Indian education has faced a lot of challenges and hurdles from the financial angle to a wider gap between the academic curriculum and practical skill and calibre demanded in the job market.
Edtech has come out as an innovative solution to handle these challenges bridging the gap between these divisions and democratising education for even the last student.
As of 2023, India stands as the world’s second-largest e-learning market, with a staggering market size of USD 6 billion, trailing only behind the US. Forecasts predict this figure to soar to USD 10 billion by 2025, signifying a monumental shift in how education is accessed and consumed by students across the country.
Let’s explore the top 10 Edtech companies revolutionizing education in India…!
BYJU’S
BYJU’S is India’s leading ed-tech company which has revolutionised India’s growing e-learning ecosystem through its app-based services. It offers teachings to almost every major field of study and competitive exams and even from classes 1 to 12 as well.
Founded In: 2011
Founded By: Byju Raveendran
Headquarter: Bangalore, India
Current Valuation: USD 22 Billion after the last round of funding in 2022
Courses Offered: Course for Grades 1 to 12 – Maths, English, Science, JEE, NEET, CAT, GMAT, UPSC, Coding, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving etc.; Language Learning – English, German, Spanish, French etc.
Notable Investors: Baron Global Advantage Fund, IFC Venture Capital Group, Qatar Investment Authority, Sequoia Capital India, Silver Lake, Tiger Global etc
Revenue: INR 1598 Cr as of FY22
Unacademy
Unacademy – Let’s Crack it! – You might have heard this tagline anywhere on the internet. Started as a YouTube channel by Gaurav Munjal providing free educational content, the company is one of the fastest-growing Ed-tech platforms which provides a comprehensive e-learning solution to cater for the needs of learners across the country.
Founded In: 2015
Founded By: Gaurav Munjal, Hemesh Singh, and Roman Saini
Headquarter: Bangalore, India
Current Valuation: It is a Unicorn Startup with a Valuation of USD 3.44 Billion as of May 2022.
Courses Offered: JEE, NEET, UPSC, CA & CS, SBI, IBPS, CDS, AFCAT, Programming languages (Java, Python, C++, etc.), Data Science and Analytics, Web Development
Notable Investors: Sequoia Capital India, Tiger Global, Deepinder Goyal, Ritesh Agarwal, Meta, Microsoft, Accel, Temasek etc
Revenue: INR 907 Cr as of FY23
Vedantu
Vedantu is one of the innovative online tutoring platforms, the company primarily caters to the needs of grades 4-12 students.
Founded In: 2014
Founded By: Vamsi Krishna, Saurabh Saxena and Pulkit Jain
Headquarter: Bengaluru, India
Current Valuation: USD 500 Million as of 2021
Courses Offered: Live Online Tutoring for – Class 4-12, Test Preparation – JEE, NEET, NTSE etc and Additional Courses in – Coding, Reading, Public Speaking etc.
ADDA247
ADDA247 is an ed-tech startup, that mainly operates in the B2C SaaS segment within the ed-tech market. The company specialises in online test preparation platforms offering courses for various competitive exams.
Founded In: 2010
Founded By: Anil Nagar, Saurabh Bansal, Anupam Jindal, and Paresh Goel
Headquarter: Gurgaon, India
Current Valuation: As of September 2022, the Valuation of the company is USD 169 Million.
Courses Offered: Banking Exams – IBPS, SBI etc; Teaching Exams – UGC NET, TET etc; SSC Exams – CGL, CHSL, MTS etc; State Level Exams – Police Recruitment and PCS; Defence Exams – CDS etc; Other Exams – UPSC, GATE etc.
Notable Investors: WestBridge Capital; Google; STL; Sushil Kumar
Revenue: INR 61.5 Cr as of FY22
Physics Wallah (PW)
PW is a leading Indian ed-tech player that started as a YouTube channel, now offering online and offline coaching for competitive exams, achieving unicorn status in 2022, the company is famous for its acquisitions, controversies, and a popular web series as well.
Founded In: 2016
Founded By: Alakh Pandey and Prateek Maheshwari
Headquarter: Noida, India
Current Valuation: As of June 2022, the Valuation of PW is USD 1.1 Billion (Unicorn).
