Wed. Mar 27th, 2024
Top 20 Edtech Startups in IndiaTop 20 Edtech Startups in India

India is accelerating its efforts to boost education in the country, with the government focusing on creating a better ecosystem for universities and colleges, along with its plans to open more premier institutes such as IIT’s and IIM’s, in order to create a talent pool that will lead the country in the coming years.

The education industry in India is set to offer tremendous opportunities for growth as it is expected to reach $101 billion by 2019.

India is already the second-largest e-learning market in the world, behind only the US, and it continues to grow as more students leverage the internet, and edtech startups enter the sector to strengthen India’s e-learning ecosystem.

Here is a list of edtech startups looking to capture the growing e-learning market as they improve the quality of education in the country:

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Startups focused on K12 education

Byju’s

One of India’s leading e-learning platform, Byju’s was founded by Byju Raveendran in 2008, with its headquarter in Bengaluru. It provides a platform to help the K4 to K12 students to engage in learning through engaging video lessons and other material provided by its experienced educators. It has further expanded into various other competitive exams like CAT, JEE, NEET, among others.
The startup had last raised an undisclosed amount of funds in a round led by Tencent Holdings in July 2017. Last month, it had acquired Math Adventures, in order to develop K3 product line.

Vedantu

It provides a live online tutoring platform for students from K6 to K12. Vedantu was founded by Anand Prakash, Pulkit Jain, Saurabh Saxena, and Vamsi Krishna in 2011, with its headquarter in Bengaluru.
The had last raised $5 million in series B round led by Accel Partners and Omidyar Network in April this year.

Toppr

This e-learning startup provides video lessons, doubt sessions, along with other study material to help students in grades 5 through 12 in studies. It also provides courses for students preparing for exams such as IIT, NEET, etc. Toppr was founded by
Hemanth Goteti and Zishaan Hayath in 2013, with its headquarter in Mumbai.
The startup last secured 15.5 crores in debt funding from Alteria Capital in May 2018.

Meritnation

New Delhi-based Meritnation provides an online education platform for students to get live online tuitions. It was founded by Pavan Chauhan and Ritesh Hemrajani in 2009. It also provides other features including NCERT solutions, books, test series, etc, along with courses for IIT-JEE and other courses, to boost learning in K12 students.

The startup had last raised $5.8 million in its last venture funding round from Info Edge in November 2017.

Educational Initiatives

This Bengaluru-based edtech startup aims to enhance education among children through personalized and adaptive learning approaches. Educational Initiatives was founded by IIM-A alumni Srini Raghavan, Sridhar Rajagopalan, Sudhir Ghodke, and Venkat Krishnan in 2001.
Last month, the startup had raised ₹172 crores from private equity firm Gaja Capital, to expand into new markets, along with expanding its product line.

Embibe

Bengaluru-based Embibe provides an AI-enabled platform to provide a personalized learning experience for K12 students, higher education, along with vernacular language students, across the country and abroad. It was founded by Aditi Avasthi in 2012. The startup claims to have reached more than 15 million students, since its inception.
Reliance Industries Limited had acquired a 73% stake in Embibe for $180 million in            April 2018.

Zeroinfy

Kolkata-based Zeroinfy was founded by Rohit Bajaj, Abhishek Bajaj, and Aditya Bajaj in June 2015. This edtech startup provides an online platfrom for exam preparation. It helps the students prepare through online courses provided by the some of the most reputed and experienced professors. The startup offers lessons across various courses including IIT-JEE, CA, CS, among others.
The startup claims to have over 25,000 registered users, with more than 50 content creators on the platform. Zeroinfy had last raised an undisclosed amount of funds from      Calcutta Angel Network in seed funding in September 2016.

Entri

It provides a platform dedicated to students preparing for entrance exams like IIT-JEE and NEET, along with others. Entri was founded by Mohammed Hisamuddin in 2015 with its headquarter in Kochi. It provides over 30,000 entrance-oriented questions, study material, along with a forum to clear doubts with subject matter experts.

Schoolguru

Mumbai-based Schoolguru was founded by Anil Bhat, Ravi Rangan, and Shantanu Rooj in 2010. The startup has partnered with multiple universities to provide an open distance learning platform for students. It was founded with a vision to revolutionalise the open learning ecosystem in the country to empower students all across the country. In partnership with 18 universities, it provides more than 200 degrees, diplomas and courses to over 2.5 lakh students, across 11 states.
Schoolguru was acquired by TeamLease for an undisclosed amount in November 2017.

Plancess EduSolutions Pvt Ltd

Mumbai-based Plancess provides e-learning solutions to students preparing for competitive exams such as IIT-JEE, NEET, CAT, among others. The startup was founded by IIT-Bombay alumni Nitesh Salvi, Vivek Gupta, and Mirik Gogri in 2012.
Plancess was acquired by NASDAQ-listed education company Career Point in June 2017.

Startups focused on competitive exams for jobs

Unacademy

One of India’s leading learning platforms, Unacademy was started in 2011 as a YouTube channel to help students prepare for UPSE and other competitive exams. Unacademy was later launched as a platform by Gaurav Munjal, former CEO & founder of Flatchat, along with Roman Saini, Hemesh Singh, and Sachin Gupta. Its platform claims to have more than 50,000 lessons for 1.3 million registered users, taught by 4,000 educators, through online video lectures, and comprehensive study materials.
Last month, Unacademy had raised ₹144 crores in series C funding led by Sequoia Capital, SAIF Partners, and Nexus Venture Partners, to expand into new categories like GATE and CAT.

