Covid-19 has been witnessed as one of the reasons for the surge of online learning. In other words, it can be said that the Novel Coronavirus and the lockdown have boosted the growth of edtech platforms. This gave an edge to all the online learning platforms to bring their services to a broader audience.
Likewise, Vedantu came up with a marketing campaign saying India’s Learning Won’t Stop asking usersto Study from the safety of their home. The brand has come up with various learning services to cater to all school and college-going students, having a vision that no child is left behind from learning.
Vedantu is an edtech startup that provides a Live Online Tutoring facility to students from their homes. Vedantu provides live interactive classes with unlimited doubt solving for students from pre-school, Class 1-12, JEE, NEET and other entrance examinations.
Vedantu provides a seamless user experience. One can avail of their services by downloading its app or by signing in to its website.
Vedantu can handle more students in one session since it is a virtual class. There may be up to 600 students during a paying session while free lessons maybe 2,000, Krishna said, who’s a professor himself. He also runs Lakshya Institute before selling a big stake in Mumbai’s K-12-based tutoring and test-processing company MT Educare, which helps students prepare for undergraduate studies, until early 2014. It has created a proprietary method called WAVE (Whiteboard Audio Video Environment), which tests about 70 criteria, including whether the student is watching the screen, in order to ensure students are aware of and recognize their vulnerabilities.
Vedantu’s Pricing Strategy
Vedantu Live Class
A Bangalore-based startup, Vedantu has raised an additional $24 million as a part of the Series C funding round, which runs a learning app for students. This was in addition to the $42 million raised in August 2019. In July 2020, Vedantu raised $100 million in funding led by a US-based Coatue. With the latest funding, Vedantu’s total fund tally stands at over $200 million.
Vedantu offers free access to all live classes and content. However, there is a subscription model as well where students are charged based on the tenure of the courses which are categorized as long-term, short-term, micro-courses and crash courses.
You can also select pocket-friendly plans or opt monthly subscription instead of paying all amounts together. Also, they provide free demo classes that would help you in making a vital decision for enrolling in the course or not. One can browse various courses both on its application or website.
Vedantu Marketing Strategy
Vedantu Live Online Classes
Vedantu has appointed two senior executives, Kunal Dubey as Marketing Head and Lucky Saini as Brand Head in its marketing unit. This charismatic pair has been playing an active role in driving business growth. Their aim is to promote Vendantu’s services in such a way that it gets more students day by day. They are making efforts to place the Vedantu brand among students and parents as the most favoured and valued Edtech.
Vedantu’s culture reflects the organization’s rock-solid foundation as well as empathetic leadership. I am humbled to take on this role and believe that a strong culture leads to great business stories. I look forward to building a passionate marketing team that lives and breathes our brand purpose every day. – Kunal Dubey, Marketing manager of Vedantu.
Dubey worked for eBay India, Flipkart and PhonePe over a period of 15 years of his career whereas Ogilvy, Autumn Gray, Flipkart, Manipal Education and Manipal Group have managed to share Saini’s career.
Here are some interesting features of this e-learning firm:
Personalized LIVE training from home comfort. This means that a pupil receives a committed teacher’s full attention and studies at his own speed. Teacher-student relationships are powerful, bidirectional, and technologically controlled for quality improvement.
They have also introduced experiments such as video games which are not only fun but knowledgeable in order to make the class more interactive and student-friendly.
They have a feature of the feedback system where teachers frequently inform parents about the success of their child. This provides an edge over the conventional PTM meeting held twice or thrice a year at schools/colleges.
The TV ad is very attractive and linked to a fun, jingle-filled learning experience.
“Samajh aayega toh maza aayega, maza aayega toh samajh aayega”
The TV ads add credibility and allow the brand to explain its message to a broader audience. These ads help to drive the social campaign as well. There is more chance that the customer is going to visit your social or digital platform once they see your ads.
The Initiative underlines the need to make the children’s learning experience more exciting and successful by using LIVE streaming lessons.
Vedantu’s target audience is all school-going children and college students. As they provide free access to all live classes and content of pre-school, class 1-12, JEE,NEET, and other entrance examinations. The platform also targets teachers who teach unique subjects and who are able to devote multiple hours teaching online and to seek extra revenue. It also approaches coaching institutes that can teach online to a range of tutors. So far, the brand has covered 500+ cities Worldwide with 39,787,257+ happy students.
Conclusion
Here, we understood the marketing strategy of Vedantu i.e, Vedantu’s Pricing Strategy and Vedantu’s Target Audience. The sole aim of the organization is to create an educational world that is readily available to all. Individually flexible in terms of experience better than community classes and options that the online platform offers, for example, the instructor preference, time schedule and, most notably, study standard.
FAQs
What are the five marketing strategies?
The 5Ps ofMarketing are:
Product
Price
Promotion
Place
People
What is the business model of Vedantu?
Vedantu operates on a B2C business model whereby the company provides services like live online tutoring to students from K-12, college students, and also the one who is preparing for various competitive exams.
How does Vedantu make money?
Vedantu earns money mainly by providing education support services and charging a fee for the same. They have different fee structures as per the different subscription plans.
Who are the competitors of Vedantu?
Some of the top competitors of Vedantu are:
BYJU
Unacademy
Chegg
Meritnation
Toppr
Wonderschool
Simplilearn
Who is owner of Vedantu?
Vamsi Krishna, Pulkit Jain, Anand Prakash, and Saurabh Saxena are the founders of Vedantu.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by TagHive.
The Indian education system is the largest in the world with 170 miliion students and 1.5 million schools. Education sector in India is growing at a huge pace as it makes the foundation of social and economic growth of the Nation.
The School systems in India are getting Tech-Savy with the technological transformation. The use of technology in the education system stimulates student engagement in learning. TagHive has brought Class Saathi app for helping students improve their performance and competency.
Read to know more about TagHive, founder, the startup story, and more.
TagHive Inc., is a Samsung-funded education technology company, incorporated on April 25, 2017 is headquartered in South Korea and has an office in India. The company’s offerings include AI-powered self-assessment solutions and clicker-based classroom response systems. The company offers its solutions under the “Class Saathi” brand in India and under the “Class Key” brand globally.
TagHive has 22 registered patents and trademarks and 10 others are pending. The company’s solutions are used in over 1,000 schools (adding 2-3 schools daily) and over 340,000 students have downloaded the Class Saathi self-assessment solution.
Their vision is to be the learning platform of choice for schools around the world, by building a unified platform that connects all stakeholders in the education ecosystem to improve learning outcomes. They believe that education is the greatest equalizer, and that technology shouldn’t be only for students for privileged backgrounds. Class Saathi is designed to empower the current system rather than disrupt it.
TagHive – Industry
There are over 1 million public schools in India, with over 170 million students; who on an average, do not have access to resources to learn that a majority of more expensive private school students do. With an average per student spend of Rs. 15,000 from Governments per year, there is little to no space for solutions that aren’t built to be low cost.
Class Saathi is designed to work exactly in this space, for teachers, administrators and parents to create a supportive ecosystem of learning for students who, if not attended to, could be at risk of dropping out. A report by KPMG shows that India is the second largest market for edtech in the world, behind the United States. By 2030, the Indian edtech industry is poised to become $30 billion in size, but this current trend is focused on the private and higher paying segment of customers. Students in higher need across public schools are not a focus area, which is exactly what Class Saathi focuses on.
TagHive – Founder and Team
Pankaj Agarwal – Founder of TagHive
TagHive Inc. currently has 25 full time employees, 9 in Korea and 16 in India. Primarily, the Indian team looks at partnerships, operations, development and communications; while the Korean team focuses on research, innovations and operations beyond India.
They believe that trust and ownership is paramount, which is why even though the Indian team is fully remote, they have full liberty to lead and be accountable for their role. They are an organization on a mission and truly value people with passion and drive to transform the education ecosystem. It is a long and difficult journey, but if anyone is ready to walk on this path with us, we’re more than happy to have them!
Pankaj Agarwal about TagHive Startup Story
TagHive – The Idea and Startup Story
As a student who began his journey in a small school in a village in Bihar, I had the incredible opportunities to then study at IIT Kanpur, Seoul National University, and Harvard Business School. Studying in 3 countries made Pankaj Agarwal the person he is. Education is always highly valued by him.
When Pankaj Agarwal started TagHive in South Korea, one visit brought him back to the school where he studied, and even after decades, he realized that hardly anything there had changed. He was surprised to see that while the world had changed, schools remained the same, and students were still not getting the resources they needed. This was when he decided to create Class Saathi to be used in schools even without internet and electricity. They took inputs and got feedback from teachers and government officials in the space, and built features and functions according to what they need, and the response was great because most solutions weren’t designed to be used in under-resourced schools and classrooms.
The ‘TagHive’ name came from their original idea to use physical (hardware) and software ‘tags’ to enhance experiences across the real and virtual world in pretty much all domains, including but not limited to play, education, entertainment, fitness, and more. They wanted to represent energy and connectedness, which is why they chose that name.
The ‘Class Saathi’ name however, surprisingly was something that came to me in a dream. Originally it was something the founder had put as a placeholder, but as they continued developing the product, it turned out that their users actually resonated with it, and despite their reservations about it not sounding ‘global’; the idea behind it was something even TagHive’s investors and supporters in Korea loved.
TagHive – Products and Service
Class Saathi is a clicker based smart classroom platform that makes formative assessment easy and fast.
Class Saathi is a combination of a clicker device for each student and a mobile application for teachers, parents and administrators. After teaching a concept in a class, the teacher can ask a few questions using Class Saathi to gauge the understanding level of each and every student. The administrators and the parents can also see the learning data on their respective screens. Class Saathi app has over 50,000 questions (in English and Hindi combined) on Maths and Science for students of Class 6 to Class 10 and is based on NCERT curriculum. Over 6.2 million questions have been solved on Class Saathi as of April 5, 2022.
