Budget 2019: The high point of higher education in India
Budget 2019-20: The NEP will help India increase its global
presence by stressing on areas like research and innovation, as also
setting up world-class institutions.
Sentiments across the education sector have been primarily positive post Budget announcements.
Increased fund allocation to schools (12.8%) and higher education (14.3%) is commendable.
In fact, at Rs 400 crore, the allocation is over three times revised estimates for last year.
Anil Nagar
Budget 2019 India: Sentiments across the education sector have been
primarily positive post Budget announcements. Increased fund allocation
to schools (12.8%) and higher education (14.3%) is commendable. In fact,
at Rs 400 crore, the allocation is over three times revised estimates
for last year.
As the finance minister noted, five years ago, India was nowhere in
the top-200 world university rankings. However, thanks to initiatives
like GYAN, three of its institutions, including two IITs and IISc
Bangalore, have made it to the list.
Focus on research: The NEP will help India increase its global
presence by stressing on areas like research and innovation, as also
setting up world-class institutions. This will supplement its plans to
promote ‘Study in India’ programme and attract foreign students. The
government plans to present a draft legislation for setting up the
Higher Education Commission of India. Then there is the proposal to
establish the National Research Foundation.
Skill development: Considering the evolution of technology and the
nature of jobs, demographic trends point towards skill shortages in the
future. The government will focus on imparting practical working
knowledge to professionals in innovative technologies such as AI, big
data, 3D printing, robotics, etc.
Edtech industry: As more and more start-ups are entering edtech
space, there is a proposal of a new channel under the Doordarshan
bouquet to provide a platform to them to disseminate information.
But the government has overlooked a few issues that have been
restricting educators and students from realising their full potential.
Edtech industry expected the government to scrap GST on online video
tutorials (18%) and on e-books (5%). However, the Budget did not mention
any change in this area. A revision in rates coupled with measures to
empower the edtech industry will provide a fillip to the economy. It
remains to be seen when will the government take these steps.
The author is founder & CEO, Adda247, a preparation platform for government exams
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 8:07 AM on Monday, July 15th, 2019
During a press conference held earlier today at the Lalit hotel in Delhi India, the company and National Skills Development Corporation (“NSDCâ€) officially launched their partnership to support skilling India.
Through this partnership, NSDC and betterU will provide the opportunity for Indian youth to gain global access to all the learning they need
OTTAWA, July 15, 2019 — betterU Education Corp. (TSX VENTURE: BTRU, Frankfurt: 5OG) (the “Companyâ€) is pleased to announce, during a press conference held earlier today at the Lalit hotel in Delhi India, the company and National Skills Development Corporation (“NSDCâ€) officially launched their partnership to support skilling India. betterU, a global education-to-employment platform, based out of Ottawa, Canada has set out to transform the overall skill development ecosystem across emerging markets like India. Through this partnership, NSDC and betterU will provide the opportunity for Indian youth to gain global access to all the learning they need. The Company’s business model was designed to continually add global content and methods of delivery to support all types of learning for graduates, seasoned employees, and corporates amongst others.
During the media conference, betterU also announced the launch of
their Mobile App and Upskill Engine that will put the world’s education
in the hands of anyone across India and help support efforts for
individualized learning.
This collaboration is in line with the Government’s vision to upskill
the youth of India. This goes hand in hand with India’s plan to
transform the complete Indian educational system and focus on bridging
the skills gap, which was announced at the Union Budget, 2019 by the
Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Commenting on the
association, Dr. Manish Kumar, MD & CEO of NSDC
said, “NSDC is focused on solutions that add value to high-quality
skills development and vocational training across India. We believe our
partnership with betterU could significantly contribute towards our
common objectives of skill development. We look forward to working
closely with betterU in the coming months for the betterment of our
Indian youth.â€
betterU in partnership with NSDC will also work to integrate and
collaborate with other NSDC solutions, technologies and partners to
build and provide a more comprehensive system. Additionally, this
partnership will help drive more collaborations across the industry
sectors and betterU’s ecosystem. Brad Loiselle, President and CEO, betterU
explained, “We believe that education is the foundation for personal
growth, which then increases the success of the household and ultimately
the economy as a whole. There are still many obstacles to overcome and
with so many industries, each requiring various skills, betterU has
developed a solution that sources what is required. The overall
challenge is that most educators are focused on a specific type of
learner, type of content, type of target audience. Millions of variables
cannot be supported by individual educators. betterU’s goal is to
provide education support for everyone.â€
With the objective to connect quality online education from leading
global educators to the mass population of India, betterU focuses on
developing an ecosystem that bridges the gap between education and jobs
by providing the tools necessary to prepare prospective Indian learners
for the jobs they want. betterU’s leadership has been travelling the
world, speaking at conferences, and working to bring together global
educators onto one platform, which is required to support mass education
and skilling.