Courses Offered: School Preparation, JEE, NEET, GATE, JAM, SSC, UPSC, NDA, CA, CS etc.
Notable Investors: West Bridge and GSV Ventures
Revenue: INR 780 Cr as of FY23
ClassPlus
Classplus is a mobile-first Software as a Service (SaaS) platform that is designed to help coaching institutions, tuition centres, and private tutors transition their offline businesses to an online mode.
Founded In: 2018
Founded By: Mukul Rustagi, Bhaswat Agarwal, Bikash Dash, Nikhil Goel, and Vatsal Rustagi.
Headquarter: New Delhi, India
Current Valuation: USD 500 Million as of March 2022
Offerings: Mobile-first SaaS Platforms, Online Teaching Tools, Communication Channels, Content Distribution, Payment Management
Notable Investors: Tiger Global Management, Alpha Wave Ventures, GSV Ventures, Falcon Edge Capital, RTP Global
Revenue: INR 149 Cr as of FY23
UpGrad
UpGrad is an online higher education company offering programs in different fields of study. Collaborating with Universities and institutions to provide comprehensive learning experiences to college students, job seekers, and working professionals.
Founded In: 2015
Founded By: Ronnie Screwvala, Mayank Kumar, Phalgun Kompalli, and Ravijot Chugh
Headquarter: Mumbai, India
Current Valuation: As of June. 2022 the Valuation of the UpGrad is USD 2250 Million.
Offerings: Degree and Certification Programs, Skill Development Courses, Career Enhancement Programs, Corporate Training and Solutions
Notable Investors: ETS Global, Bodhi Tree, Kaizen Management Advisors, Lupa Systems
Revenue: INR 1194 Cr as of FY23
Toppr
Toppr is an ed-tech company to helps students excel in their academic studies providing access to educational materials, live classes, and tools/resources to enhance their learning.
Founded In: 2013
Founded By: Zishaan Hayath and Hemanth Goteti
Headquarter: Mumbai, India
Current Valuation: As of July 2021, the Valuation of Toppr is USD 150 Million.
Offerings: Questions, Solutions, Concepts, Practice Tests, Videos, Live Classes, Coding Classes and School Operating System (OS)
Notable Investors: SAIF Partners, Helion Venture Partners, Eight Roads Ventures, Kaizen Private Equity, Alteria Capital
Revenue: INR 50.6 Cr as of FY22
Simplilearn
Simplilearn is an Online platform that caters to the needs of Individuals seeking Professional Certification courses across various domains.
Founded In: 2009
Founded By: Krishna Kumar
Headquarter: Bangalore, India
Current Valuation: USD 601 Million as of November 2022
Offerings: The company provides a wide range of Professional Certification Courses such as Cybersecurity, Cloud Computing, Digital Marketing, Data Science, Business Analysis, Banking, Data Analytics
Notable Investors: Kalaari Capital, Helion Venture Partners, Mayfield Fund, Nexus Venture Partners, Innoven Capital
Revenue: INR 684 Cr as of FY23
WhiteHat Jr
WhiteHat Jr is an Indian ed-tech startup. It mainly offers coding and AI courses to children and students of the 6 to 14 age groups through one-on-one live video classes.
Founded In: 2018
Founded By: Karan Bajaj
Headquarter: Mumbai, India
Current Valuation: USD 300 Million (the company was acquired by BYJU at this Valuation in 2020)
Offerings: Coding Courses, AI Courses, One-to-one live classes, and Courses on Critical Thinking and Problem Solving to children of 6 to 14 age group.
Notable Investors: Nexus Venture Partners, Omidyar Network India, Microsoft (for partnership, not directly as an investor), Owl Ventures, SignalFire
Revenue: INR 483.9 Cr as of FY21.
The tech ecosystem in India is rapidly growing accelerated by the Increased availability of smart devices, advancement in technology, awareness and government initiatives as well. Undoubtedly, ed-tech companies are at the forefront of driving India’s Growing Digital Learning ecosystem.