Class Saathi is aligned with New Education Policy’s objectives of micro-learning and continuous assessments. “Data First” approach ensures greater accountability at all levels. It is the world’s first and only clicker solution that works on a mobile phone, and doesn’t require internet or electricity to function inside classrooms. This enables it to be used across absolutely any context, especially in schools with the highest need in rural contexts.
The app is also powered by AI, enabling Personalized Adaptive Learning (PAL) for students beyond the classroom. It adapts to student learning levels to give them questions that can challenge them and help them learn, which allows for learning to happen at home without any teacher assistance. Parents are also able to understand student progress through the rich data dashboards, and support their children in learning.
TagHive – Business Model
Class Saathi primarily works with governments and organizations to achieve scale and impact. Through funding by either the government bodies themselves, grants, or private channel partners, they implement its solutions across a wide range of schools.
TagHive – Customer Acquisition
They started directly working with governments because that was their target group, and because they were developing the solution with their on-ground feedback. Through this, they were able to reach out to their first set of users, and word of mouth helped us scale up and get even more users.
They didn’t focus on paid marketing to spread the word about Class Saathi, but rather let their impact do the talking. Being a unique solution addressing age-old challenges in the Indian education ecosystem, they were able to begin conversations with like-minded early adopters from Governments and organizations, who then helped us begin pilots.
These pilots were able to show impact in a very short amount of time (learning outcomes and attendance increased by 8% and 10% respectively in 30 days alone), which then enabled us to continue with larger-scale implementation and also spread the word about the potential of the solution. Additionally, since Class Saathi is extremely affordable and constantly evolving based on need, they were able to invest stakeholders who saw the value in it.
TagHive – Challenges Faced
One of the biggest challenges was to show stakeholders in the education system like teachers and administrators the value of Class Saathi. Most, if not all of them had already worked with some other education technology solution and were always of the opinion that it would be an additional burden. However, since Class Saathi is designed to empower rather than disrupt, they had to do multiple conversations to invest in Class Saathi and help them see that it will only help them.
They truly believe that teachers are still the cornerstones of a great education, and their idea has always been to make life easier for them so that they can strategically focus on the learning outcomes of their students, armed with data and a platform that lets them build a more conducive learning environment.
TagHive – Funding
Date
Stage
Amount
Investors
June, 2017
Seed Funding
$0.5 Million
Samsung Ventures
December, 2021
Series A
$2.5 Million
Forest Partners
Funding and support from Samsung Ventures and Forest Partners has allowed us to expand their development to create an even better product that truly addresses the needs of stakeholders in the education system today; and to build a high-performing team to multiply and expand this impact across India.
TagHive – Advisors and Mentors
Yes, they have multiple advisors and mentors from India and Korea, who’ve helped us with challenging their assumptions and connecting us to people and resources they need. They come from a variety of backgrounds and have been instrumental in helping us grow.
TagHive – Competitors
While there are other edtech companies in India and globally, their solution is uniquely addressing problems in the public education ecosystem. Having said that however, some of their competitors are:
TagHive Competitors in India:
ConveGenius
EI Mindspark
Gooru Navigator
TagHive Competitors Globally:
AssessPrep
EdCite
ClassKick
Formative
TagHive – Tools Used in the Company
The tools they use in TagHive are:
Google Suite
Asana
Slack
Trello
WhatsApp
Zoom
TagHive – Recognition and Achievements
Many awards and recognition has been received by TagHive:
TagHive was Asia Pacific finalist in the Harvard NVC in March 2021
Won the 2020 Time2Leap Award (presented by Ministry of SME, Govt. of India)
Recognized by India AI as top 5 startups reinventing Education in India with AI
Awarded Education Startup of the Year 2019 at DIDAC India, Asia’s largest and India’s only exhibition and conference for education
Founder & CEO was on the Fortune India 40 Under 40 list released in June 2021
1000+ schools in Korea
TagHive – Future Plans
TagHive operates in South Korea and India, and works with partners like The Ford Foundation, Kaivalya Education Foundation, HCL, Google, Samsung, and the Governments of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Odisha, with even more in the pipeline.
Over the next 3 years, their goals are to:
Implement Class Saathi (both at-home learning app and in-classroom assessment solution) in State Government and Central Government run schools and networks (State Board Schools, Kendriya Vidyalayas, Tribal Welfare Schools, and more) in India first and then go global
Integrate into NDEAR, NEP 2020 implementation, and relevant National Education Technology frameworks through technology platform sharing, service provision, or technology partnerships
Partner with large scale nonprofits and foundations to implement Class Saathi across their school networks
They are currently and constantly developing new features based on requirements and feedback from their stakeholders on the ground. By April end, they will have a completely revamped teacher-facing app, which adds in a wealth of features that they have been asked for. They are also developing new dashboards and reporting functionalities to further ease the lives of their administrators.
FAQs
When was TagHive founded?
TagHive was founded in 2017.
Who is the founder of TagHive?
Pankaj Agarwal is the founder of TagHive.
Who invested in TagHive?
TagHive is funded by Samsung Ventures and Forest Partners.
Every visit has the potential to generate a lead. To build a connection and convert casual visitors into qualified leads, you must provide current and relevant information while encouraging interaction with the material on your website. It would be ideal if you tried to meet prospects’ needs in every buying process. Customers that visit your website will thank you for your efforts by providing you with their contact information if you do it correctly. Making visitors into sales-ready leads involves a multi-pronged strategy that utilizes a variety of formats and platforms across several channels.
Through marketing activities focused on brand development, growing product awareness, earning customer trust, and establishing your position as an industry expert, we can generate a lead.
Continue to produce content that piques people’s curiosity while also offering answers, and your warm leads will become hot leads. So, what exactly is the content?
Lead Generation Strategies That Work for Edtech Startups
Blog Posts
Blog Posts for generating leads for edtech Startup
The way you create and position your blog material will become more important as search engine optimization evolves. It is no longer enough to use keywords with high search traffic merely. You’ll attract leads seeking particular solutions if you use a topic cluster – which involves identifying the main issue in your company and selecting 8-20 subtopics using relevant search phrases – to organize your content. As an ed-tech firm, you can be certain that your prospects are well-educated. As a result, you want to deliver articles that provide a solution to their issue and provide answers to particular concerns they may have. Please use internal linkages to redirect readers to more related pages and route them to a pillar page with more in-depth information. We’ll go into further detail about this in 7.
Live Chat
Live Chat for generating leads for edtech Startup
A chatbot allows visitors to connect with your brand while maintaining their privacy. A website visitor may have questions, but they may not be ready to speak with a salesperson immediately.
Although your sales representatives are really helpful, many casual browsers are put off by the prospect of establishing human contact, especially when they are in the early phases of decision-making. In certain cases, an online discussion might allow a long-term relationship to develop.
Continue to follow education leaders to stay on top of issues in the sector and generate material to address those issues. Product announcements and other news relevant to your market should be sent out through Twitter. Take advantage of hashtags to ensure that your target market can discover you. This industry has highly qualified individuals. A LinkedIn marketing campaign is one of the most successful methods accessible to edtech companies for locating new consumers. Even while Facebook is less formal, it still enables you to use eye-catching photos of your product in action to draw attention to it. Facebook is also an excellent location to publish photographs and videos that others can share.
Explainer Videos
Explainer Videos for generating leads for Edtech Startup
Identify subjects in your area of expertise that may be highlighted by a video presentation and make a list of them; rather than selling, attempt to educate. When people watch television, they are bombarded with advertising. Explainer videos simplify complicated concepts or business news into digestible chunks that anybody can understand. For example, when selling school administration software, you could wish to target your market with a video that describes changes to the state’s teacher evaluation measures.
Podcasts
Podcasts for generating leads for Edtech Startup
Set up an educational technology podcast series to address difficulties or analyze developments in your particular section of the tech industry. Podcasts appeal to professionals who desire a hands-free approach to keeping up with the latest developments in their sector or learning something completely new. Expert interviews, educator profiles, and sneak peeks at the newest advancements in educational technology are all possible topics for podcasts to cover.
Webinars
Webinars for generating leads for Edtech Startup
Provide free training, insights into new technologies, and methods to education professionals in exchange for their time. Please include a link to a slide deck that can be downloaded to improve the likelihood that your webinar or sections will be shared with others.
Pillar Pages
Long-form material that focuses on a primary subject relevant to your products or services is a pillar page. By creating a series of blog entries focused on subtopics that your audience is interested in, you will have the material necessary to create a pillar page that is both instructional and attractive to your audience. Even though pillar sites are not gated, you may provide visitors with a PDF to download, generating leads.
Media Coverage
Identify and cultivate connections with education reporters in local and national news sources, and provide interviews, insights, and responses to current events that impact education. Identify well-known blogs in your sector and offer to guest write on their sites.
Getting Marketing Qualified Leads Into the Sales Process
In the marketing funnel, prospects connect with your company at various phases. They arrive at your website with varying degrees of curiosity. Your digital marketing plan must include a mechanism for recognizing this and serving visitors with material relevant to their current requirements.
Depending on the prospect, some may be interested in your product but not quite ready to buy, while others may be ready to talk with someone from your sales department. A page-hijacking form requesting an email address, phone number, and “best time to call” will result in the marginally interested visitor departing your website without ever looking at it.
Another option is to send the lead to a sales representative if a contact has subscribed to your newsletter, downloaded marketing literature, and enquired about price through your chatbot. It is known as being at the bottom of the funnel. An automated marketing platform will assign a score to each step a lead performs. The lead will be transferred to your customer relationship management software when a tipping point is achieved.
