Singapore-based Northstar Group has invested US$50 million in Topica Edtech Group, a technology education company headquartered in Ha Noi with more than 1,700 employees.

This is the largest investment in an online education company in Southeast Asia.

Current investors in Topica Edtech Group include Openspace Ventures, Patamar Capital, CyberAgent Ventures, EduLab Group and IDG Ventures.

The Topica Edtech Group offers online English classes, with more than 2,000 short courses using English language video tutorials and a platform that allows 12 universities in Southeast Asia to offer training programmes and issue online certifications.

The Topica group, which was established in 2008, is also operating a number of development programmes for businesses.

Northstar Group is managing more than $2 billion in committed equity capital dedicated tocompanies in Indonesia and, to a lesser extent, other countries in Southeast Asia. It has a track record of growing the businesses of its companies over its investment horizon.

Since its founding in 2003, Northstar Group has raised four private equity funds and invested in more than 30 companies across the banking, insurance, consumer retail, manufacturing, oil and gas, coal and mining services, technology, telecom and agribusiness sectors. — VNS