India is home to more than 1.6 Mn primary and secondary schools, 37,204 colleges and more than 789 universities. There are approx. 3,500 edtech startups. These small number of edtech startups have brought forward a technological revolution.
Technologies like AR, VR, blockchain, and STEM (Science Technology Engineering Maths) Labs have been able to convince teachers and parents, that the products offered by edtech startups in India can be a part of the learning mechanism of a student.
In Tier 1 cities of India, one can even find reputed schools integrating the smart learning into the regular curriculum for the overall development of the students from various digital education companies in India. There are edtech SaaS startups which are trying to ease off the troubles around admission in colleges as well as the enrollment process of the competitive exams.
The Indian edtech segment is expected to be a $1.96 Bn market by 2021. The investors have not been able to stay away for long from the growing opportunity. In 2014 edtech startups raised $32.64 Mn funding across 32 deals. In 2018 edtech startups received close to $700 Mn in funding across 56 deals.
The Edtech sector has only a few high profile successes. BYJU’S massive $500 Mn funding round in 2018 and Toppr’s $35 Mn funding were the 2 only big-ticket funding in this segment last year. But along with them, there are many others who are doing an impressive job. We have compiled a list of seven such edtech startups. Here it goes!
1.Leverage Edu
Leverage Edu, started off as a college admission platform has grown to a full stack marketplace in the last one year. It uses AI to help students in their careers through mentorship products, end-to-end college admissions guidance, programmes to help get first-job ready, as well as one-to-one virtual career advisory for multiple career streams.
They help students with scholarships, educational loans, help on housing, forex/VISA, through multiple global partnerships.
Leverage Edu currently boasts of more than 750 mentors from Ivy League universities among others along with experience centres such as Apple, Goldman Sachs etc among others. It is currently serving 12x more students per month as compared to last year.
2.NoPaperForms
NoPaperForms is a SAAS based enrolment automation solution which aims to fundamentally transform the admission process in the educational institutions worldwide.
It helps institutions to increase their outreach, enhance recruitment efforts, increase customer service offerings, and improve end results and claims to make the entire admission process 100% transparent.
As of now, the company has partnered with more than 192 institutions and have handled 350K+ queries with 1.2 Mn+ applications received. The company’s valuation increased by around 500% in a year’s time to INR 100 Cr ($13.9 Mn) when it raised its Series B funding in December 2018 from the existing investor – Info Edge India Ltd.
The company posted INR 3.13 Cr ($438K) in FY18 and now is poised to post revenue growth of 4X. They aim to onboard 400 institutions by the end of the session. They are currently working on bringing disruption in the way Students apply & institutions verify credentials.
Suraj Sapra, the chief strategy officer at NoPaperForms aims to process 30-35 Mn applications by 2020.
3.Quizizz
Spread across their California and Bangalore offices, Quizizz combines game-design elements and helps teachers turn homework and tests into self-paced games as well as give instant feedback to help students learn for mastery. Teachers can use their own content and also can choose from millions of educator-created quizzes. Students can engage from any device of their choice. Different Quizizz game modes let students play as a group and complete assignments anywhere they like.
In August 2018, the company hit the 10 Mn user mark and the solution was well adopted in US-based schools.
4.Smartivity
Smartivity is working in the area of Science Technology Engineering Math (STEM) education. They aim to make a difference through innovative learning using technologies like augmented and Virtual Reality, Robotics, collaborated Learning activities, and Tangible Play innovations.
It caters to the education requirements of children in the age group of 3-14-year old and introduces them to core STEM fundamentals through plug and play. For instance, with its virtual reality product VRX, students studying in class 9 and 10 will be able to access virtual reality experiences designed to understand complex concepts in Physics, Chemistry, and Biology.
In June 2018, the company was working around launching 24 new STEM educational Do-It-Yourself toys by next month.
By 2018, Smartivity entered a number of international markets including China, Australia retail, Russia, MENA, and South East Asia.
In 2019, they will be further expanding to South Korea, Japan, Latin America, Western Europe and China. They are looking to launch three new lines of products in India in the near future. With a growing international presence, the team is also aiming at increasing its revenue over 3x in the coming years.
Read Related Article: Opportunities in Edtech
5.Toppr
Toppr is scaling up rapidly, expanding the geographical footprint and accelerating user acquisition. The company offers adaptive learning courses for classes V to XII and also for competitive exams such as JEE.
Toppr is one of the first movers in the Indian edtech segment.
It boasts of metrics of:
- 4 Mn doubts solved
- 3 Mn tests taken
- Over 300 Mn questions practiced
It claims to have grown its revenue 2x in the last two months. Toppr gets around 40% of its business from senior classes, and 60% from the junior and middle classes. Revenue by 2021 is projected to be more than $500 Mn.
6.Unacademy
Unacademy was initially launched as a YouTube Channel in 2010 by Gaurav Munjal. In 2015, it was officially registered as an educational technology platform when cofounders Roman Saini and Hemesh Singh came on board.
As an online learning platform, it aims to empower educators to create courses on various subjects. It hosts more than two lakh lessons in more than 10 Indian languages. Some of India’s top-educators such as Kiran Bedi, India’s first woman IPS officer and now the governor of Pondicherry curate content for the Unacademy platform.
With a network of more than 10,000 registered teachers and 3 Mn learners, Unacademy is growing rapidly. They are also scaling to other categories including personality development, new languages and job interviews.
7.upGrad
upGrad aims to empower working professionals and individuals to reach their full professional potential. They do this by providing them with university education online through structured and rigorous programs and facilities.
upgrad targets working professionals looking to get back to learning in order to further progress in their careers, without quitting their jobs. upGrad has assembled a team with extensive experience in education, media, and technology products, for this purpose.
In October 2018, they acquired Acadview Software Pvt Ltd, an online job skilling platform for undergraduates. With this acquisition, the online higher education company is venturing into bridging the employability gap.
For the financial year 2018-19, upGrad is looking for yearly revenue of around INR 150 Cr – INR 200 Cr.
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