Gray Matters invests in Delhi start-ups

US-based impact investment firm Gray Matters Capital has invested a total of $375,000 (about Rs 2.8 crore) in three companies under its edLABS initiative. With an $8-million corpus, edLABS funds early-stage enterprises in education. Gray Matters put money in Delhi-based education financing marketplace GyanDhan ($125,000 or Rs 88 lakh), Hyderabad-based English language training organisation Ignis Careers ($150,000 - Rs 1.12 crore) and Cuttack-based social enterprise providing 'School-in-a-Box' solution ThinkZone ($104,000 - Rs 73 lakh). Smita Sircar, innovations director at edLABS, said: “GyanDhan, Ignis Careers and ThinkZone are catering to the immediate needs of learners as well as enabling them for 21st century relevant skills. These enterprises are combining the expertise and passion for change which these entrepreneurs have, with a deep understanding of the lived realities and aspirations of the local low-income markets, to build solutions that are affordable and contextual while blending technology with a human touch to enable ease of adoption. “We hope that these three investments from edLABS show paths to shake up the existing inertia in the system as local solutions are put into adaptive blueprints for replication across.”