In its first institutional financing, online education portal Pagalguy.com is planning to raise about $15-20 million (₹93-124 crore) from Private Equity (PE) funds and Venture Capital firms in exchange for a minority stake.

The company will use the proceeds for recruitment of additional personnel, building up infrastructure and marketing needs.

“We think this is the appropriate time and we are now actively looking at raising capital. We will dilute an insignificant minority stake, which would depend on the valuation of the company,” Pagalguy Chief Executive Officer Allwin Agnel said.

“We are a profitable company until now,” Agnel added, but did not divulge the financial details. Pagalguy.com has appointed Altfort Capital as the banker for the fund-raising.

The portal founded as a hobby in 2002 by Agnel, a Wharton alumnus, was later set up as a company in 2006. It became profitable in the same year.

It will also use the fund to upgrade technology to provide large-scale online courses. The company would use the proceeds to increase its employee headcount to about 300 from the present 40 personnel within the first year of the fund-raising.

For the PE firms, the exit would be secondary sale (PEs selling to another PE) or an initial public offering at “some point in time,” he added.

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