“For equalized education for all, we require one education platform
where we can work collectively to support not only individual learners
but the entire Indian youth system. We believe that betterU, with the
right partners, can drive growth across all industries. This partnership
with NSDC will help us achieve positive results for the masses and
bridge the skills gap,†Loiselle added.
About National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC)
NSDC is one of its kind public-private-partnership with an objective
to facilitate skill training in partnership with private training
providers. To date, NSDC has approved 400+ training providers and 38
Sector Skill Councils, with a geographical spread of 7,000+ training
centres in 600+ districts across the country. NSDC has trained more than
1.4 crore people across sectors.
About betterU
betterU, a global education to employment platform, aims to provide
access to quality education from around the world to foster growth and
opportunity to those who want to better their lives. The company plans
to bridge the prevailing gap in the education and job industry and
enhance the lives of its prospective learners by developing an
integrated education to employment ecosystem. betterU’s offerings can be
categorized into several broad functions: to complement school programs
with flexible preschool, KG-12 programs preparing children for next
stage of education, to provide access to global and localized
educational programs from leading educators, to foster an exceptional
educational environment by providing befitting skills that lead to a
better career, to bridge the gap between one’s existing education and
prospective job requirement by training them and lastly, to connect the
end user to various job opportunities. betterU today has partnered with
over 75 global educators, representing access to over 53,000 programs.
It is developing technology and ongoing more partners required to
support the growing education needs of the world.
On behalf of the Board of Directors, betterU Education Corp. Brad Loiselle, CEO
According to a report by Google and KPMG, the online education market has the potential to touch $1.96 billion by 2021, as everyone-from school-going students to MBA aspirants to CXOs of multinational corporations-is a potential learner.
Aditya Malik
From a very young age, students are conditioned to attend
brick-and-mortar establishments that still have a highly theoretical
exam-driven system, where the emphasis is on scoring marks, not on
gaining knowledge or understanding its application in the real world.
This diminishes their potential. However, for the past decade, Edtech
has been changing things for the better. It has had a revolutionary
impact on the education landscape, helping education spread to the
farthest corners of the globe. Edtech start-ups are fulfilling the needs
of the new generation of learners, who are seeking experiential and
interactive courses that facilitate authentic, practical skill
development.
The Rise of Edtech
Edtech start-ups, especially proÂminent players such as BYJU’s, Toppr
and Eruditus, have attracted a significant amount of investor
attention. Other players are growing inorganically, investing in
strategic Indian Edtech to add newer markets and course domÂains.
According to a report by Google and KPMG, the online education market
has the potential to touch $1.96 billion by 2021, as everyone-from
school-going students to MBA aspirants to CXOs of multinational
corporations-is a potential learner.
The Growth Graph
The evolution of communication, cheaper internet, gamification,
artificial intelligence and machine learning-powered platÂforms are the
drivers of the changing face of global education and the democratisation
of education. The mobility revolution has also given wings to the
Edtech industry. Educators are now using smartphones as tools for
imparting knowledge. Real-time updates, interactive curriculums, online
tutoring and edutainment are some of the methods Edtech companies use to
broaden their reach. Technological innovations are also enabling these
firms to reach Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities-it has become possible to
provide HD-quality educational videos even at internet speeds of
512kbps, ensuring that students in places with lower internet bandwidth
also have access to the best educators in the world.
The future is exciting for Edtech companies. With their immense scope
for technological innovation, they are creating modern learning
experiences for the new generation of students-who require skill
development over all else.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 2:00 PM on Thursday, July 11th, 2019
Over the last 10 weeks, BetterU (BTRU:TSXV) has issued a string of news releases regarding clients, partnerships, financing and personnel that strongly indicate the Company’s online education marketplace in India is on the cusp of hitting its commercialization stage. July 15, 2019 may very well turn out to be the day BTRU hit the start gun, with a massive national ad campaign set to launch along with their partner NSDC (“National Skills Development Corporation”).
