Kaizen commits $10m to Vietnam's Yola

Yola was launched in 2009 by a team of US-educated founders and has 14 campuses in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi providing a blend of online and offline courses. The company focuses on English education services for children through adults, with a mix of preparation services for standardized tests such as IELTS, TOEFL, and SAT, along with programs focused on everyday English skills. It claims to have trained more than 30,000 students.

Kaizen is Yola’s second private equity backer; the company raised $4.9 million from Mekong Capital in 2017. Yola sees Kaizen, which invests exclusively in education businesses, as a strong partner for its expansion plans.

“We are impressed by the importance of education in Vietnamese culture, and the outstanding results that Vietnam has obtained in terms of school attendance, completion and student achievement,” said Kaizen founder Sandeep Aneja. “We expect the Vietnamese education sector to continue growing strongly over the next five years and are delighted to have YOLA become our first investment in the country.”

Kaizen is investing its second private equity fund, which launched in 2014 and reached a first close of $44 million in 2017. The firm’s first vehicle backed only India-based companies, but it expanded its remit to Southeast Asia with the second fund. Investments in the region include Phinma Education Holdings, the tertiary education arm of Philippines-based conglomerate Phinma.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Consumer
• Expansion
• Vietnam
• Kaizen
• Education
• Growth capital