Conclusion
Delivering the appropriate information to the right person at the right time is essential when it comes to lead generation and turning those leads into sales. You can turn your website into a lead-generating engine if you have a complete digital marketing plan in place and a method to gather and qualify data.
FAQs
How can Edtech Startups generate leads?
Edtech startups can generate leads by using these lead generation strategies:
Blog Posts
Live Chat
Posts on Social Media Platforms
Explainer Videos
Podcasts
Webinars
Pillar Pages
Media Coverage
Which are the top Edtech Startups in India?
Some of the top Edtech Startups in India are:
Byju’s
Unacademy
UpGrad
Vedantu
Toppr
Coursera
Cuemath
How big is the EdTech industry?
The global EdTech market size was valued at USD 106 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach USD 127 billion in 2022.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by College Vidya.
Be it humans or Industries, evolution is an undeniable fact for all. Every industry is seeing major changes with time, as for the education industry, the base industry for all, this evolution is an ongoing process. This is happening at a higher pace with the introduction of online education, or as some call it, virtual learning.
With evolution, comes questions and confusions. While more and more students are getting attracted towards online education due to its growing importance, more questions are being raised on how to spot fake online universities, things to look at before selecting an online university, important approvals, comparison among two universities on the basis of placements, Student Ratings etc and many such questions.
To rescue students from such problems a venture was started, College Vidya. It is an initiative to help students by giving them answers to all these questions at an unbiased education platform, fully dedicated to online universities. This platform contains every bit of information a student will require in order to make the right decision.
College Vidya was started in the year 2018, under the Parent company Blackboard Education and Research Foundation. It started as an informative educational portal. With time it recognized real problems faced by students, this inspired it to become a comparison platform. One might ask why a comparison portal? Because the vision of College Vidya was clear, they wanted students to get the best university for their career.
To educate a lot of students, College Vidya also started a youtube channel named, “College Vidya”. This channel purely gives information of different online & distance and online universities, courses, common mistakes made by students, things to look at before selecting any online university, advice given by experts and topics as such.
After gaining over 6k followers College Vidya spread its empire by starting yet another youtube channel by the name of “College Vidya Talks”. This Channel was started with the vision of offering knowledge to students which will help them in their career journey as well. For the same purpose this channel is divided in 3 sections:
2nd section gives honest university reviews of online universities.
3rd section shows pros and cons of different universities by comparing the two.
College Vidya has adopted a ‘master of one’ approach, meaning they are only dedicated to universities providing online education. The venture takes pride in being unbiased and working for students, instead of universities.
College Vidya – Founders and Team
College Vidya was founded in 2018 by Mr. Mayank Gupta.
Mayank Gupta – Founder and CEO of College Vidya
Mayank Gupta – Founder and CEO of College Vidya
‘Tough journey leads to a beautiful destination’ this saying perfectly goes hand in hand for College Vidya founder Mayank Gupta, Mayank had an interesting journey, he started by working in an organisation where his responsibility was to conduct surveys. After a period of time he realised his interest lies in the educational sector so he bought a franchise of NIIT.
After understanding the industry better, Mayank decided to do something of his own, so he opened ICFE, an institution which offered students accounting courses. His venture saw enormous growth and success, until the government decided to give the same courses for free.
After facing many hardships Mayank decided to be true to the distance & online education sector. The reason behind Mayank being inclined towards distance & online education was that he himself pursued his undergraduate and post graduation from distance while working.
Rohit Gupta – Co-founder and COO of College Vidya
Rohit Gupta, Co-founder of College Vidya saw his part in hardships too. Starting as an educational counsellor, he paved his way through. From being one to having thousands of counsellors working under him, Rohit is a true inspiration story.
Throughout his journey Rohit worked in different industries, playing different roles. This only made him realise his true purpose and the need of the hour in the education sector.
College Vidya – Startup Story
College Vidya startup story is rather interesting. As Mayank himself pursued his higher education from distance learning, he knew about the struggles that come with it. He wanted to give students a platform which not only helps students by giving them correct information but also assists them.
From the start Mayank was aware about the importance of distance & online education. With the concept of online education being introduced, he knew what was coming in the future, evolution. Mayank was well aware about the importance of online education, and how it would grow exponentially in the future. This is when College Vidya came into picture, he wanted students to have a trusted and unbiased ed tech portal to turn to in their time of need.
The name College Vidya, explains it all. It simply means ‘Knowledge about College’ which clearly states that this educational platform gives all the information about online colleges and universities.
The tagline of the company is ‘Chuno Wahi Jo Hai Sahi’.
College Vidya – Vision and Mission
From the very start the vision of College Vidya was to be an unbiased platform that helps students in getting genuine advice for free.
Mayank Gupta firmly believes that the youth has the power for bringing changes required, and education is the key to do so. A student with no proper guidance has higher chances of making a wrong decision and regretting it later. This is why the mission of College Vidya is to help more and more students in making the right decision when it comes to their education.
College Vidya – Counsellors
As of now College Vidya consists of 1000+ highly educated and experienced experts. This strength is made up of Assistance Managers, team leaders and many Counsellors available on call & video call for students.
College Vidya – Challenges
During this interesting journey, College Vidya faced many problems as well. These problems were faced while building trust and standing apart. Due to so many portals that were unable to maintain trust, students were very skeptical at first. When College Vidya was introduced it took a lot of time and hard work of its team to gain and maintain the trust of students.
College Vidya – USP
How College Vidya works?
The reason why College Vidya stands apart from the rest is, its unique features. Compare and suggest me a university.
Compare – this feature allows students to compare between top online universities on different features. The motive behind this is to help students in selecting a university which best suits them according to their own specific needs like budget, study hours available, purpose behind doing a degree etc.
College Vidya has carefully designed a list of top online universities all around India (Approved by UGC-DEB), this helps students to explore more options and decide which of these universities are catering to their needs.
Suggest me a University – with the AI based technology, College Vidya’s Suggest me a University feature gives a specially curated list of universities, according to students need, after analysing their answers. Suggest me a University is the best option for those students who want to remain hassle free and just want to know the best option for them.
Video Consultation – this feature allows students to connect F2F with their counsellor, in seconds for a better counselling session. The motive behind introducing video consultation was to improve user experience and make them feel present and more connected with their dedicated counsellor.
The major USP of College Vidya is that it saves students from the hassle of going through hundred different websites and sources to gather information. It is an all inclusive portal which has answers to every question a student can possibly have in making this irreversible decision.
College Vidya has adopted a simple yet effective marketing strategy through “the word of mouth.” They stand unbiased and only promote information that is true and helpful for students without any partiality.
They also try to build a healthy relationship with their audiences through other mediums like blogs, videos, google ads, social media marketing & even remarketing.
Recently College Vidya also launched its campaign “Chuno Wahi Jo Hai Sahi”. The aim of this campaign was to make students aware about the importance of selecting the right university after carefully comparing different aspects like approvals, budget and interest.
The marketing strategy of College Vidya is not only limited to the virtual world, the organization has also stepped outside to educate the population of tier 2 and tier 3 cities about the growing importance of online education and how to select the best for them at an affordable price.
In a short period of time College Vidya received a great response from students and working professionals. According to the CEO of College Vidya, the next step would be to expand by providing more information about online and distance & online universities around the globe.
Soon, students who wish to study abroad will also be able to compare and select the best online university for them along with free expert guidance.
FAQs
Who is the founder of College Vidya?
College Vidya was Founded by Mayank Gupta.
Is College Vidya Free of Cost?
Yes, College Vidya is absolutely free and does not charge a single penny. They also do not have a bank account.
Markus Aurelius said that the first stepof understanding anything is simplicity; he proposed that one should understand the nature of something before dwelling on it. So going by the words of one of the most renowned philosophers in the world, let us understand what is ed-tech or educational technology.
Breaking it down to its simplest form educational technology usually involves the use of computer software and hardware along with teaching pedagogies to facilitate and enhance the learning experience. The ed-tech industry is quite a niche market and its demand has been rising in recent years. so if you are someone who wants to build your own edtech company here’s how you can get started.
While I was researching this topic, I understood that many renowned personalities in this field have suggested first understanding the ed-tech market. For example, before the pandemic started, the US ed-tech sector received 1.66 billion in investments, which is the highest in 5 years.
While many industries were at a disadvantage due to the pandemic, ed-tech companies raised an astonishing 16.1 billion USD. Knowing the market, its demands, and other things like that would ensure any suitor in this sector scale the evidence and weigh the facts.
Narrow Down and Validate Your Idea
You need to understand the concept of divide and conquer when it comes to ed-tech. The ed-tech market is too vast and ever-changing for a single entity to rule over.
The first step is to critically and objectively view your own idea. Find out whether your idea serves the customer’s needs and itself is unique. This will also go on to indirectly help you predict the market, discover the trend of your niche, and identify your competitive advantages.
It may look tempting to start your own ed-tech company when I put it across in such simple terms but we need to understand the problem of validity because before you propose any idea you have to ask yourself these 3 questions,
Does your idea solve a problem that is troubling a lot of people or improve a system that is quite essential in this specific area?
How do you know that you are solving a problem?
Do you have enough data and research backup to support and pitch your idea?
Define Your UVP and Choose the Right Business Model
Any business requires a UVP or a unique value proposition. What can you offer that other companies can’t? Your unique value proposition can be constructed by 3 crucial things,
The value that is delivered by your product.
The customer base that you would like to target.
What is the approach you are adopting to sell your product in this highly competitive market?
The right business model must follow your UVP. A business model usually entails how your ed-tech startup will achieve its goals and earn its revenue. It also describes the main highlights of your product and how it is going to create value for your customers.
