Bangalore: Omidyar Network, an investment firm founded by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam, has invested in two Indian companies EnglishHelper and Akshara Foundation. It has made an undisclosed amount of investment for equity stake in EnglishHelper, a Delhi based English language training solutions company; and made a three-year grant to Akshara Foundation, a Bangalore based public charitable trust focused on education.

Mallika Singh, Omidyar Network, said, “EnglishHelper has developed an innovative, scalable and cost-efficient technology that addresses a multi-billion dollar global market for English language training.”

EnglishHelper was founded in June 2009 by a team led by Dr. Venkat Srinivasan, who formerly founded Rage Holdings, a business process automation platform, and eCredit.com, a provider of credit, financing and receivable management solutions for business. The software of the company, ReadToMe, enables a feature-rich reading and comprehension solution that includes the ability to pause while reading, look up unfamiliar words in the built-in dictionary, access a pronunciation guide and the ability to verbalize any type of content.

Sanjay Gupta, CEO Global, EnglishHelper, said, “We are excited about Omidyar Network’s support. It was important for us to bring on an investor who would not just match, but add to the ethos of our company.”

Akshara Foundation was founded in 2000 and has a range of programs that provide multiple solutions for universalizing elementary education. It develops child-centric programs based on extensive, careful analysis of the needs of students and teachers.

“Omidyar Network is proud to support Akshara Foundation and its programs. One of the many impressive aspects of Akshara is its philosophy of community ownership and community-driven solutions to address the challenges facing education in Karnataka,” said Surya Mantha, Investment Director at Omidyar Network.

Ashok Kamath, Chairman, Akshara Foundation, said, “We have been implementing quality programs to improve literacy for over a decade. We want to create a technology-based participative framework that will bring about systemic reform in the education system.”