EuroKids

Sector: Preschool and K12 Education  |  HQ: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India  |  Founded: 2001  |  Employees: 2,000+

Listed as: Privately held  | 

Company overview

EuroKids International Private Limited is one of India's largest preschool chains, founded in 2001 by Prajodh Rajan and Vikas Phadnis in Mumbai. The company operates the EuroKids preschool brand across India with around 1,200 to 1,400 centres in over 350 cities, making it one of the largest organised preschool networks in the country. The group also operates Kangaroo Kids preschools at a premium price point, and EuroSchool which is a K12 chain providing the upgrade path from EuroKids preschool. EuroKids operates predominantly on a franchise model in which entrepreneurs across India open and operate centres under the EuroKids brand, paying franchise and royalty fees in exchange for curriculum, branding, training and operational support. A smaller number of centres are company owned. The EuroKids curriculum is built around the EUNOIA approach combining play, art, music, sports and academics for children between two and six years of age. The company has been backed by private equity investors including KKR which acquired a majority stake in 2018, and the latest round in 2024 saw further investor reshuffling.

Competitive position

EuroKids competes in India's organised preschool segment with Kidzee owned by Zee Learn, Tree House Education which was once listed and went into bankruptcy, Bachpan owned by S Group, Klay Schools targeting the premium urban segment, Shemrock and a long tail of regional chains and independent operators. EuroKids is among the largest two or three chains by centre count and is a clear leader in the mid premium segment. Its advantage is centre count scale, brand recognition built over two decades, the integrated K12 upgrade path through EuroSchool, and KKR backing providing capital and governance. Its disadvantage is the structural cost pressure on franchisees in increasing real estate cost cities and the discretionary nature of preschool fee spend.

Key risks

Franchisee execution variability and unit closures Discretionary education spend cyclicality Real estate cost inflation in metros and tier one cities

Outlook

EuroKids was founded in 2001 by Prajodh Rajan and Vikas Phadnis in Mumbai with the recognition that India's growing dual income urban and semi urban families needed structured early childhood education with better curriculum, infrastructure and branding than the unorganised playschools that dominated the market at the time. The brand was launched with a small number of centres and rapidly scaled through the franchise model that became the operational backbone. The franchise model is built around three revenue streams for the franchisor. Franchise fees paid upfront by entrepreneurs setting up EuroKids branded centres, royalty payments based on enrolment volumes, and central curriculum, training, materials and marketing services charged to franchisees. The corporate office manages brand standards, curriculum design, teacher training, marketing campaigns and franchisee performance reviews, while franchisees handle real estate, hiring, day to day operations and parent relationships. The EuroKids curriculum, branded EUNOIA, is structured around five pillars including academics, art and craft, music, sports and life skills. The curriculum is aligned with the principles of the National Curriculum Framework and the National Education Policy 2020 Foundational Stage approach. The brand has invested significantly in teacher training, periodic curriculum upgrades and parent communication tools. Kangaroo Kids, acquired by EuroKids group in 2017, sits at a premium price point with a more international curriculum positioning, serving urban premium families. EuroSchool is the K12 chain that provides the upgrade path from preschool to primary, middle and senior school, with schools across major Indian cities. KKR acquired a majority stake in EuroKids International in 2018 for an estimated ₹1,000 crore, providing the company with capital for further expansion and bringing institutional governance. Subsequent transactions in 2024 saw further investor changes with reports of Investcorp and others entering or exiting the cap table. Financials are not in the public domain because the company is unlisted and privately held. Trade press estimates suggest aggregate gross enrolment fees across the network are in the high hundreds of crore to low thousands of crore, with the franchisor capturing a share of that as franchise revenue. The company reports revenue at the franchisor level of a few hundred crore range. The COVID pandemic from 2020 to 2022 was a significant disruption with extended centre closures, parent reluctance to send young children to physical centres, and franchisee financial stress. The recovery from 2023 onwards has been strong with enrolments returning and in many cases exceeding pre pandemic levels. The National Education Policy 2020 has formalised the Foundational Stage of education that explicitly includes ages three to eight, providing a tailwind for preschools. The NCERT National Curriculum Framework for the Foundational Stage published in 2022 provides explicit curricular guidance. Several states have moved to include preschool under their school education frameworks. Strategy from 2025 to 2030 is built on three themes. First, deepening the franchise network in tier two and tier three cities where the addressable market is large and competition relatively fragmented. Second, scaling the EuroSchool K12 chain to provide a continuous education pathway from preschool through twelfth grade. Third, investing in digital learning content, parent communication apps, AI based learning aids and curriculum upgrades aligned with the NEP 2020 Foundational Stage framework. Selective acquisitions to consolidate the fragmented preschool market remain on the table. The regulatory environment for preschools in India is lighter than for K12 schools. Preschools are governed primarily by state level shop and establishment registrations, fire and safety regulations, child protection norms under the Juvenile Justice Act and the POCSO Act, and the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act in states where it has been extended to pre primary. The National Education Policy 2020 has identified the Foundational Stage as a focus area and the National Curriculum Framework for Foundational Stage published by NCERT provides curricular guidance. K12 schools under EuroSchool are subject to state government school education frameworks including affiliation with CBSE or state boards. Companies Act 2013 applies for governance of the corporate franchisor. Key risks include the cyclical sensitivity of discretionary education spend, franchisee execution variability across hundreds of independent operators, real estate cost inflation in growing cities, periodic regulatory tightening on child safety or fee regulation by individual states, and competition from international and domestic chains. The pandemic revealed a structural vulnerability to physical centre closures, although hybrid delivery has matured since. Management is led by Prajodh Rajan as group chief executive officer with a senior team across curriculum, franchise operations, marketing, technology and corporate functions. Governance reflects private equity backed company norms with an institutional board including investor representatives. ESG considerations are concentrated on child safety, teacher training quality, gender balance in the early childhood workforce which is heavily female dominated, and the long term societal benefit of expanding access to early childhood education.

KAMRIT point of view

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