You can experiment with a number of business models. Certain business models usually are taken up with the intention of rapid growth and the capture of large market shares, whereas certain others would usually involve selling products to institutions and monetizing your customer base from the beginning.
My advice to anyone who is interested in this area would be to choose a business model that helps you build a sustainable and independent business around a challenge or problem that you are trying to solve.
Build the Perfect Team
Building the Right Team
The right team is necessary for any business to succeed. In the highly competitive ed-tech industry, one needs to have the right team for even his/her idea to even come into consideration in front of investors. The best way to address this problem is to hire a group of professionals who are passionate and have an experienced background in education, which acts as their primary motive and the monetary benefits as their second priority.
Try to build a team that can help you create a scalable monetization model and a go-to-market strategy for your product. Being an ed-tech company’s CEO is definitely a different experience. You should start engaging in educational conventions, start visiting your local schools and understanding their learning demands and start talking to other individuals who are involved in the same business.
Being a startup in the initial stages would usually mean that you would have to work with minimum revenue. It is always better to work with an outsourcing company than pay an in-house team of engineers.
The need to have a skilled CTO – an individual who has the experience and expertise to work on the design of your product and oversee your development team is key to progress.
Have a Proof of Concept/MVP
Theoretically, it is easy to pitch any business idea. Practically every aspect of the product will find it difficult to serve and deliver to different demands of the real world. The best way to resolve this issue would be to build a proof of concept.
By building a proof of concept, you would have a strong base to validate your idea on a minimal budget. This application would usually involve the most important functionality or risky features of your product. Fancy design should not be used here to dazzle users.
Minimum viable product (MVP) works on similar lines with proof of concept. Proof of concept usually involves proving that your product will work in real life but whereas an MVP ensures that your customers are satisfied and pleased with your product.
Finally, in conclusion, we can say that by following these steps, you may have the perfect start for your company, but we should all remember consistency is key for any business to become better. With thorough research and strategy, any business can become successful and so is the case with ed-tech.
FAQs
How does EdTech make money?
Usually, edtech companies make money by selling their courses to students or schools. There are also companies that provide their courses for free but charge a small fee for the certificate.
How do you get funding for EdTech startups?
First, you need to prepare a solid business plan and then you can approach angel investors or VCs to pitch your idea and receive funding.
What is the future of EdTech in India?
India’s EdTech industry is growing at a really fast pace and is expected to reach $30 billion in the next 10 years.
The pandemic has contributed to the growth of the technology sector and made it a necessity. The entire world has shifted from offline to online mode.
All the office work, teaching, and learning went online. This gave rise to more and more platforms that support these services.
With schools, colleges, and coaching being shut down, the ed-tech sector became the need of the hour. One name in this sector that gained huge popularity is BYJU’S.
BYJU’S is one of the most popular platforms in the ed-tech sector. With its great teachers, learning material, and latest technologies, it has earned quite a big space in student’s life.
BYJU’S is a technology-based educational platform. It has various programs for students to learn between the 1st to 12thstandards. It also offers various courses for exam preparations. These include CAT, MAT, NEET, JEE.
The company aims to develop self-learning among children. It helps the students to clear their doubts many times without any hesitation. It provides learning through the best-qualified teachers.
Foundation
BYJU’S was founded in the year 2011. Byju Raveendran and his wife, Divya Gokulnath collectively found the company. As the name suggests, the company is named after the founder’s name.
The company has its headquarters located in Bengaluru.
Where Did the Idea Come for the Startup?
The idea came in Byju’s head while helping his friend crack the CAT exam during his vacations. He also gave the exam and cleared it with 100 percent.
After that, he began to conduct workshops on mathematics. Later, to expand his reach, he began to record his workshops. This was the time when startup seed was sown in his head.
BYJU’s and the Effect on Ed-tech Sector During Pandemic
The concept of tuition has always been there. The students who didn’t understand the course at school or couldn’t score well would opt for the tuition. Sometimes the students would go to their friends or someone elder living nearby to learn. The other times, especially the older students would join coaching centres.
BYJU’S helps the students to learn out of the four walls of the school. It clears various doubts of the students like tuition but in an online format. The concept of the company was amazing. But it didn’t get much popularity as most people didn’t want increased screen time for their children.
However, The pandemic changed the entire scenario. The whole learning process shifted to the online mode. Even the regular school’s classes got reduced to mere a screen. With lockdowns everywhere, the local tuitions and coaching centres got closed.
This was the time when people had to understand the need for online learning. During the pandemic, BYJU’S made its content for 1st-12thstandard free for all for a while. This helped the platform gain huge popularity and audience towards itself. Thus, the pandemic proved to be a boon for BYJU’S.
The company was also able to raise significant funding during this time and became a deacorn (A company valued at $10 billion) with a valuation of $10.5 billion.
Is BYJU’S Creating a Monopoly in the Ed-tech Sector?
BYJU’S does have various competitors in the market. However, certain reasons are showing that it may be trying to create a monopoly. These are:
Empire Building
BYJU’s trying to establish itself not only in India but outside as well. BYJU’S didn’t see a sudden growth in the initial days. It took the company almost four years to gain a student’s audience of 40 million. During the pandemic, however, this number rose to 65 million.
The company aims to develop a learning app for global students as well. With its acquisition of WhiteHat Jr., it aims to serve the students in New Zealand, Australia, etc. By building an empire, BYJU’S seems to create a monopoly.
Byju’s Acquisitions Spree
BYJU’S has indulged in 18 acquisitions and an investment, spending more than $2.88 billion. Out of these 10 acquisitions were made in 2021. These included- Scholar, HashLearn, Gradeup, Great Learning, Aakash Educational Services, GeoGebra, Tynker, Whodat, Toppr, Epic.
Aakash Educational Services has a strong level of trust among the students and parents. It has been a tried and trusted source for Indian customers. BYJU’s acquisition of it gained a huge customer base and trust towards the company.
Startup Name
Acquisition Date
Acquisition Amount
Vidyartha
January 2017
Rs 50 Crore
TutorVista and Edurite
July 2017
$5 million – $30 million
Math Adventures
July 2018
$100 million
Osmo
January 2019
$120 million
WhiteHat Jr.
August 2020
$300 million
LabInApp
September 2020
–
Aakash Educational Services Ltd
January 2021
$1 billion
BYJU’s various acquisitions seem to be a reason that shows it is trying to create a monopoly in the ed-tech sector.
Valuable Unicorn
BYJU’S over the years has now earned a huge valuation for itself. In June 2021, BYJU’S became the most valuable unicorn in India. It even surpassed the digital payment platform, Paytm. BYJU earned this without going public.
The company hasn’t indicated any definite plans to go public. But when it goes, it is sure to create a huge impact in the entire ed-tech market with great success.
What Makes BYJU’S So Popular Than the Others in Ed-Tech Sector?
BYJU’S holds an important position in the ed-tech market but this position doesn’t come without competitors. It has various competitors like Unacademy, Vedantu, Toppr, and more.
There are certain points that make BYJU’S a highlight in the ed-tech industry. These are:
It has courses for children in kindergarten. Also, it has courses for students preparing for competitive exams.
The teaching methods used by BYJU’S are super effective. They impart knowledge through videos that have a super catchy pattern.
The lessons offered by BYJU’S are easier to understand. They are more interactive in nature than other platforms.
BYJU’S also has a pool of knowledge and study material for the people preparing for government jobs.
Unlike various platforms, BYJU’S offers lessons in many languages. For example- Hindi, Telegu, etc. This enables the company to attract a wide range of audiences to the platform.
BYJU’S also conducts live classes for various courses. For example- competitive exam prep, coding, and tutoring. This develops a better sense of interest among the students.
BYJU’S is one of the leading platforms in the ed-tech sector. The pandemic brought various competitors to the company. BYJU’S yet, with its expansion, acquisitions, and strategies, continues to stand out from the rest.
BYJU’s acquisition of Aakash Educational Services, Gradeup, and WhiteHat Jr. are the biggest contributions towards its growth. These helped BYJU’S gain trust and a huge customer base. With all these, BYJU’S does seem to create a monopoly in the ed-tech sector. However, only time will tell if it enjoys the status of monopoly in the future.
FAQ
Is BYJU’s creating a monopoly?
BYJU’S has indulged in 18 acquisitions with these many acquisitions it looks like Byjus is trying to create a monopoly in the edtech sector.
Did BYJU’s acquire Aakash?
Yes, Byju’s acquired Aakash in January 2021 for $1 billion.
We’ve all gone through the effort of looking for universities to apply to after completing our 12th grade. Before taking a decision, as a learner, you should have a fundamental understanding of the uni. These facets are the standard of teaching provided, prices, the opinions of former and present alums, and the institute’s rank.
However, gathering these essential details about universities is a tricky job. The notion of having all this data about institutes and tests from all over India and overseas in one spot appealed to the youth. It was created to fill this disparity, letting learners, parents, and professors find all the data they need about colleges on one page. Let’s look at its startup story and know more about it.
Collegedunia fills the disparity between institutions and learners. A learner or parent can study and gather data about multiple courses and colleges in India via its vast search tool. A user can get data on a range of topics, including college, ratings, stream, curriculum, placements, facility, costs, admissions, and extracurriculars, to make more effective career choices. All this data is provided to the learners at no fee.
Startup Name
Collegedunia
IPO Status
Private
Operating Status
Active
Company Type
For-Profit
Sector
Digital Marketing, IT, Education
Headquarters
Delhi, India
Founder
Sahil Chalana
Founded
May 8, 2010
Total Funding
$605.8k
Collegedunia – Mission and Vision
Mission
The most important option in a person’s life, the option to choose a college, shouldn’t be taken lightly. We want to be the best educational sites, with more dynamic UX and most verified data, and to facilitate learning in every way possible in making their wise choices.
