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  • Is the Indian edtech boom beginning to go bust?

    Is the Indian edtech boom beginning to go bust?

    Mumbai: The Indian edtech industry has witnessed a dream run in the past two years. The pandemic turned out to be a boon in disguise for the fledgling sector, which saw blockbuster growth with schools and educational institutes switching over to the online mode. This paved the way for the rise of numerous ed-tech startups, with the space attracting a slew of investors and funding, helping several of them script success stories.

    However, now with the reopening of schools and offline institutes accompanied by an inflation-induced “funding winter,” edtechs face an uncertain future. Questions are being raised about the effectiveness of online learning as consumers become more sceptical of the digital learning model and the additional costs it entails. Several established companies in the space, including Unacademy, Vedantu, Lido, and Byju’s WhitehatJr., have had to resort to layoffs to avoid taking a big hit to their revenues or simply to stay afloat in the aftermath of the pandemic-driven edtech boom.

    So is the edtech bubble in the country finally starting to burst? Let’s find out.

    Customer acquisition- a major hurdle

    In the post-pandemic scenario, student retention and customer acquisition have become more and more of a challenge for e-learning companies, according to industry experts. There is no denying that, currently, all the firms in this sector are facing huge problems in acquiring fresh customers and retaining their existing ones, says Optiminastic Media head of business development and partnerships Aditya Pandey. “After offline centres and schools have been resumed, the registration count of new customers has lowered by a significant degree. Despite big funding and marketing promotions, edtech firms are still struggling to convince parents to adapt to the new services these firms have to offer.”

    Over 4,450 edtech startups were launched between 2014 and 2019, of which nearly 25 per cent have been shut down while the rest have been acquired by the big players in the sector, according to Pandey.

    Cutting down on adspends

    To curb the challenge of customer acquisition, edtech firms—which were one of the largest spenders on advertising during prime television properties such as IPL last year—have drastically dropped their ad spends on all platforms. According to experts, the cost of acquiring a single customer and converting that customer during the sales cycle has become too high for many edtech startups, and this is the primary reason why they have significantly reduced their ad spend.

    Be it digital, TV, or print, these startups are not spending as they used to during the pandemic, notes Pandey, adding that the prime reason for taking this step is to reduce the cost of customer acquisition, which was very high during the pandemic.

    “Compared to traditional institutes that spend 10 per cent of their total revenue, the edtech firms were spending more than 25 per cent on advertisements and promotions. In the post-pandemic period and due to some negative reviews by the customers, there was a big drop in the revenue, which forced them to reduce their current ad spending,” he continues. Instead, these edtech firms are revamping their pricing and working to regain the trust of the lost customers by adding value to their products and services, he adds.

    Taking the Hybrid road

    Many edtech companies are looking to launch physical centres as they prepare themselves for a new battle in the new normal as competition heats up in the offline space. In May this year, SoftBank-backed edtech unicorn Unacademy announced a plan to set up offline tuition centres.

    Edtech major, Byju’s is also pivoting to a hybrid model as the next stage. Since February, the conglomerate has opened 100 Byju’s tuition centres nationwide that combine both in-classroom learning and online tuition. It expects to roll out 400 more this year.

    Both online and offline education have their own set of advantages, where online education provides an excellent option for students who are unable to enroll in traditional classes due to financial constraints or other factors, says PhysicsWallah chief strategy officer Abhishek Mishra.

    We have seen the rise of e-learning as a result of advanced technology in recent years, but have never intended to replace the entire nature of traditional education with online learning, he says, adding that the company aims to provide quality education at affordable prices through both online classes and offline centres.

    CivilsDaily founder Sajal Singh agrees that both modes have their advantages and disadvantages. “Just as offline teaching cannot hide the dynamic benefits of online learning, it is undeniable that online coaching cannot replace traditional teaching methods.”

    Most edtech companies are adapting hybrid models, and I believe this will be the accepted way forward, says media tech startup FC Play CEO Arti Gudal. “As corporates, we believe the physical mode will always remain predominant with the online edtech companies complementing it, hence the hybrid model can and will work better for edTech.”Customer acquisition does not have to be through a single mode, it can be managed offline and online, she adds.

    The roadmap ahead

    Education is a long-term investment with lifelong returns, and people don’t want to compromise on their educational aspirations, believes Athena Education co-founder Poshak Agrawal. “Against expectations, we have seen a sharp increase in student queries for applications to elite universities in the last two years, and we think these aspirations are here to stay,” he adds.

    While the pandemic definitely accelerated the integration of technology into education and gave a boost to the adoption of educational technologies across all socioeconomic strata, now that parents and students have experienced the conveniences of online learning, there may be no going back, believes BrightCHAMPS founder and CEO Ravi Bhushan.

    Consumer acquisition is no longer the daunting challenge that it once was, he asserts. “The convenience of learning from anywhere and anytime in the world; greater control over their learning journeys through personalisation; global exposure and learning from a faculty that comprises subject matter experts from around the world at affordable price points; savings in terms of time and money; and the safety that comes with learning from your own home—an increasing number of parents and students are now opting for online classes.”

