publication: Hindustan Times Page: 21 Edition: All Date: Sept 30, 2015

47 Publication: Pune Mirror Page: 6 Edition: Pune Date: Oct 8, 2015