Vision
CollegeDunia was founded with the goal of arming learners’ information so that they may make better decisions about their profession and alma mater.
Collegedunia – Tagline and Logo
Tagline – Transforming India by Transforming Education
Collegedunia Logo
Collegedunia – Features
The web design was recently updated, with a focus on the part of the test. The firm has witnessed a significant spike in traffic since then. The test part comprises comprehensive information on all key national and state-level admission tests. The UI is easy to use. Take a peek at the JEE Advanced 2016 page, for instance.
The organization has a one-of-a-kind 25-member consulting staff that participates in phone chats with learners to assist them in making the best educational wise choices. It also offers a feedback section with over 50,000 opinions from alumni who are presently studying or have graduated from various universities.
They added a detailed evaluation form through which people can submit their thoughts on institutes or programs. They edit, analyze, and sort these reviews periodically to identify that people receive accurate data. Rank and cut-off forecasts, as well as virtual counselling, will be included in the official app in the near term.
Collegedunia – Startup Story
Sahil Chalana, a BITS Pilani alumnus, created Collegedunia.com. The firm started operating as a specialized firm in 2014. According to him, there is a significant disparity between the facts and the accuracy of services that students search for during the pre-admission period.
As a result, he came into the concept of Collegedunia.com and assembled a group of young and ambitious people. It’s a community of over 250 young folks, with an approximate age of 25, who wish to bring value to society.
Limited knowledge can be harmful to the profession and college choices, which is where it will help. Its vast alumni network assists in providing relevant information to learners.
The amount of material on the site is fairly comprehensive. You’ll find everything here, from renowned majors like medicine and law to practical and overseas study data.
The goal of providing learners with the information they need to make better decisions about their job and alma mater set the ground for its creation. Both for guardians and learners, it serves as an effective collection of college/university data as well as professional material such as tests. Learners might look for institutions based on what alumni have said about them.
Since the beginning, it has assisted thousands of kids across India (and beyond) in making informed selections about their careers and educational institutions. It has evolved from a handful of institutes and programs to be the nation’s market leader. Currently, the platform is the nation’s top institution rating site.
Collegedunia – Business Model
The entire basis of their revenue is paid advertising, which allows universities to promote themselves on the site, boosting the exposure of their listings across the web.
Other than that, they use a Cost Per Lead (CPL) approach. They provide student data with the institution and earn money based on CPL. Learners can also enrol in those institutes, and they will obtain a CPL from the university officials for each admission to that campus.
The firm says that its dataset, handpicked content, and periodic data updates are among the features that set it apart from the intense rivalry.
Collegedunia – Funding and Expansion
Founded in July 2014 with only a few institutions and tests, it now contains comprehensive data on over 15,000 institutes and tests such as the CAT, GMAT, and others. They strive to enhance their outreach to 30,000 universities and include all national exams by the end of this year, owing to foreign funds provided by Gaadi.com CEO Umang Kumar.
The firm now receives over a lakh page views, which is lower than their rivals, but roughly 40% of their traffic is direct, which they believe is better than the rivals.
Throughout two financing rounds, it has generated a net of $605.8K. Their most recent revenue comes from a Seed round on January 18, 2016.
Date
Acquired by
Amount
Transaction Name
Nov 3, 2014
$163.8k
Angel Round
Jan 18, 2016
Umang Kumar
$443k
Seed Round
Collegedunia – Competitors
Careers360
Collegedunia’s main competitor is Careers360. In 2009, Careers360 was created in Gurugram, Haryana. It works in the education software area. It makes $3.7 million less income than Collegedunia.
Shiksha.com
Shiksha.com is Collegedunia’s 2nd main competitor. It was created in 2008 and is headquartered in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. Shiksha.com, like Collegedunia, competes in the education software space. Shiksha.com accounts for 72% of Collegedunia’s earnings.
CollegeDekho
CollegeDekho is the third-largest rival to Collegedunia. It was formed in Gurgaon, Haryana, in 2015. CollegeDekho, like Collegedunia, is in the Educational Software business. It brings in $2.7 million less than Collegedunia.
Collegedunia – Current and Future Plans
Currently, the site provides data on approximately 15,200 colleges, 16,000 programs, and 330 tests. On the site, one may obtain all the detailed info about universities, including rating, region, and opinions. It has also developed an app-based UI, taking into account the simplicity of use of mobile apps. Its mobile app lets learners quickly and conveniently obtain all this data.
It also works with campus fests, where learners can come up to the website and leave feedback on their universities. It intends to take its concept to another level soon, with an ever-growing knowledge base and notoriety. The firm’s goal is to provide end-to-end service for students’ entrance requirements. The aim is to engage the student tribe with the site in this way.
Collegedunia Rewards for Reviews
With its reward-based structure, it has indeed begun student collaboration. Learners that contribute valuable insights about their colleges/universities might win significant cash awards through the site. So, in the long term, Collegedunia.com will provide more institutes and mentorship.
India’s education sector is booming, and the country’s higher education system is unlikely to stagnate anytime soon. In the same way, the majority of kids seeking higher education is increasing. As a result, both students and faculty have a wide range of possibilities. It’s safe to assume that the industry is brimming with possibilities. However, India’s ed-tech industry is just beginning.
Until now, Collegedunia has taken the appropriate moves toward securing this niche but vital sector. Only time will tell whether it can play its cards correctly and fulfil its commitments.
Collegedunia – FAQ
When was Collegedunia started?
Collegedunia was started in 2014 by Sahil Chalana.
What is Collegedunia’s business model?
Collegedunia earns its revenue from paid advertising, which allows universities to promote themselves on the site. It also uses a Cost Per Lead (CPL) approach where they will obtain a CPL from the university officials for each admission to that campus.
Who started Collegedunia?
Sahil Chalana, a BITS Pilani Alumnus founded Collegedunia.
Why pay for online courses when you can get them for free? upGrad is such a company that brought out its online education application where students, teachers and everyone else can do courses for free. upGrad’s free courses offer makes it a standout application from other educational websites.
Most websites and applications that you find on the internet do not come free of cost. upGrad is quite opposite to that and that is one of the reasons why it attracted a lot of customers. Competitions are tight in the Indian market and upGrad’s marketing strategy helped them take the lead in the online education platform.
upGrad is an EdTech company that came out with the motive to help students with their higher education. The company performs its business completely online based and free of cost. The application also caters to large variety of courses ranging from undergraduate programs to Master’s degree programs.
Master’s degrees and some post-graduate programs are only offered on a fee payment system. Otherwise, most courses are free of cost and are also offering a completion certificate unlike other educational applications in the market.
It was in the year 2015 when upGrad was launched by the co-founders of the company- Ronnie Screwvala, Phalgun Kompalli, Mayank Kumar, and Ravijot Chugh. Their efforts made upGrad become one of the leading EdTech companies in Asia. Currently, all co-founders of the company are leading different divisions within the organization. Their efforts made it to enter the unicorn club in August, 2021.
Interestingly, upGrad was not meant to be for college students, or school students or any other institutions. But, it was designed so that more people could be familiar with the term ‘entrepreneurship’ and all those things that are required to become successful.
about upGrad learning platform
upGrad Marketing Strategy
upGrad Logo
upGrad is a B2C company and follows a wide range of marketing strategies. The company also focuses on its marketing because it is the only way a company is recognized. Well, a company like upGrad does the same thing.
The CEO of upGrad, Arjun Mohan had even mentioned in an interview that the company spends a whopping sum of money on its advertisements. The company also uses online tools for marketing its products to customers. Some of the most common ones are Google Ads, Social Media Ads, promotional guest posts, and many more.
Back in the year 2020, when the company was just 5 years old had set a budget of INR 175 crore for its marketing. For a startup like upGrad, this amount is considered to be a massive one and surprising too.
Other than spending a large amount on advertising, upGrad also focussed on promotional activities. The company took an active part in promoting its business during the 2020 IPL season. Even in the latest IPL season, i.e. 2021 upGrad took an effective part in its promotional activities.
The company tied up with Disney+ Hotstar and associated with the Star Sports network. This again became a huge boost in the company’s marketing and promotional activities. Surprisingly, the 2021 IPL event became upGrad’s first association with any sport-related event.
upGrad acquired Pyoopil Education Technologies only a year after its formation i.e. in 2016. Pyoopil Education Technologies was a mobile-based SaaS product that was used by corporate. Two years later in the year 2018, upGrad made another acquisition of Acadview Software which was in the field of a college education.
Later, in the year 2019, the company acquired CohortPlus which was known to be India’s largest product management community startup. Looking at the progress that the company has already made it is clear that the company will become the leader in the TechEd companies in the world.
Moreover, the company has got notable connections and tie-ups with large institutes and universities. Some of the most famous collaborations are mentioned below.
Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS)
International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT)
Though there are not many revelations from the company’s side of view it is expected that by the end of 2025, the company plans to cross the 5 million alumni members mark. However, other than that, the company is working on other specialization programs curated by global universities.
With collaborations with global universities, upGrad would become a different and standout educational company in the Indian market. There will be a lot coming from the company’s point of view in the future and we hope to experience the brilliance of learning from upGrad.
upGrad’s products and services are likely to improve and enhance better learning to its customers in the upcoming days. It is not that the company is not doing great currently but the future of the company will determine upGrad’s sustainability in the market.
FAQs
Who has founded upGrad?
upGrad was founded by Ronnie Screwvala, Mayank Kumar, Phalgun Kompalli, and Ravijot Chugh in 2015.
Are there free courses available at upGrad?
Yes, there are free courses which can be done free of cost. The company caters to courses ranging from various subject areas.