    In a service like ours, word-of-mouth is the best marketing strategy, Bhushan continues, adding that controlling customer acquisition spending is what has allowed the startup to maintain a long runway and safeguard them at such a time.

    The challenge for edtechs going forward, and possibly the only way forward, is to ensure customer stickiness and achieve sustainable growth while avoiding making misleading claims and unsustainable promises in their advertisements and marketing promotions.

  • Why startups facing strong headwinds with massive layoffs

    Why startups facing strong headwinds with massive layoffs

    MUMBAI: Social commerce startup CityMall became the latest startup to announce mass lay-offs. In a LinkedIn post on 19 June, the firm said that it has laid off 191 employees alluding to the current funding environment and a change in its business model as reasons. In addition, SoftBank-backed Unacademy laid off another 150 employees last week, after letting go of around 600 employees or 10 percent of its workforce in the beginning of this year. Around the same time, Coinbase sacked about 8 percent of its India workforce, amid a crash in digital assets. While crypto companies have taken a hit in 2022 because of uncertainties revolving around their legal validity in India, they aren’t the only ones to feel the chills of a market meltdown.

    Several Indian startups seem to be on a lay-off spree currently, after the hiring augmented for a brief period, leading to thousands of workers staring at an uncertain future amid heightened inflation & economic downturn, thereby, adversely impacting startups in the recent months. Startups that issued pink slips this year included unicorns such as Vedantu (laid off 642 employees in May), Cars24 (laid off 600 in May), Ola (laid off 1,200 earlier this year), Meesho (laid off 150 in April), MPL (laid off 100 in May), Trell (laid off 300 in March) and Unacademy (laid off 750 over the last few months).

    So far, over 10,000 employees have been laid off by 24 startups, based on media reports. The new-age sectors which have witnessed the maximum layoffs are edtech and ecommerce. Just a year back, several of these new companies were hiring robustly, offering ambitious pay packages, having raised intense funding, and expanding vigorously.

    Furthermore, Indian startups were the largest spenders during the IPL season, even leaving the heavyweight FMCG brands far behind in its ad spends. It is noteworthy that all the official sponsors of IPL this season comprised only startups. These majorly included fintechs and edtechs, such as Unacademy, Upstox, RuPay, and CRED, apart from Swiggy Instamart & Dream11, with each official sponsor shelling out excessive moolah.

    Gaming platform Mobile Premier League (MPL) was the official kit sponsor for the Indian Cricket Team while edtech brand, Unacademy was the official partner of IPL 2022 and sponsor of Kolkata Knight Riders team. E-comm brand Meesho was the sponsor of IPL’s official broadcaster Star Sports and the Gujarat & Rajasthan teams.

    What kind of challenges the Great Indian Startup is facing? Is the party finally over for startups? What is the current market scenario? Will startups recover and increase hiring in future? We spoke to the experts to understand the current situation of the market and future growth?

    According to Talent acquisition marketplace, FlexC founder and CEO Girish Kukreja said that most of the startups witnessed a sharp surge in demand for their products and services, when Covid was at its peak. “The market trend then showed a very bright upward growth. It multiplied the demand for human power to cater to the needs of current users and attract more consumers to the business. But most of these employees were hired probably in haste, with little to no solid plans for managing the growth and succession planning of these employees within the organisation.”

    However, when things moved to the pre-pandemic world, so did consumer’s behaviour also changed in many aspects. It, therefore, resulted in a setback for these firms. Hence, the layoffs happened, Kukreja believes.

    After a funding blitzkrieg that lasted for nearly two years, venture capital investments globally have gone down as technology valuations have taken a hit in 2022 in the post-pandemic economic situation, coupled with inflation and international unrest. As the startup ecosystem braces for a funding winter and subsequent slowdown, it is increasingly becoming clear that most of the players in the space hired too many & too soon.

    Despite that, Kukreja does not believe that it’s all over for ‘the great Indian startup party’. “In terms of overall startup employment, the current layoff numbers reported are a minor percentage- possibly five to ten per cent,” he states, adding, “Making mistakes and learning along the way is a part of every startup’s journey. The only mistake these startups made at that point was to hire many permanent employees.”

    The startup culture in India is pretty resilient and it will adapt & get back on track in no time, he says, citing the example of an edtech startup called Physics Wala that entered the unicorn club amid the layoffs.

    Some of these online-first edtech startups, such as BYJU’S and Unacademy are also reinventing themselves by moving to a hybrid model, with plans to open offline coaching centres, blending their online and offline teaching models.

    Several others have also resorted to curtailing expansion plans by closing down non-core verticals, moderating marketing and advertising spends, while going on a hiring freeze to tide over the bleak phase.

    Grapes CEO & cofounder Shradha Agarwal attributes the “mass layoffs” phenomenon against the startups experiencing a funding peak in 2021 to “the unplanned hiring spree in the rush to onboard talents”.