NSDC is a public/private partnership under the government of India whose mandate is the creation of skills development and vocational training. With upwards of 150 million people across 38 industries requiring skill training, the task is a daunting one for NSDC who now believes “a formal partnership would enable the advancement of our collective efforts towards skilling India” (Manish Kumar, MD & CEO, NSDC).
Is this just another partnership? The size of the July 15 launch says otherwise, with $600,000 being allocated to print, radio and digital throughout India. Moreover, BTRU will be launching its App to coincide with the launch, which will allow Indian citizens to assess their skills sets and needs, then select the right courses to learn the skills necessary to fill jobs throughout India.Â
Watch BTRU CEO, Brad Loiselle, talk more about this ground breaking partnership, the technology behind it and what it could mean for BTRU. George
India’s Byju’s raises $150 million to expand globally
Byju’s, India’s most valuable edtech startup, has received new $150 million as it races to expand the reach of its learning app in the country and some international markets.
Byju’s, India’s most valuable edtech startup, has received new $150
million as it races to expand the reach of its learning app in the
country and some international markets.
The unnamed financing round was led by Qatar Investment Authority
(QIA), the sovereign wealth fund of the State of Qatar, and included
participation from Owl Ventures, a leading investor in education tech
startups. This is Owl Venture’s first investment in an Indian startup. A
person familiar with the matter said the new round valued Byju’s at
$5.75 billion, up from nearly $4 billion last year.
The startup, which has raised about $925 million to date, said it
would use the fresh capital to aggressively explore and expand in
international markets. The startup has previously said it plans to enter
the U.S. and UK, Australia, and New Zealand.
Byju’s helps all school-going children understand complex subjects
through its app where tutors use real life objects such as pizza and
cake. It also prepares students who are pursuing under graduate and
graduate level courses. Over the years, Byju’s has invested in tweaking
the English accents in its app and adapted to different education
systems. It has amassed more than 35 million registered users, about 2.4
million of which are paid customers.
“Investment from prominent sovereign and pension funds validates our
strong business fundamentals. Indian ed-tech firms attracting interest
from eminent investors demonstrates that India is pioneering the digital
learning space globally,†Byju Raveendran, founder and CEO of Byju’s,
said in a statement.
In India, Byju’s competes with a handful of players, including
Bangalore-based Unacademy, which is aimed at students who are preparing
for graduation-level courses. It raised $50 million last month.
India has the largest population in the world in the age bracket of 5
to 24 years. A report by KPMG and Google in 2017 estimated that the
country’s online education market would grow to $1.96 billion of sales
by 2021.
Byju’s generated around $205 million in revenue in the fiscal year
that ended in March. It plans to increase that figure to over $430
million this year. Raveendran has stated that the startup intends to go
public in the next two to three years.
Rediscovering Better Educated India by Uplifting Rural Education
The rural education framework is crucial for absorbing technological innovations, with the help of education technology.
Children will develop sound reasoning of what is good and what is bad and which also makes them self-reliant.
Ritesh Rawal Contributor
As we know the huge demographic of India still belongs to rural
villages, therefore, education in India is of utmost importance. A
survey called the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), Indicates
that although the number of rural students attending schools is rising,
but on average. Among 14-18-year-olds surveyed by the ASER teams, only
43per cent could solve a class IV mathematics problem. This amount was
unevenly the same among 14 to 18-year-olds, displaying that the problem
of low learning outcomes was not resolved by remaining in schools. More
than 40 per cent could not find their state on a map of India.
Twenty-seven per cent of 14-year-olds and 21pe cent of 18-year-olds
could not read a Class II textbook in the regional language, and more
than 40per cent in each age group could not read a simple sentence in
English.
However, World Data Lab estimates that the number of Indian living on
less than $ 1.90 has fallen from 306 million in 2011 to some 70 million
until today; on the contrary, more than 27 per cent of the country’s
youth are still excluded from education and hardly have access to it.
There are so many mindsets that pose a hindrance to the Indian Education
System. Hence, pursuing a professional degree will only be fruitful if
the basic necessity of primary education is fulfilled.
All of these cumulatively hint at the fact that there is indeed
something that is wrong with the Indian education system. This article
throws light at some of the ways in which we can bring about a change by
improving the education system.
