There have been a lot of major improvements to the education sector in 2020. The pandemic of COVID-19 pushed schools to close their doors and switch instantly to online learning.
As a result, an already rising market for digital education has exploded. And, seeing the potential provided by this move, VCs began pouring cash into edtech start-ups that would become the leaders of this transition.
- Digital Aristotle
Digital Aristotle is an emerging technology company established in 2016 in Bangalore by Dev Roy, a serial entrepreneur and the former Managing Director at Barclays Capital. The platform focuses on a learning-based model rather than an exam-centric approach. One of Digital Aristotle’s offerings is Aristotle, which is the first social learning app in India. The app serves as a point of convergence for learners, tuition, schools and centers focused on the idea of social networking.
For instant clarification of doubts, there is a huge bank of user-generated content and a framework. The app helps students to receive evaluation reports while the AI algorithms recommend optimal remediation. AssessEd, which meets all the evaluation-related criteria, is another offering from Digital Aristotle. It has a robust question bank throughout subjects, bank across subjects, grades, and boards for creating assessments. AssessEd allows standardized assessment and individualized remediation. Teachers can use the platform to quickly review the answer sheets on tablets and laptops.
- upGrad
Established in 2015 by Mayank Kumar, Phalgun Kompalli and renowned entrepreneur Ronnie Screwvala, upGrad is one of the most influential players on the industry. UpGrad provides online courses and education programs in industry-relevant categories, structured and delivered together with leading faculties. With more than 100 universities and colleges on board, there is already a pillar of visibility. In fact, reports have indicated that upGrad’s revenues have doubled in the last year.
- Classplus
Founded in 2015, Classplus is an edtech platform that primarily focusses on transforming the education industry by providing digital tools and resources to educators to make them future-ready.
With a team of over 300 experienced professionals, the platform focuses on creating a national online network of educators and enabling them to concentrate on teaching rather than coping with earthly administrative tasks.
An online store is in place to help teachers make video content and online tests accessible to students
According to Classplus, over 50,000 teachers have already successfully set up their teaching business across 1100+ cities nationwide and more than 70 lac students are connected with their teachers on their platform.
- Adda247
Founded by Anil Nagar in 2016, Adda247 is one of the largest edtech platforms that caters to more than 40 million users in year. The company aims to help aspirants crack various government exams like staff selection commission exams, bank exams, railways, defense exams, and teaching exams. The platform aids its users throughout the cycle of their exam preparation starting from beginning to final selection. The platform caters several online live classes, on-demand video courses, mock tests, eBooks & books to its users.
According to the company, adda247 platforms get over 10 lakh video-views daily. The app itself has more than 5 lakh active users daily and over 25lakh daily active users on the web.
Adda247 features multiple platforms such as Adda247 mobile app, Adda247 YouTube channels, bankersadda.com, sscadda.com, teachersadda.com and Career Power.
- Pesto
Co-founded by Ayush Jaiswal Pesto Tech is aiming at developers across India with experience of over 2 to 5 years to accelerate their careers in software industry. Unlike traditional edtech the applicant does not have to pay fees upfront.
Pesto follows an Income Sharing Agreement model where it takes a cut from its student’s salaries. While the pandemic didn’t impact much on their business model, Pesto stated that it had decided to focus more on the international market, with remote work becoming mainstream, with 200 per cent revenue growth and a doubling of its team size.
Pesto Tech is currently present in 25 states and has hiring partners in more than 25 countries.
- iChamp
Founded by Mohit Bansal and Anil Kumar. The platform refers to itself as one that aims at reinventing learning practice and the culmination of years of study and effort by a group of educators who strive to revolutionize the way in which math learning is done in the country. iChamp boasts that it is India’s largest free practice app for children learning from class 1 to class 8.
Covering subjects such as Maths, English, and Hindi, the platform provides programs such as live assessments, practice tests, and short-lived challenges in which children can develop their pace and accuracy.
The Gamified Live Testing Platform hosts the largest online tournament in the country, with participation from several students. iChamp comes with a Practice Zone included where the students can select from a wide range of topics from Maths, English, and Hindi and learn in a fun and easy format. The platform includes games and quizzes driven by an interactive and animated interface.
- Mento
Imagine learning entrepreneurship from your favorite entrepreneur instead of doing a traditional MBA, or learning food blogging from your favorite food blogger.
Founded in 2018 by a popular entrepreneur, co-founder of Alma Mater and author of How I Braved Anu Aunty and Co-Founded A Million Dollar Company, Varun Agarwal’s Mento aims to disrupt education in our own tiny way.
Mento is an online platform where India’s top industry experts teach you the skills you need and understand your careers. The platform will teach you how to develop a structured approach to practical learning and sharpen your skill set in your desired area of interest!
Leaving behind conventional careers, structured over 300+ video lessons to over 30+ alternative careers, such as, How to Start Your Restaurant, Photography, Getting Your Book Published, and many more. From Nitesh Tiwari (director of the blockbuster Bollywood film Dangal) to Amish Tripathi (highest-selling Indian author of all time) to Siddharth Roy Kapur (producer of films such as DevD, Rang De Basanti, and Dangal) to Ritesh Agarwal (co-founded Oyo).