Does upGrad provide a 100% job guarantee?
Yes, the company offers a 100% job guarantee to fresher candidates and other people as well.
Due to the convergence of technological innovations, global use of the Internet, and the increasing need for a population trained regularly for the ever-evolving digital economy, online education in its different forms has been gradually rising globally. By 2025, online schooling is expected to become commonplace.
Sebastian Thrun, David Stevens, and Mike Sokolsky created Udacity, Inc., an American for-profit educational business that offers massive open online courses. Udacity is an international, online, life-long learning network that connects education and employment opportunities. The company is on a mission to train the world’s workforce in the careers of the future.
Udacity is an international, online, life-long learning network that connects education and employment opportunities. Udacity provides online courses in artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, data science, autonomous systems, and cloud computing, among other fields.
Udacity collaborates with technology firms to study how technology is altering businesses and teaches the essential skills that employers need in their employees, allowing learners to prepare for the most in-demand tech positions.
Nanodegrees offered by Udacity have gained much popularity and many consider these nano degrees to be more effective than the regular college degrees. Front-end and senior web developer, full-stack web developer, data analyst, machine learning engineer, iOS and Android developer, programming introduction, tech entrepreneur, iOS app development beginning, Ruby beginning, and 2D mobile game developer courses are among the nano degree programs available.
Udacity – Latest News
As of September 2021, Udacity conducted a renowned virtual conference enabling women to thrive in STEM (Science, Technology Engineering, and Mathematics). Despite global discussions and initiatives to address the gender imbalance in STEM disciplines, women continue to be underrepresented, undervalued, and frequently discriminated against. Udacity’s virtual conference ‘STEM Forward with Women’ seeks to create a forum for women to interact with female industry leaders while also providing them with the chance to gain in-demand technical knowledge.
“Changing the face of technology, especially during unprecedented times, is no easy task. STEM Forward with Women is the pep-talk all women need to take the leap forward and pursue a career that they deserve in the field of technology and computer science,” stated Kimberly Bryant, CEO and Founder, Black Girls CODE.
Udacity – Industry
Over the last decade, online learning has grown significantly as the internet and education have merged to give individuals the possibility to learn new skills. Online learning has grown increasingly important in people’s lives after the COVID-19 epidemic. The epidemic has pushed schools, colleges, and businesses to operate remotely, which has resulted in an increase in the use of online learning. Even before the pandemic, Research and Markets predicted that the online education industry will be worth $350 billion by 2025, thus the figures may be revised after assessing the effects of COVID-19 on the sector’s growth.
All of these online learning businesses have a large quantity of user data, allowing them to employ machine learning algorithms to improve people’s learning habits. Pattern recognition is used by machine learning algorithms to customize material for each individual. When a student struggles with a subject during the course, for example, the platform can alter the e-learning content to give more comprehensive information to assist the learner.
Udacity – Name, Logo, and Tagline
Company Logo of Udacity
Sebastian Thrun, the company’s founder, claims that the term Udacity stems from the company’s ambition to be “audacious for you, the learner.” It used to focus on university-style courses, but today it mostly offers vocational training for professionals.
Udacity was founded by David Stevens, Mike Sokolsky, and Sebastian Thrun in 2011.
David Stevens
From June 2011 to May 2012, David served as CEO of Udacity, then from April 2013 to April 2014, he served as President. As CEO, he grew the company to 30 people, registered the first 250,000 students from 195 countries, and introduced the first 12 programs, the first MOOC employment program, and the first MOOC certified tests in collaboration with Pearson VUE. He obtained a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Stanford under the guidance of Sebastian Thrun. While at Stanford, David was one of the co-creators of Stanley an autonomous car that won the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge. The Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC currently has Stanley on exhibit.
Sebastian Thrun
Sebastian Thrun is a researcher, educator, inventor, and businessman. Sebastian is the founder and CEO of Kitty Hawk, a company whose mission is to relieve people from traffic congestion. He is also the creator, chairman, and president of Udacity, an educational platform with the purpose to democratise education.
Sebastian founded X (formerly Google X), where he oversaw the creation of the self-driving vehicle, Google Glass, and other initiatives. He was a professor at Stanford University for several years, where he led the Stanford Racing Team, which won the DARPA Grand Challenge with its vehicle “Stanley.”
Founder of Udacity – Sebastian Thrun
Mike Sokolsky
Mike believes that technology should improve rather than complicate life. He studied at Carnegie Mellon University and worked in robotics at Stanford University and the University of Alberta. His background includes autonomous cars, medical robotics, reinforcement learning, and robotic soccer. In 2011, he co-founded Udacity.
Udacity – Startup Story
Sebastian Thrun had a dream career for most academics throughout the world. The Artificial Intelligence specialist was a tenured professor at Stanford University, where he’d spent almost a decade leading student attempts to create self-driving cars and acting as the head of the university’s Artificial Intelligence Lab. Thrun also created Google[x], the tech giant’s well-known R&D branch focusing on driverless vehicles, balloon-powered internet networks, and other “moonshots” in his leisure time.
But the entrepreneur and thinker had bigger ideas. Thrun announced his departure from Stanford in 2012 to launch Udacity, an online education company aimed at delivering high-quality tech education to the people.
Salman Khan and his Khan Academy, one of the early entrants into the field, introduced Thrun to the notion of MOOCs. Thrun and co-professor Peter Norvig opened up their next computer science course at Stanford to a global audience as an experiment in 2011. Soon after, other roboticists David Stevens and Mike Sokolsky joined engaged, and the inaugural course had more than 100,000 students enrolled by the time it started. Udacity was up and operating in no time, with Stevens as the company’s first CEO and Sokolsky as the CTO.
Udacity – Mission and Vision Statement
Udacity’s mission statement says, “Udacity’s mission is to train the world’s workforce in the careers of the future.”
Modern technology influences every industry. Companies all around the world are eager to employ people with the right tech skills to help them adapt and improve their operations. Through their strong and adaptable digital education platform, Udacity collaborates with the world’s leading technology companies to teach these vital tech skills. Udacity has made it possible for even the busiest students to prepare for the most in-demand tech jobs.
Udacity’s top hiring partners include Google, Amazon Alexa, Auro, Bosch, CrowdAI, Dataspeed, HARMAN, Intel, Lucid VR, Mobvoi, Nod, Samsung, Slack, Telefónica Germany, Upload, etc.
Udacity – Spin-Off Company
In April 2017, Udacity announced the launch of Voyage Auto, a self-driving vehicle taxi firm that would compete with ride-hailing services like Uber. The business has been testing its concept on low-speed private roads in a retirement community in San Jose, California, using production consumer automobiles. Voyage established a ride-hailing collaboration with The Villages, a retirement community in Florida, in 2018. Voyage was purchased by Cruise in March 2021.
Udacity – Business Model and Revenue Model
Udacity is a freemium EdTech platform that offers massive open online courses (MOOCs) (courses open to anyone for enrolment). Udacity collaborates with businesses and institutions to provide nanodegrees (short-term online education programs focused on specialized skills in computer science). The user can choose to pay a one-time or recurring charge to access one or all of the courses. The courses are available to private individuals, businesses too can buy these courses for their employees. The cost of the consumer courses varies from $718 to $1436.
Udacity courses are delivered in a nanodegree format by the firm. Nanodegrees are made up of a series of lectures and homework assignments that culminate in a capstone project.
In the past, Udacity’s payment models have been prone to change. The most recent modifications are in line with their new approach of providing high-quality educational content, which includes professional mentors and specialized career counseling.
Furthermore, a freemium business model is an element of the company’s growth plan. Udacity provides free access to beginning courses or sections of nano degrees in this way. This assists users in determining if they are comfortable in the learning environment and have the time and abilities required to finish the courses.
Udacity – Employees
Alper Tekin – Chief Product Officer
Dana Bennett – Chief People Officer
Gabriel Dalporto – Chief Executive Officer
James Richards – CTO
Kenny Kim – Chief Marketing Officer
Alvaro Biel – Head of Business Development & Partnerships, Europe and Latin America – Udacity for Government
Blake Tablak – SVP of Global Enterprise
Grace Rhee – Vice President of People and Places
Holger Kobler – Regional Vice President DACH
Ira Stone – Regional Vice President, Enterprise Sales
Udacity – Funding, and Investors
Date
Round
Amount
Lead Investors
Aug 27, 2021
Secondary Market
$5M
–
Jun 20, 2021
Secondary Market
–
–
Jun 12, 2021
Secondary Market
–
–
Jan 28, 2021
Secondary Market
–
–
Nov 3, 2020
Debt Financing
$75M
Hercules Capital
Nov 11, 2015
Series D
$105M
Bertelsmann
Sep 24, 2014
Series C
$35M
–
Oct 25, 2012
Series B
$15M
Andreessen Horowitz
Jan 1, 2012
Series A
$5M
CRV
Udacity – Acquisitions
Acquiree Name
About Acquiree
Date
Amount
Terminal
The Terminal provides bleeding-edge software and AI to edtech companies looking to improve student success.
Mar 1, 2017
–
Udacity – Growth
The pandemic produced great burdens and drove individuals to make many tough decisions, and 2020 was a year of extraordinary challenges. At the same time, individuals continued to learn and grow despite the disturbance in their everyday lives. Over the course of 2020, Udacity increased its focus on assisting students in finding the courses they needed to prepare for a better future.
Last year, the firm celebrated 14 million users, 1.5 million completed projects, and over 170,000 Nanodegree certificates granted, and they are looking forward to celebrating over 50,000 graduates in 2020 as well as some interesting improvements.
The year 2020 was a momentous occasion for Udacity as a company. Enterprise and government bookings increased by 260 percent in yearly recurring revenue in the first half of 2020 alone, and the company just obtained $75 million in funding to assist support this remarkable development, tripling its Sales and Customer Success teams.