Infrastructure
As in every other sector, the Indian education sector is one that
suffers from the acute death of infrastructure. Most of the government
schools in rural India do not even have proper chairs, tables,
restrooms, let alone a playground, libraries, and laboratories. Thus,
the first step in revamping the education scene in the country should
begin with improving the infrastructure so that the students are given
an environment where they can learn to the best of their abilities.
Educating the Parents
First mostly the people in rural India are not educated enough that
is why they don’t encourage their children to get an education. In the
India scenario most of the time it is parents are the ones who force
their children toward the career they won’t like. Thus, to prevent such a
thing from happening, the first step that must be taken is to educate
the parents about the different career options that are available to the
students and the possible scope of future in them.
Training Teachers
India has a very good quality of dedicated teachers. However, the sad
fact is that in rural India they receive little no training after they
joined the service, giving them periodic training will not only ensure
that they are updated with the changing trends, but will also help to
rediscover the entire education ecosystem of the country by leaps and
bound.
Technological Advancement
The rural education framework is crucial for absorbing technological
innovations, with the help of education technology. Children will
develop sound reasoning of what is good and what is bad and which also
makes them self-reliant. Low-cost computers need to be manufactured for
students to afford in rural areas. Free internet services and smart
classes, eBooks should be offered in government schools, teaching can be
made more interactive with the use of digital methods such as PPTs,
video presentations, e-learning methods, practical demos, online
training, and other digital methods or platforms.
Transformation through Elementary Skills
Since the rural students are taught English in a theory style, their
grasp of the language has remained abysmal this is one of the key
reasons why some rural children lag in education. There is a disparity
among urban and rural children when it comes to elementary skill
development. Integration of technology into education to encourage rural
students to develop elementary skills would empower them to deal with
daily life challenges in a better way.
Skill-based Learning
Indian education system lacks the skill-based learning approach, as
of now, the Indian education system is designed in such a way that
students are imparted what schools want to feed, not what they want to
learn. If this system can be revamped to identify the strengths of a
student, then they can be given appropriate training in the chosen
field. This will ensure that the child shines in that particular field.
“Blaming each other won’t help in providing quality education, but addressing the issues would surely hit the bull’s eyeâ€
“Employees in India are looking forward to picking up new-age skills to make themselves more relevant in the current workforce. upGrad’s highly engaging online learning solution along with CohortPlus’s deep penetration in the community of Data Scientists and Product Managers, will allow us to reach a much larger and relevant audience,†Ronnie Screwvala and Mayank Kumar, Co-founders, upGrad said in a joint statement, published by yourstory.
Bengaluru-based CohortPlus was founded by Srinivasan Narayan
in 2015. It is an online community, which brings together like-minded
career aspirants on a single community platform, where they can network
with each other, ask and clarify doubts, and be abreast of the latest
events in the field of data science and product management.
Members can post their questions and get various perspectives from
industry professionals and can also get assistance for job interviews.
While, upGrad was founded by Ronnie Screwvala, Mayank Kumar, Phalgun Kompalli, and Ravijot Chugh
in 2015. It has introduced 35 programmes in areas such as data science,
technology, and management, and has a paid learner base of 13,000.
On the other hand, according to the Talent Supply Indes (TSI) by
Belong, India has seen more than 400 per cent rise in demand for data
science professionals across varied industry sectors at a time when the
supply of such talent is witnessing a slow growth.
Govt must help unleash the massive potential of EdTech in India
A fraught public education system in India presents a variety of
opportunities for EdTech market players to enter with the promise of
customisation and efficiency.
Indian Education Technology (EdTech) solutions are being recognised globally
India’s very own EdTech unicorn Byju’s has spent $120m on Osmo — a US play-based learning start-up.
As the global education and training market is expected to be at $10 trillion by 2030, technology will change the way education systems are perceived, accessed, and utilized.
Aditi Bhutoria
Indian Education Technology (EdTech) solutions are being recognised
globally, with four of the nation’s start-ups being selected as a part
of 30 global finalists for the ‘Next Billion EdTech Prize 2019’ awarded
by UK-based Varkey Foundation. India’s very own EdTech unicorn Byju’s
has spent $120m on Osmo — a US play-based learning start-up. As the
global education and training market is expected to be at $10 trillion
by 2030, technology will change the way education systems are perceived,
accessed, and utilised.
With the largest young demography in the world that is getting
increasingly mobile-friendly and technologically connected, the Indian
EdTech market has a huge opportunity at hand. Indian start-ups can be at
the centre of this technological change, driving innovation to help a
young nation reach its demographic potential.
