Parent Danacita Acquires Edtech Startup Doyobi

ErudiFi, startup parent which focuses on Danacita education financing, announced its acquisition of the platform edutech Doyobi. The amount of the acquisition value that was disbursed was not stated. It is known that both ErudiFi and Doyobi are portfolios Monk's Hill Ventures.

Based in Singapore, Doyobi is known for its gamification-based educational products aimed at children aged 8-16 years. Learners in it include various 21st century competencies, literacy and English. This startup was also one of the winners of the MIT Solve Octava Social Innovation Challenge.

"John and Penny [founder Doyobi] has dedicated the last several years at Doyobi to creating a product their customers love—a skill-enhancing tool that helps students master critical 21st century skills," said ErudiFi Co-Founder & CEO Naga Tan.

He continued, "We are thrilled to welcome them to the ErudiFi team as we work to deepen our school partnerships and bridge the education-to-work gap for our student borrowers. Their expertise will play a critical role in advancing our mission to expand access to education in region and realize our long-term goal of driving intergenerational impact.”

Meanwhile Doyobi Co-Founder John Tan said, "Our mission at Doyobi is to create engaging and impactful educational experiences for children. Joining ErudiFi will allow us to enhance this mission by connecting mastery of essential 21st century skills with career readiness, ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to thrive with appropriate access to education."

Apart from Danacita, ErudiFi also operates a platform fintech Bukas in the Philippines. In its work process, ErudiFi collaborates with universities and vocational schools to offer school fee installment packages to students and parents. Quoting its website, Danacita has served more than 27 thousand users, collaborated with 148 educational institutions, and distributed funds of more than 404 billion Rupiah.

Apart from Naga, ErudiFi was also founded by Ketty Lie and Susli Lie. However, as of the end of 2020, Susli was no longer active founder and shifted focus to VC by founding Moonshot Ventures impact funds. Simultaneously, he also currently serves as a Partner at Monk's Hill Ventures.

ErudiFi finally announced series A pendanaan funding in early 2021. The round, led by Monk's Hill Ventures and Qualgro, recorded an investment value of $5 million. This startup, which is part of the Y Combinator (W18) accelerator program, received initial funding from a number of investors, including Monk's Hill Ventures, Intudo Ventures, Y Combinator, Convergence Ventures, Patamar Capital, and several others. They debuted in 2017 in Indonesia, only starting to explore the Philippine market in April 2019.

In Indonesia there are several startups financing education. Apart from Danacita, there are DANAdidik, Pintek, KoinWorks, JULO, and EiduPay.