Over the last year (2019-2020), the company welcomed a number of new team members to help them maintain this incredible trajectory with enterprise customers, including CFO Seamus Hennessy, CMO Kenny Kim, SVP of Global Enterprise Sales Blake Tablak, and SVP of Global Customer Success and Operations Jennifer Dearman, who joined in early 2021.
Udacity’s top competitors include Khan Academy, Skillshare, Coursebirdie, MasterClass, Pluralsight, Udemy, Coursera, LinkedIn Learning, BizLibrary, Articulate 360, iSpring Suite, PiiQ by Cornerstone, Infosec Skills, Pluralsight, and General Assembly.
Udacity – Challenges Faced
Udacity had to lay off roughly 20% of its employees and restructure its operations as of April 2019, as co-founder Sebastian Thrun attempted to decrease expenses in line with revenue without stifling growth.
Udacity, which offers “nano degrees” in a variety of technical disciplines such as AI, deep learning, digital marketing, virtual reality, and computer vision, has been in financial trouble for months, owing to rising expenses and other inefficiencies. Thanks to popular initiatives like its self-driving vehicle and deep learning nano degree, the firm flourished in 2017, with revenue jumping 100 percent year over year.
Udacity has also reduced expenses and streamlined marketing activities, shrunk and consolidated office space, and standardized instructional programs throughout its different locations, including the United States, Brazil, China, and India.
The firm maintained an office in Mountain View, albeit in a smaller size, as well as one in San Francisco. Udacity has shuttered a second satellite office in San Francisco and is assessing its real estate requirements in other nations.
Udacity – Future Plans
Udacity has popularized the notion of “Nanodegrees” in fields including artificial intelligence, programming, autonomous driving, and cloud computing. Udacity will focus more on Sales and Marketing in the coming years.
“On the enterprise and government side, we’re seeing enormous demand,” said Gabe Dalporto, Udacity’s CEO, who joined the firm in 2019. “However, it’s largely been inbound to date, with businesses, Fortune 500 firms, and government agencies seeking to collaborate with us.” Now it’s time to assemble a sales force to pursue them.”
The interest in Udacity, both from investors and as a firm, is part of a larger emphasis on online education startups in the previous year. As schools, districts, governments, and public health officials implement social distancing to slow the spread of COVID-19, the focus has been on developing better technology and content to help students stay engaged and continue learning even when they are unable to be in their normal physical classrooms. Udacity is not considering any acquisitions for the next 6-12 months.
Udacity – FAQs
What does Udacity do?
Udacity (an American company) is an international, online, life-long learning network that connects education and employment opportunities. Udacity is an online training platform that provides courses in artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, data science, autonomous systems, and cloud computing, among other fields.
Who founded Udacity?
Udacity was founded by David Stevens, Mike Sokolsky, and Sebastian Thrun in 2011.
When was Udacity founded?
Udacity was founded by David Stevens, Mike Sokolsky, and Sebastian Thrun in 2011.
How does Udacity make money?
Udacity earns money by selling instructional content to individuals and businesses. These courses are delivered in a nanodegree format by the firm.
Which companies do Udacity compete with?
Udacity’s top competitors include Khan Academy, Skillshare, Coursebirdie, MasterClass, Pluralsight, Udemy, Coursera, LinkedIn Learning, BizLibrary, Articulate 360, iSpring Suite, PiiQ by Cornerstone, Infosec Skills, Pluralsight, and General Assembly.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by ClassMonitor.
ClassMonitor is a home learning platform, which blends traditional teaching with modern methods of learning. Its hybrid learning tool takes children to a learning space that combines real-life learning experiences with curated activities. The ClassMonitor Learning Kit blends traditional teaching with modern learning to ease a child’s transition from preschool to formal schooling.
The startup focuses on the fundamental development of a child based on five core areas: linguistic skills, logical thinking, sensory and motor skills, cognitive skills, and creativity. Founded by Vijeet Pandey and Vikas Rishishwar in 2016, the ClassMonitor app currently has 85,000 registered users. Also, in the last 12-14 months, the startup has delivered and dispatched its kits to more than 5,000 PIN codes across India, and other 14 countries.
StartupTalky interviewed Mr. Vijeet Pandey (Co-founder & CEO of ClassMonitor) to get insights into the startup journey and roadmap of the organization. In this article, you’ll discover how ClassMonitor was conceptualized & launched, its business model, marketing strategies, funding, founders, revenue, growth, future plans, and more.
Vijeet and his childhood friend Vikas Rishishwar came up with the idea of ClassMonitor, an EdTech startup in the early childhood learning segment. They have created well-researched kits to provide holistic learning experiences for preschoolers and help parents keep their children away from screens. ClassMonitor is a home learning platform, which blends traditional teaching with modern methods of learning. Its hybrid learning tool takes children to a learning space that combines real-life learning experiences with curated activities. The platform offers integrated annual packs which are designed for comprehensive learning, logical thinking, and problem-solving. The products are affordably priced and designed to address the year-long learning needs of children up to 8 years.
Aim and Vision: ClassMonitor’s journey has just started. The team aims to bridge the overwhelming gap in the modern education systems in India and abroad – that of the lack of parental involvement in their child’s learning. They are addressing this gap using a two-pronged solution, which involves combining traditional and digital learning. The startup’s vision is to create high-quality learning programs and establish itself as a leader in the early years’ education sector.
In the report, Early Childhood EdTech has been divided into 4 major sectors – Aspiration, Engagement, Learning, and Ancillary Services focusing on the end-use/outcome of the product.
ClassMonitor as part of the Engagement segment fulfills the basic requirement of keeping children constructively occupied. Its high engagement products comprise interactive elements and a strong subscription model which results in customer retention.
Engagement Sector –
Target Market Size/ Customer Base – 40 Million ( All Urban and 10% of Rural Indians with smartphone access)
Total available market- $ 2,300 m
ClassMonitor aims to capture at least 10% of this market
ClassMonitor – Inspiration and Idea
Vijeet returned to India in early 2016 after completing his Master’s in Accounts and Finance in the UK and working in the retail business. He wanted to become an entrepreneur and do something in the field of education, which has always been something close to his heart. So, Vijeet along with his childhood friend Vikas Rishishwar, an expert in technology, set up ClassMonitor in March 2016.
Version 1 of ClassMonitor
The duo wanted to do something in the education sector where technology would be the backbone. They, therefore, decided to enter the EdTech segment to solve the parent-teacher communication problem that was a major challenge, back in 2016. Schools had been connecting parents and teachers through WhatsApp groups which were quite unprofessional and unsystematic. That’s how the ClassMonitor platform was born, as a means of communication for parents and teachers. They called it Version 1 of ClassMonitor.
Idea Pivot
While in the idea stage, they raised undisclosed angel funding from a Sweden-based investor, whom Vijeet had known during his time in the UK. ClassMonitor was growing as a platform gradually, but the founders wanted to solve the larger problems in the sector. Around early 2017, after interacting with their clients, mostly parents, as well as school principals and teachers, they saw that the major pain point was for parents of kids between the ages of 1-7 years — the early learners. They wanted to participate in their child’s progress but didn’t know how to do so. At the same time, they were looking for solutions that would keep their kids away from mobile phones, computers, and tablets. This gave them enough insight to innovate. In October 2018, the duo pivoted from a communication platform to a hybrid early learning tool that marries offline learning with digital cues and rewards.
Latest Version of ClassMonitor
Essentially, they built an O2O model in EdTech, and that’s when the hybrid learning model came into the picture, as a combination of online and offline tools. The technology aspect is meant completely for parents, educators, and mentors, and the learning kits are meant for the children. Through technology, the parent understands what, how, and when to do something, and the kits help children perform hands-on activities and learn in the process. The online live sessions are for parents to guide them on how to get their children to perform the activities in ClassMonitor’s learning kits. Instructors take these classes three days a week. People are purchasing the kit and the live classes feature together now. The startup has received excellent responses to its products.
The ClassMonitor Learning Kit blends traditional teaching with modern learning to ease a child’s transition from preschool to formal schooling. ClassMonitor focuses on the fundamental development of a child based on five core areas: linguistic skills, logical thinking, sensory and motor skills, cognitive skills, and creativity.
Every box contains 250 DIY activities, including flashcards, worksheets, rhymes, stories, games, fun activities, puzzles, and art supplies for kids to play based on a set of more than 14 themes like plants, animals, and more. It comes bundled with a subscription to the ClassMonitor app that has AR features and a QR code scanner. The learning kit comes in four different product variants for children aged 1 to 8 years and lets parents teach, play, and bond meaningfully with their children. All sheets and flashcards have QR codes that can be scanned on the app to get the cues needed to complete an activity. The product integrates online guidelines and offline activities to bring interactive learning content for kids. The activities progress in sequential order from easy to hard. As a parent one can use the app to learn how to help kids to perform these activities such as how to use the AR feature of the application. The app also provides details on the child’s learning outcomes after each activity —what your child’s learning progress is after he/she completes a single activity, etc.
They’ve built EdTech for adults. Parents can personalize the pace of learning for their kids, choose activities they enjoy, and focus on areas that need development. This flexibility ensures that the child’s learning graph is individualized, and the parent can keep track of their child’s progress and attempt the embedded assessments based on the child’s learning readiness.
ClassMonitor – Founders and Team
Vijeet Pandey (CEO) and Vikas Rishishwar are the founders of ClassMonitor.
After returning to India in early 2016, post completing his Master’s in Accounts and Finance in the UK and working in the retail business, Vijeet wanted to become an entrepreneur and do something in the field of education. Vikas who is Vijeet’s childhood friend with expertise in technology-shared his dream and they launched ClassMonitor in 2016.