A fraught public education system in India presents a variety of
opportunities for market players to enter with the promise of
customisation and efficiency. Distortions in the schooling systems, such
as weak teacher incentives or outdated pedagogies, undermine student
learning and much of the impact of increasing existing educational
spending.
Here, technology-assisted innovations designed to address these
distortions are making quality teaching accessible for all, raising
learning levels, and increasing test scores, at a low cost. Moreover,
the present EdTech start-ups are striving to make ‘learning fun’ despite
different distractions surrounding students.
The disruptive innovation in this space is to encourage voluntary
self-learning rather than crammed or forced learning that focuses on
rote memorisation. Personalised e-learning solutions including
step-by-step learning methods, animated graphics, or blended teaching
approaches are making hard concepts easier to understand.
Favourable investment regulations support capital flows, with 100 per
cent foreign direct investment permissible in the Indian education
sector, protecting it from the plausible sickness of over-governance.
The EdTech market, thus, functions as an economic system where supply
and demand regulate its dealings. Such a market is characterised by
freedom of choice and free enterprise. Private entrepreneurs are free to
sell teaching-learning goods and services to a target groups of their
choice. Learners (or consumers) are free to buy those goods and services
that best satisfy their wants and needs. However, what drives this
space is competition. Competition ensures greater quality and lower
prices for education courses or products for the learners.
In such a market, China has emerged as a leader with an establishment
of 97 new unicorn companies in 2018 alone. The reasons could be that
Chinese parents are apprised about the importance of education, the
country has a massive population, and there is strong government
support. While India is similar to China in terms of having benefits of
demography and scale, the market conditions and government support
levels in our country are different.
On the supply side, the most nagging barrier to growth in the Indian
EdTech market is that undertaking new ventures or sustaining existing
ones remains costly. There are fixed costs to entry and the returns to
education can be small in the short-run, with benefits only reaped in
the medium- and long-run. For instance, the Indian EdTech industry has
about 3,500 companies operating at present with only around 274 backed
by investors. Of these, only 52 ventures have received cumulated funding
of greater than $1 million. This presents a starkly different business
landscape compared to our Chinese neighbours.
Education has positive externalities, which means that gains from the
education of a child or adult accrues not only to them but also to
other members of their family, society, and nation. Thus, a conducive
policy can focus not just on providing financial impetus to EdTech
ventures but also improving the productivity of educational investment,
through non-pecuniary support such as entrepreneurial training, strong
mentoring, or recognition.
Further, the multi-faceted nature of the Indian EdTech market has to
be studied in detail to differentiate between different types of
products, value created, and impacts of the same. For instance, EdTech
is not just e-learning; e-learning is only a small part of a very
diverse sector.
Overall, the B2B (business-to-business) EdTech market in India is
fragmented with buyers like government, high-budget and
affordable-private schools all functioning under varied regulations.
If the government can leverage on its public-school ecosystem to be
more open towards smart solutions and better integrate
technologically-driven learning opportunities for students, there can be
a shift in how EdTech is perceived by the society and would drastically
improve the existing market opportunities.
Finally, research and evaluation should be planned and used to make
evidence-based decisions on: which EdTech solutions work and which
don’t? As a way ahead, initiatives such as StartUp India can provide
increased emphasis on EdTech start-ups that are solving the most
challenging education problems in a cost-effective manner. Further,
integration of AI with education has already been recognised in the
current government’s vision; but AI solutions in education need to be
constructively expanded and rigorously tested.
Overall, with the stage being set through diverse offerings of
innovative products by the Indian EdTech industry, the government must
take the initiative to sustain these innovations so as to unleash its
massive social and economic potential.
Aditi Bhutoria is assistant professor, Public Policy and
Management Group, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. Views are
personal.
Unacademy, an online learning platform, has raised $50 million Series D funding round
from Steadview Capital, Sequoia India, Nexus Venture Partners and Blume
Ventures. Aakrit Vaish, co-founder of tech firm Haptik and Sujeet
Kumar, co-founder of business-to-business online marketplace Udaan also
participated in the round, along with Unacademy founders, Gaurav Munjal and Roman Saini.
“By leveraging technology and
high-quality educators, we aim to move closer to our mission of
democratising education at all levels, starting with test prep,†said
Gaurav Munjal, co-founder and chief executive of Unacademy. “We are seeing unprecedented growth and engagement from learners in smaller towns and cities, and are also very humbled to see that top-quality educators are choosing Unacademy as their primary platform to reach out to students.â€
The company now has more than 400 top educators from
across the country taking live classes every day on Unacademy Plus.
This is available to every student, irrespective of their location said
the company.
Unacademy recently launched its Plus Subscription, and since its launch, more than 50,000 learners have
subscribed to Unacademy Plus. The firm said this service is available
for more than 20 exam categories and provides students unlimited access
to live courses by top educators across the country. Learners get
a personalised live learning experience that is augmented by
doubt-clearing sessions with the educators, interactive classes and live
test series. More than 600 live classes are conducted every day by the
educators on Plus who teach from all across the country.
“Unacademy is a very meaningful ed-tech company in the making and
Sequoia India is excited to invest signiï¬cantly in this round,” said
Shailendra Singh, managing director, Sequoia Capital (India) Singapore.
“We were thrilled with how rapidly Gaurav (Munjal) and the team
converted some of our collective product brainstorming sessions into an
amazing live-streaming product and a subscription business for the test
prep market,†said Singh.
Unacademy was founded by Gaurav Munjal, Roman Saini and Hemesh Singh
in 2015. The firm said the platform empowers educators by making it easy
for them to create high-quality educational lessons on the Educator
App, that learners access via the Learning App. The platform currently
has more than 10,000 registered educators and 13 million learners. The
company had previously raised a Series C round of $21 million in July
2018 from Sequoia India, SAIF Partners, Nexus Venture Partners, and
others. In October 2018, Unacademy acquired Jaipur-based online education and career portal Wiï¬study, one of the fastest growing education YouTube channels in the world.
The company said it has the largest distribution for educational
videos on its free platform and YouTube and Unacademy lessons have more
than 100 million monthly views across these platforms. Unacademy’s
YouTube channels currently have more than 11 million subscribers,
according to the company.
The global online education market
is projected to reach a total market size of $286.62 billion by 2023,
increasing from $159.52 billion in 2017, according to the report titled
‘Global Online Education Market.’
In March this year, another edtech company
Byju’s raised an additional funding of $31 million in a financing round
led by US-based growth equity investor General Atlantic (GA), along
with Chinese internet giant Tencent. The investment took the valuation
of Byju’s to over $5 billion, from $3.6 billion when it raised $540
million in a funding round led by South African conglomerate Naspers in
December last year.
Edtech companies to draw in $500 million in VC, PE funding in 2019
Educational technology companies are likely to attract $500 million in venture capital and private equity funding this year, experts say, as the untapped market for online learning gives enough room for these companies to scale up.
Educational technology companies are likely to attract $500 million
in venture capital and private equity funding this year, experts say, as
the untapped market for online learning gives enough room for these
companies to scale up.
Ed-tech companies, dominated by players such as Byju’s, Upgrad,
Toppr, Extramarks and Simplilearn, have attracted more than $1billion in
investment over the last two years.
These companies, along with Unacademy, CueMath, Meritnation,
Imarticus and Vedantu, have not only made significant headway in
expanding footprint in India but are also eyeing the overseas market. A
bunch of companies from this list is further looking to raise more
investments from VCs and PEs.
“Almost $1billion was invested in 2018 alone, with Byju’s taking the
lion’s share of about $500 million, followed by Embibe receiving about
$180 million,†said Amitabh Jhingan, partner, EY-Parthenon. “Based on
the observed flow in edtech, we can expect $0.5-0.75 billion to be
invested in the coming year.â€
Byju’s, one of the big ones in this space, is also hungry for more
capital. “We will raise more funds, if needed, for expansion,†said
Mrinal Mohit, ITS chief operating officer, adding that Byju’s is looking
to become a leading ed-tech player globally. Vedantu received
$11million in its last round from Accel Partners, Tiger Global, Omidyar
Networks and TAL. “We will be using the funds to scale our business and
are open to funding,†CEO Vamsi Krishna said.
The ed-tech industry is expected to touch about $2 billion in India
by 2021, industry trackers said. “PE/VC funds continue to be interested
across sub-segments of the space (K-12, reskilling and upskilling, test
preps, etc). India is an underpenetrated market in the ed-tech space and
is ripe for disruption,†said Ankur Pahwa, Partner and National Leader,
e-commerce and consumer internet, EY India. “India is no doubt set to
be one of the leading players in the global ed-tech space with
innovation taking centre-stage.