NeoStencil

Gurugram-based NeoStencil provides a comprehensive platform for students to assist them in their preparation for competitive exams. It is focused on competitive exams in order to help the students secure some of the most coveted jobs in the country. Some of the exams it focuses on include UPSC, SSC CGL, among others. The startup was founded by a Love Beejal and Kush Beejal in 2014.
The startup had last raised $2 million in series A round in October 2017.

WiFi Study

It is an educational and career portal, which enables students with guided videos and test series to help them prepare for various competitive exams. WiFi Study was founded by Dinesh Godara in 2013. Its YouTube platform has more than 3 million users, claiming to garner more than 1.5 million views per day. It provides live lessons, exam strategies, and pattern to help the students in their journey.

Testbook

Mumbai-based Testbook provides an affordable and efficient exam preparation platform for students to prepare for competitive exams. Testbook was founded by Abhishek Sagar, along with Ashutosh Kumar, Manoj Munna, Narendra Agrawal, and Yadvendar Champawat in 2013. It offers mock tests to help the student prepare and gives an analysis of the students weak and strong areas based on the performance.
The startup had last raised $5 million in series A funding led by Matrix Partners India in April 2017.

Smartkeeda

It provides an e-learning platform for students to prepare for exams such as SBI PO, RBI Clerk, and SSC CGL, among others. Smartkeeda was founded by Devansh Bhadoriya and Vipin K Shakya. Along with providing the questions, it also gives quality solutions to the students in order to facilitate better understanding.

Startups focused on Professional courses

UpGrad

Mumbai-based UpGrad provides a platform for individuals to accelerate their careers by completing online courses in accordance with their professions. UpGrad was founded by Ronnie Screwvala, along with Mayank Kumar, Phalgun Kompalli, and Ravijot Chugh in 2015. It offers various online program including digital marketing, product management, data analytics, among others. Along with individuals, it also provides its services to organizations, to help them upskill their employees. Some of the prominent organization among its client list include Apple, Carlsberg, Flipkart, HCL, IBM, among many others.

Imarticus Learning

The startup offers professional financial services and analytics program for individuals, as well as companies. Imarticus Learning helps create individuals ready for their next job by providing comprehensive training through its experienced educators. In addition, it provides a complete solution for corporations from accessing talent requirement, along with providing staffing solutions from its vast list of students. It was founded by Nikhil Barshikar and Sonya Hooja in 2012 with its headquarter in Mumbai.
The startup had last raised $1 million in seed funding in March 2016.

Simplilearn

Bengaluru-based Simplilearn enables professionals with the skills necessary to survive in this digital age through its various online courses such as cybersecurity, cloud computing, digital marketing, among others. It was founded by Krishna Kumar in 2009. The startup has helped train more than 1 million professionals and organizations, across 150 countries, with the help of more than 2,000 trainers.
Simplilearn had last raised $3 million in debt funding from InnoVen Capital in September 2016.

Edukart

This startup was founded by Ishan Gupta and Mayank Gupta, and Vijay Shekhar Sharma in 2011, with its headquarter in New Delhi. Edukart is a marketplace for education seekers to choose from a clutch of professional certifications, including finance, health, law, big data, along with degree programs like MBA, PGDM, MCA, among others. The startup claims to have more than 10,000 paid students and has partnered with over 120-course providers.
Edukart was acquired by the Indian digital payments giant Paytm in September 2016. It had last raised $1 million in seed funding in 2015.

Talentedge

Gurugram-based Talentedge is an edtech firm that provides an interactive learning platform for working professionals to enable their career growth through various degree and professional courses. The startup has partnered with leading Indian and International institutes such as IIIT-Bangalore, IIT Roorkee, London School of Business and Finance, among many others. The startup claims to have reached over 700,000 professionals across 90 locations through its education learning campuses. Talentedge was founded by Aditya Malik in 2012.
There is no dearth of edtech startups in the country, in order to cater to the world’s largest tertiary population. With approximately 29% of India’s population being between the age group of 0-14, and India’s higher education sector expected to grow to $35.03 billion by 2025, according to an IBEF report. The opportunities in the education sector are only expected to increase.

By Varun

Startups | Books | Ideas

5 thought on “Top Edtech Startups in India for K12, competition exams, upskilling courses”
  1. Please also add my edtech start up on your list. MyTutorsOnline is the most emerging provider of online education. We started in 2017. In 1 year itself we generated around 6 lakhs revenue.

  2. study24x7 is also one of the best EdTech startups that is making alot of name in the educational domain. Right from creating paid and unpaid courses to getting live classes it covers all. Students get a chance to prepare for SSC, RRB, Banking and all other competitive exams that too for free. There are many other things to look forward to on this social learning platform that is making it at par with some of the most established edutech apps in the world of teaching and learning.

  3. This is a nice and comprehensive list of edtech startups. Thanks a lot Varun.
    I would be interested to collaborate with your website for marketing promotion purposes.
    Could you please help me with details on marketing promotions?
    I am sharing my email id below

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