During that time, they met Mrs. Shobha Wilfred an expert in early childhood education, with over 35 years of experience in content development, child psychology, and working with children of that age group. She joined them as Content Head. Mrs. Shaheen Shafi, an educationist with over 27 years of experience in curriculum development, training, and school leadership was their advisor. She recently joined ClassMonitor formally in May 2021 as Senior Curriculum Director.
Vijeet is the CEO of the company and looks at Marketing, Operations, Strategy, and Business Scaling roles. Vikas as Product Head leads the Technology initiative, Shaheen and Shobha spearhead the education initiatives.
ClassMonitor is currently a 150-member team. It has an open and supportive work culture. The startup seeks people who are driven, inspired, and passionate, who seek challenges, and are comfortable working in a dynamic and fast-paced workspace.
ClassMonitor – Name and Logo
ClassMonitor initially entered the market as a parent-teacher communication platform. Therefore, at that time the brand name made sense. Eventually, they evolved the ClassMonitor Learning Kit and started selling. It was then that the team wondered if the brand name would work in the market. However, by that time they had already sold a lot of kits. The team, then, sought the advice of brand experts and they said that their excellent sales numbers demonstrated that the brand name was working well and changing it was not required. Therefore, they continued with the existing brand name- ClassMonitor. Post that, the brand continues to garner large numbers and volumes thereby validating the decision.
B2B2C- This is a distribution network of 200+ mothers who are official distributors of the brand’s products across India.
Price: The learning kit comes in four different models, each priced at Rs 3,499 per annum (including the app subscription). It has also created Skill Booster Kits priced at Rs 1,099 annually for kids aged 6 to 8, along with a Skill Master Hindi Edition Program as an extension to its ongoing programs, to introduce Hindi as a vernacular language to early learners in an engaging, active, and a Play-based approach.
Distribution: ClassMonitor sells the kits on its own website and on Amazon.
The startup officially launched its ClassMonitor Kits in 2018 in an exhibition in Indore. It was indeed an exciting and eventful day, where the team sold 70 kits. Vijeet (C-founder & CEO, ClassMonitor) was personally at the stall from 6 a.m. to 12 p.m.
From that day onwards the team never looked back. ClassMonitor’s products speak for themselves and its biggest strength is word-of-mouth publicity.
In the initial days, while the startup was still in the process of procuring its funding, the team worked on innovative marketing strategies. The B2B model was working well. In January 2019, ClassMonitor appointed its first parent distributor and launched the B2BC model. Currently, she heads the distribution network of 200+ mothers who are official distributors of the brand’s products across India. These MOM CEOs have enabled the reach too far from the corners of the country at negligible marketing costs.
ClassMonitor has been able to leverage social media platforms like Instagram effectively. A lot of parents share Insta stories of how delighted they and their children are with the learning kits. They celebrate each learning milestone of their children with pride.
One of the biggest successes of its kits is that it has inspired many kids to discover their inner genius. For example, many parents have shared that they have been able to enter their child’s names in India Book for Records for various achievements using the ClassMonitor Kit.
In the last 12-14 months, ClassMonitor has delivered and dispatched the kits to more than 5,000 PIN codes across India, and as well as 14 countries. In 2020, it saw a 5x growth and aims to take that figure up to 10x in this financial year. As a brand, ClassMonitor has grown, and the team managed to reach out to the smallest of cities in India. As of now, the company has a presence in around 600+ cities in India. Around 65 percent of the contribution comes from the top cities, but there is also a lot of demand from the small cities and towns as well.
Revenue
By raising around $1Mn ClassMonitor has already achieved just under 10 crores in revenue.
In the next few years, the startup plans to grow the topline by 4X-5X through new products, wider distribution, and user growth. Its B2B revenue has also grown 100 percent in the last two months.
Schools have charged session fees, but they are unable to conduct classes due to the pandemic. So, they are buying kits in bulk and distributing them to the parents. The direct consumer traffic has also increased 50 percent per month since the start of the lockdown. With parents stuck at home for long hours with their kids, DIY engagement activities have grown organically. Overall, COVID-19 has had a positive effect on all revenue streams.
Growth
Amidst the global pandemic where all industries have been severely hit, ClassMoitor has been consistently witnessing growth as it has tracked 20,000 customers in the last 3 months. It aims to clock another 40,000 in the next 3 months to garner a total of 1 lakh customers by 2021.
“We are proud to say that we have a PAN India customer base of parents with children in the age group of 1-8 years with Tamil Nadu, Karnataka & Maharastra being the Top 3 states” Vijeet added.
User Stats
The ClassMonitor app currently has 85,000 registered users.
Currently, ClassMonitor has 95% of the total users from India and 5% of the total users from abroad. In the next 6 months, it aims to increase that ratio to be 90% and 10% from India and abroad respectively. This growth trajectory is followed by its global expansion recently.
Additionally, the team expects growth in the Philippines, Australia, and the Middle East markets and aims to continue deeper penetration in Tier 1-3 markets. They are also looking to strengthen their customer base in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and Rajasthan.
Sales Channels
There are currently three sales channels in the company. The D2X space contributes most of the volume, while it also partners with several independent pre-schools.
The Indian pre-school market has two parts: branded and unbranded, but 85 percent of the Indian pre-school market is unbranded and ClassMonitor has partnered with them to improve their content and teaching methods. The third channel is a distribution network of 200+ mothers who are official distributors of the brand’s products across India.
The brand is currently catering to the age group of 1-8 years and the majority of the volume is coming from the age bracket of 1-5 years. In the long run, ClassMonitor aims to expand its product range to cater to the age group of 0-12 years.
ClassMonitor – Funding and Investors
To date, ClassMonitor has raised INR 6 crore since its inception in 2016.
Date
Stage
Amount
Investors
Angel Round
INR 2.5 crore
Piyush Jain (CFO, Al Hajri Group)
May 19, 2021
Pre-series A
INR 3.5 crore
Construction firm Pasth India Ltd., UAE-based Calega family office investor group and Sarvann, a group of Oman-based investors
As part of the angel round, the startup is backed by Piyush Jain, Chief Financial Officer of Al Hajri group, an angel investor who has invested in over 25 start-ups across the globe
ClassMonitor has just started reaching out to venture capitalists for its Series A round of funding. It has spent time in the interim to ensure that the basic building blocks of the company are all in place –strong products, sound technical capability, and a solid business base
Post the Pre- Series funding, the startup has doubled its sales and onboarded a few senior resources who will help to take the company to the next level
Mr. Nandkumar Venkatraman (Senior Advisor Content): A well-known academician, Mr. Nandkumar, in these 4 decades has donned various roles as CEO, Director, Member Board of Directors, Director Academics, Principal, etc. Key assignments have included Adarsh Group of Schools Chennai, TVS School Madurai, Dhirubhai Ambani International School, GIIS Singapore, Ecole Mondial World School Mumbai.
Additionally, ClassMonitor has an education advisory panel comprising highly experienced and well-known educationists. The advisory panel meets twice a year to discuss the academic initiatives of the company.
ClassMonitor – Tools used to run the startup
Daytion is a platform created in-house. This has become the backbone of the upscaling from a team of 10 to 150 members and has helped streamline the ClassMonitor’s OKR based milestones thereby ensuring efficiency and greater productivity of the team.
The startup uses G-suite for internal communication and collaboration. This was especially useful in coordinating work and staying connected across teams during the COVID lockdown.
ClassMonitor – Achievements/Recognition
ClassMonitor has received numerous awards and recognition for its high-quality products and dynamic and innovative leadership, for example, 2021 saw it winning the TIE Start-Up award in recognition of its exemplary work.
ClassMonitor – Future Plans
International expansion: In terms of expansion, ClassMonitor’s current focus is India but the company has recently started operations in the US and Dubai.
“We are getting a lot of organic demand from these two countries, so we are now looking at a focused effort in growing there,” says Vijeet.
The team is also exploring possibilities of participating in the government’s educational projects especially the Foundational Literacy & Numeracy initiatives.
Future goals: Currently, the company is investing heavily in the content team to develop exciting high-quality content. For the age group of 0-6, the company is planning on continuing their pedagogy of keeping the kids away from mobile phones, and for the age group of 6-12 years, it is building AI/ML-enabled technology that can be directly used by children. The key focus areas are penetrating deeper into existing markets, building innovative content, and increasing marketing efforts.
ClassMonitor – FAQs
What is ClassMonitor?
ClassMonitor is a home learning platform, which blends traditional teaching with modern methods of learning. Its hybrid learning tool takes children to a learning space that combines real-life learning experiences with curated activities.
Who founded ClassMonitor?
Vijeet Pandey (CEO) and Vikas Rishishwar are the founders of ClassMonitor.
Is ClassMonitor an Indian company?
Yes. ClassMonitor is an Indian company headquartered in Indore.
What are ClassMonitor Learning Kits?
The ClassMonitor Learning Kit blends traditional teaching with modern learning to ease a child’s transition from preschool to formal schooling. The kit comes in 4 different product variants for children aged 1 to 8 years. Every box contains 250 DIY activities, including flashcards, worksheets, rhymes, stories, games, fun activities, puzzles, and art supplies for kids to play based on a set of more than 14 themes like plants, animals, and more.
How does ClassMonitor make money?
ClassMonitor makes money by selling the learning kits on its own website and on Amazon. The learning kit comes in four different models, each priced at Rs 3,499 per annum (including the app subscription). It has also created Skill Booster Kits priced at Rs 1,099 annually for kids aged 6 to 8, along with a Skill Master Hindi Edition Program as an extension to its ongoing programs.
Anik Banerjee
Rishabh Rathi
