Credenc, an education lending platform for higher education, has announced that it has acquired ObserveNow, a new-age digital content platform.
Through this deal, Credenc will further solidify relationships across all verticals of the company by consolidating ObserveNow’s extensive media network, brand partners, and marketing experts, according to a press release. The association with ObserveNow will help in creating new business avenues for Credenc by reaching out to colleges and students across India, the education loan firm said in a press statement.
The deal is also a step towards achieving Credenc’s aims to build a loan book of Rs 3,000 crore by 2025 and enable more education loans.
While ObserveNow will continue to work as an independent digital content arm within the Credenc group, the deal marks Credenc’s entry into new verticals.
Founded in 2019, ObserveNow has created immense value across diverse verticals including human resources, education, healthcare, startups, and technology across India and Southeast Asia. In such a short span of time, the company has built a base of more than 85 clients, 800+ articles and more than 500 live stories, virtual summits, video interview series, leadership talks, celebrity digital campaigns, and built a network of 75,000+ corporate leaders across these verticals.
Commenting on the acquisition, Mayank Batheja, Co-founder of Credenc, said,
“Today marks a pivotal moment for Credenc as we welcome team ObserveNow on board. ObserveNow has done commendable work in the last two years in the education space and human resources. We are determined to raise the bar on providing financial assistance to students and working professionals across India.”
Credenc, founded by Avinash Kumar and Mayank Batheja in 2017, works as a digital finance desk of 1000+ colleges across 17 cities in India. The startup is disrupting the domestic higher education financing market with its future income prediction model which ensures the best students of the country are not starved for funds for their higher education. It currently offers education loans covering K-12 school fees, online upskilling courses, higher education as well as study abroad courses at the click of a button. Credenc had earlier said that it is developing the entire student education ecosystem to help students and parents with credit, accommodation, employability, savings, forex, and investments on a mobile app.
In July this year, Credenc raised $25 million in mixed equity and debt from finance company Capital India to build a loan book of INR 3,000 Crore by 2025 and enable more education loans. Prior to that, the Delhi-based fintech startup had raised $2.5 million in a seed funding round in October 2019 led by investment firm Omidyar Network India with participation from other investors including EMV Capital, Better Capital, and Indian Institute of Management – Kozhikode (IIMK) Alumni Fund.