Initially, the first thing that comes to mind is what does the word Ed-Tech mean? Therefore, the requirement to catch the details about Ed-Tech for a better understanding of the respective topic. EdTech is a combination of two words i.e., Education and Technology. Ed-tech startups are startups that use technology to make education easier for everyone. It refers to technology designed to enhance educational outcomes. During the lockdown schools and coaching classes had to depend on technology to continue teaching. Today we see startups using software like virtual reality, videos, automation and more to make education more engaging and more approachable. Interactive screens, Online classes and Massive Open Online Courses are all examples of EdTech.
The second biggest rising industry is India’s Ed-Tech industry in the world nowadays. It is one of the sectors that has seen rapid growth in the pandemic that is set to touch $3.2 billion by 2022. We’ve recently seen a lot of activity in the EdTech world. Almost all Edtech companies have seen a massive inflow of traffic. What’s more, EdTech companies are also hiring more and are investing more in their growth. The new generation is aware of the growing need for knowledge in the present competitive world. The ed-tech is helping learners to understand complex concepts easily, understanding the topics better through virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality and more fun. These EdTech companies are making it easier for students to prepare for their competitive examinations and these startups go on to show that anyone can learn if they want to. To make education truly interesting these Edtech startups in India are changing the Indian education landscape.
Let’s first discuss out the top Ed-Tech startups in India in 2020-21:
1. BYJU’S - The Learning App: This Ed-Tech startup was founded by Byju Raveendran and his wife Divya Gokulnath in Bangalore. These are the investors of BYJU’S; Bond, Tiger Global Management, General Atlantic, Owl Ventures, Qatar Investment Authority They have also collaborated with companies like Disney to make learning truly fun and become the household name for Education online. BYJU’S is the common name of the company Think and Learn Private Ltd. Started as a coaching class, Byju’s has grown into one of the top Ed-Tech companies in the world. They use engaging video lessons, personalized learner’s journeys, unlimited practice sessions and engaging questionnaires to make learning truly fun. BYJU’S covers a wide variety of classes starting from class 4 up to CAT or IAS test preps. online classes for UPSC, K3, K10, K12, CBSE NCERT, ICSE, IIT-JEE & NEET.
They also have a learning app for kids called ‘BYJU’S for Kids’ which focuses on early learning for kids in classes 1-3. They currently have more than 9,000 employees and a revenue of 520 crores INR. A few of their well-known subsidiaries are ‘WhiteHat Junior’ and ‘SPAN Thoughtworks Private Limited’.
2. Brainly - the homework app: This Ed-Tech startup was founded by Michal Borkowski, Lukasz Haluch, and Tomasz Kraus in 2009 in Poland. Three investors have invested in the Application, Runa Capital, Manta Ray, Naspers and Kulczyk Investments. Brainly is currently available in 35 countries. Brainly is the knowledge-sharing community where 200 million active students and experts come together to solve questions. It has answered over 50 million questions to date. If you
are stuck with a homework problem, brainly will help you solve it within minutes. Middle and high-school students, as well as their parents across India, have been leveraging Brainly’s platform to strengthen their skills in core academic subjects such as Math, Science, local languages like Hindi, and Social Studies. Their mantra is ‘No one knows everything, but everyone knows something!’.
3. CollegeDuniya – College Admission & Exam Alerts App: The platform was founded by Sahil Chalana in 2014. Gray Matters Capital and M Chandrasekaran are two of the investors of CollegeDuniya. CollegeDunia focuses on helping students get enough information about a tech-backed feature. This college search engine helps students find the right colleges for themselves. It collates information about higher education in India or abroad.
Since 2014, CollegeDunia has compiled authentic information of 27,000 colleges, 7000+ courses, 350+ exams of various streams. They’ve also collected 2,00,000 reviews about different colleges to help students make better decisions. Currently, they are focused on the growth of their mobile app as 38% of their traffic comes from there. CollegeDunia raised ₹1 crore in angel funds just after bootstrapping for six months.
4. CueMath – Mental Math & Number Games App: Cuemath company was founded by Manan Khurma (who is also an acclaimed writer with McGraw Hill publications) in 2013 as an after-school math enrichment program. Google, Sequoia India, Unitus Seed Fund, and Alok Mittal invested in this Ed-Tech company. They are one of the Edtech startups in India that focuses on gamified learning and has revolutionized the way math is perceived by both teachers and students. It has a ‘learn-by-doing’ approach. It also aims to promote ‘out of the box’ thinking and love for math among school children.
Cuemath also empowers women tutors and provides them with meaningful employment opportunities. Cuemath has over 1200 educators until the date of writing this article. The company has raised 5.5 million dollars in series B funding until 2019.
5. Doubtnut – NCERT Solutions, Free IIT JEE & NEET App: Company wasfounded in 2016 by Tanushree Gupta and Aditya Shankar at Haryana, India. Sequoia Capital, Waterbridge, Tencent holdings and Omidyar Network India are some of the investors of Doubtnut. In January 2020, the company raised 15 million in series A funding. Doubtnut is one of the Ed-Tech startups in India that makes it easier to learn a language. This online multilingual learning app makes use of cutting-edge technology to solve students' queries. All you have to do is click a photo of your query, and Doubtnut will present a video solution within seconds. Doubtnut makes use of NLP and image recognition in the field of AI to achieve this. It can currently answer questions in 11 Indian languages, making it extremely popular in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities.