The edtech market in India has grown and evolved significantly over the last five years, spurred on by the nation’s high Internet penetration and growing access to affordable, quality education.
The Indian tech scene has picked up, especially after companies such as Coursera, Udacity, and Unacademy have shown promise. Here is a list of some of my favorite education startups from India.
Some are more focused on academics, some on test prep. But each deserves attention and praise for changing lives for students across India.
India’s edtech market is projected to increase to $1 billion by 2025, according to a recent study conducted by Technavio.
For schools and parents, edtech companies in India can be one of the best investments to educate your child.
According to a 2017 report from Research and Markets, education technology (or ed tech) is expected to be a $191 billion industry by 2022—more than triple its current value of $63 billion.
Its projected growth has led to significant interest among investors, entrepreneurs, educators, parents, and students.
There are many others out there! Here are fifteen top edtech companies in India.
Byju’s
Byju’s is a popular tutoring platform and app created by one of the edtech companies in India.
Byju Raveendran, the founder of Bangalore-based Learning Labs Pvt Ltd., says he has created India’s first personalized learning platform, enabling students to visualize their learning experience.
Last year, the company raised $75 million in funding from Sequoia Capital, Sofina, and Ratan Tata, who sits on its board.
A subscription-based model makes up most of Byju’s revenue, with 85% of users coming back every month or subscribing for a full academic year. Currently, it has around 75% repeat users and over 1 million annual subscribers.
Toppr
Toppr helps millions of students master their concepts with fun interactive learning games, video content, and test prep.
The company’s mission is to transform education by building a world-class teaching platform that helps students learn at their own pace.
Their core strength lies in adapting a cutting-edge mix of technology and pedagogy that quickly helps students gain new skills and knowledge.
For example, Toppr’s proprietary digital games have helped its users achieve a 53% increase in exam scores for CBSE board exams.
Toppr has also been featured on popular media outlets like NDTV, Bloomberg TV, and Business Today for its innovative approach to tackling exam preparation head-on.
Goqii
Founded by Vishal Gondal among the edtech companies in India, an IIT Kharagpur graduate and serial entrepreneur who started Indiagames, Goqii claims to use artificial intelligence and big data science to provide personal healthcare solutions using fitness trackers.
It offers customized wellness programs that include multiple variables such as one’s body mass index (BMI), age, height, waistline, and gender.
The company has more than a million active users from 20 countries worldwide. Earlier this year, it raised Rs 200 crore in funding from private equity firm Sequoia Capital and other investors at a valuation of about $200 million.
Jigsee
Jigsaw is an app that helps users discover, bookmark, and share edutainment content like videos, photos, articles, and books. Users can add their content to Jigsee’s My Pocket feature for later viewing.
In 2013, a $4 million Series A investment was made for Jigsee with participation from IDG Ventures India.
Later that year, it was named one of The Next Big Things by Google at its I/O conference. Since then, it has also been featured on TechCrunch, MakeUseOf, and other technology blogs.
Its Android app has been downloaded more than 100,000 times since its launch. In early 2014, Jigsee, one of the top edtech companies in India, launched a private Beta of its iOS app on TestFlight (iOS platform).
Today it has over 200K downloads worldwide with 1M views on YouTube and 2M pageviews on SlideShare combined.
Noodlebrain
With a focus on college readiness, Noodlebrain has recently been featured by some of Silicon Valley’s top names (like Marc Andreessen) and many leading publications like Techcrunch and Venturebeat.
The company’s reach is also expanding rapidly, with an app that boasts over 2 million downloads and over 6 million monthly visitors. They’ve raised $8.5 million from top-tier investors like Bessemer Venture Partners and NEA.
Unacademy
Founded by Gautam Ghosh, Unacademy is an educational startup that provides free education to students.
Ghosh launched Unacademy after realizing how expensive college tuition fees are and how little interest teachers have in engaging with students.
His startup aims to change that, offering teachers a platform where they can create videos to teach subjects of their choice and get paid for it.
Ghosh’s focus on improving access to education also extended to his daughter, who was not finding what she needed at school and was bored at home.
He then started creating learning material for her, becoming part of his startup’s library of courses!
Dreambox Learning
Though it’s only seven years old, Dreambox Learning has quickly become one of India’s fastest-growing tech companies.
Its core business is training educators who use its tools to teach students science, math, and technology through project-based activities.
Its most popular product is Dreambox: World—an online platform that focuses on STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) education for students between ages six and fourteen.
