Edu-Tech Startup Space Attracts More Deals

In what marks the first acquisition for the Bengaluru-based education technology firm Byju's, the tech startup reportedly acquired Vidyartha, a career guidance and academic profile builder, for close to Rs 50 crore.

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Byju's has so far raised approximately $155 million in funding and is apparently the most capitalized ed-tech startup in India. In 2016, founder Byju Raveendran raised around $75 million – $140 million from Sequoia Capital and Sofina, $50 million in a funding round led by the Chan-Zuckerberg initiative and another $15 million from the International Finance Corporation. Vidyartha is a data-driven platform offering customized learning guidance to

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students. It will help Byju in creating personalized learning experiences for students using the application.

A Week Of Funding For Edu-Tech Startup

This has been a fruitful week for edu-tech startups with some more funding news in the edu-tech space. Yesterday, we saw Bengaluru-based education startup Curiositi Learning Solutions getting Rs 5.4 crore ($800,000) in Series A funding from Menterra Ventures. Curiositi, which provides mathematics and science programmes for classes 1 to 10, has a mix of activity-based learning kits and personalized software that can be downloaded on laptops or mobile phones. Besides, this is Menterra’s fifth investment since its launch in January 2016. Its previous investments include that in Math Buddy (online learning startup), Leap Skills Academy (skill development startup), Biosense Solutions (medtech startup) and Nubesol (agricultural enterprise).

Besides, Unacademy, the online learning platform, has raised a Series A funding of $4.5 million in a round led by Nexus Venture Partners and Blume Ventures.

Funding In The Educational Sector

A business or startup that is focused on the education sector has to take a different approach from that of regular eCommerce. Education sector businesses are more oriented towards the long term benefits. The investors need to be aware of the challenges of online teaching and be open to taking that risk.

Market Overview

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Over the past couple of years, edu-tech has been keenly eyed by investors and enthusiastic entrepreneurs. Globally, players like Udemy, Khan Academy, Coursera, and Udacity are some of the popular names.

Research and Markets estimated that the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) sector would grow from $1.83 billion in 2015 to $8.50 billion by 2020. With the number of internet users in India estimated to reach 50 crore by 2017, edu-tech and MOOC platforms have tremendous room for growth.

Conclusion

As an edu-tech entrepreneur you need to be sure of what you build and how it has helped the market and your target audience. It is also important to know what has gone wrong in the process and your learning to set yourself apart from the rest.

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