The company also works with schools to improve classroom performance via teacher workshops and an evaluation system. Funding: $1 million from Accel Partners In April 2016.
WizIQ
WizIQ offers an integrated learning platform that helps users set up and run webinars based out of Gurgaon.
The platform lets you record videos, share screens, and facilitate collaboration among attendees.
Founded by Adil Wali (CEO) and Aishwarya Agarwal (CTO), WizIQ is backed by venture capital firm Sequoia Capital.
It was founded in 2012 and had clients such as Cisco, Dell EMC, Hitachi Data Systems, Juniper Networks, SAP SE, and Schneider Electric.
It raised $5 million from Sequoia Capital in a Series A funding round that saw participation from Kalaari Capital back in 2015. Today its clients include names like Walmart, Intel, and Canonical.
StudentSpringboard
From its humble beginnings as a Groupon-Esque startup founded by students, StudentSpringboard has grown into one of the top edtech companies in India.
The company is currently used by hundreds of schools and works to bring more students into STEM fields. It is also planning to launch initiatives encouraging girls to pursue STEM subjects.
StudentSpringboard has been praised for making education more accessible and affordable while fostering greater community involvement in school life and offering students real-world experience early on in their education.
Edukart
Edukart is one of India’s leading ed-tech companies. It was founded by Bhupendra Khanal in 2012 and has since established itself as a provider of affordable educational services to students across India.
With products ranging from customized study materials for school exams to basic English classes for migrants, Edukart offers services to provide students with everything they need to succeed.
It works with a team of more than 100 teachers and tutors who work part-time, making it easier for them to balance their work with education, and provides the teaching content that certified educators create.
Whitehat Education
Though it’s been around for a few years, edtech companies in India are just starting to take off. In 2011, less than one-tenth of U.S. college students used an online learning resource to earn course credit.
Less than three percent of business professionals used an online education company in 2012.
But those numbers are likely to spike—the global online education market is expected to reach $164 billion by 2020, according to recent reports.
Still, it’s important not to get ahead of yourself: many companies will fail as they attempt to enter a highly competitive industry that requires more startup capital than most are prepared for.
Meritnation
Meritnation is an online-based scholarship company based out of Bangalore, India. It was founded in 2012 by Akshay Balan, Mr. Ankur Vyas, and Mr. Kaushik Vyas.
This platform provides scholarships to students across India based on merit and aptitude rather than socio-economic conditions or parental income level.
In 2013, Meritnation began awarding scholarships on a national scale to students who can maintain a B+ average (80%+) and have at least a 75 percent attendance record for ten consecutive years.
They also provide scholarship opportunities for part-time degree courses like MCA, MTech, MBA, BCA, etc., which many organizations do not offer.
Mindlogicx
Mindlogicx builds cognitive assessment tools that help students, teachers, and schools improve academic performance.
This edtech company employs more than 500 people across multiple locations, and Mindlogicx’s clients include top international universities and companies like Microsoft.
In February 2017, it secured $18 million in Series A funding from Sequoia Capital, Riverwood Capital, and others.
Masai school
Masai school is a not-for-profit technology platform that provides English language learning resources and facilitates customized teacher training for schools across India.
Masai was founded by Gaurav Chopra, who graduated from Stanford University with applied mathematics and economics degrees.
The company aims to equip children with essential English language skills to access opportunities for further study or work at an internationally competitive level.
They also aim to make quality education more accessible to every child in rural areas, offering an affordable, scalable, and sustainable solution.
With over 500000 students registered on their platform, Masai has already helped improve thousands of students’ language proficiency; they are now partnering with even more schools across all parts of India to impact more students’ lives.
Class plus
Bangalore-based Class plus was founded in 2012. The company is a provider of learning management software that helps schools and colleges offer online courses.
Class plus claims to have more than 500 institutions as clients, including several universities and government departments.
Clients of Class plus include the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, Apeejay Stya University, Sikkim Manipal University, and National Law School of India University.
The company has raised $8 million from Sequoia Capital and Silicon Valley Bank. In 2016, it raised about $4 million through a round led by Intel Capital. This financing followed a $1 million seed round led by Omidyar Network in 2013.
Conclusion
These companies work hard to keep ahead of other educational technology companies. They adapt quickly to new technologies and continue to push boundaries on what it means to educate students through a computer.
These companies have amazing stories demonstrating how education changes worldwide, from developing content to designing systems.
For example, BYJU’s classes focus on helping students learn material they will use later in life. In contrast, eduCBA’s English language learning focuses on pronunciation and effective ways to communicate ideas with others.