    “To achieve immediate results, startups experiment with new approaches that often misguide the management to formulate inadequate growth analysis. As a result, they expand into new growth plans and venture into new verticals which fails due to an unrealistic approach,” she says. This puts a lot of pressure on the workforce, and companies resort to cutting down on human resources as the only viable solution owing to its easily controllable factor compared to the other fixed costs, which are beyond their hands, Agarwal adds.

    Despite the glitch in the framework, the startup culture is there to stay given its business nature, Agarwal believes. “The industry is versatile where it has the ability to change and mould its business models according to the market conditions.” The startups must focus on proper recruitment strategies with specific skills hiring for longer sustainability, rather than being concerned about short-term goals, she states.

    Staffing solutions provider, Gi Group Holding India country manager Sonal Arora  does not see the layoffs being witnessed in recent times as necessarily being a sign of troubled times ahead for the Indian start-ups ecosystem. “Some of these start-up companies across various industries are in a process of consolidating their workforce. It is a strategic step that every organisation aiming to expand adopts,” she states. “In some cases, they have matured in terms of their business model and decided which are the products/ services they want to focus on, which will eventually result in better or improved services.”

    Experts highlight that layoffs are not a new phenomenon and have always been a part of various industries, considering that the layoffs are happening at a large scale around the same time in several startups is what has garnered a lot of attention.

    According to Arora, India continues to be the centre of emerging technologies. “This means that in the future we will continue to attract various series of funding and interest from venture capitalists,” she concludes.

  • Vedantu appoints Maninder Bali as head of brand marketing

    Vedantu appoints Maninder Bali as head of brand marketing

    Mumbai: Homegrown online learning platform Vedantu on Tuesday announced the appointment of Maninder Bali as head of brand marketing. Based in Bangalore, Bali will report to Vedantu’s chief operating officer, Arvind Singhal.

    In his new role, Bali will further build the brand and bring alive the Vedantu experience at every touchpoint. He will navigate the brand marketing playbook and drive impact at scale for Vedantu, said the press statement.

    Bali is an industry veteran who has 16 years of experience having worked with prominent advertising companies across India and Singapore, including Leo Burnett, Publicis Singapore, BBH, and Open Strategy and Design.

    Welcoming Bali on board, Arvind Singhal said, “His versatile experience will enhance our student-centric approach and strengthen our relationships with our stakeholders, allowing us to deliver excellence across all platforms. I extend a warm welcome to Maninder, and I am delighted to work with him.”

    Speaking about his new role, Bali said, “One rarely gets a chance to craft an entire brand out of a company’s culture and belief system. This is an extremely opportune time for me to be a part of the Vedantu journey. I’m excited to create a brand that becomes a force multiplier for our mission and creates impact at scale.”

  • Tata Sky partners with Vedantu to empower JEE & NEET aspirants

    Tata Sky partners with Vedantu to empower JEE & NEET aspirants

    Mumbai: Content distribution and Pay TV platform Tata Sky has partnered with Vedantu to make quality education accessible and affordable to students across India.

    For ease of access to the content, the service is also made available on the Tata Sky mobile app. Aspirants can learn and repeat batches, get access to catch-up and On-Demand content including syllabus revision, tests, class notes, among others. Students can also pose a question and have doubts addressed by expert Master Teachers from Vedantu. The service will also provide exam preparation material that can be accessed via the app. Furthermore, subscribers to Tata Sky will receive a special discount on Vedantu’s Live learning programs and be able to access Live classes, curriculums, course revision material etc.

    Commenting on the launch of the service, Tata Sky’s chief commercial and content officer, Pallavi Puri, said, “TV has the ability to reach mass audiences across the country. Delivering quality education through TV will not only benefit the maximum number of aspirants but will also take care of the lack of broadband availability which is faced by students from smaller towns and rural areas.”

    “Competitive exams require a designated method of preparation. Together with Vedantu, we are providing access to course materials, resources, quality instructors to diverse populations from a variety of backgrounds, abilities, and learning preferences, thereby bringing superior education several steps closer to the aspirants,” she further added.

    As per the partnership, two dedicated linear platform services– Tata Sky JEE Prep and Tata Sky NEET Prep– will cater to students from classes 9th to 10th for foundation preparation (IIT, NEET, NTSE, Olympiads) and core syllabus for 11th to 12th IIT JEE Main, JEE Advanced (engineering), and NEET (medical). The learning will be delivered by Vedantu’s Master Teachers including academics from IIT and AIIMS with proven track records in teaching. The medium of teaching will be a mix of English and Hindi.

    Vedantu’s COO, Arvind Singhal, said, “30 million-plus students across K-12 and test preparation segments every month benefit from Vedantu’s LIVE learning. This partnership is another step in the direction of our vision of taking quality education to every household at affordable prices.”

    In addition to providing students with a fun and engaging learning experience, the classes will also include interactive quizzes that students respond to using the TV remote.

  • #Throwback2020: The year ed-tech platforms thrived

    #Throwback2020: The year ed-tech platforms thrived

    NEW DELHI: 2020 threw up education headlines that were previously unimaginable. Closure of schools and university campuses across the country, cancellation of exams and ensuing protests, resumption of exams and protests thereof, and learning going truly digital – it was a year of chaos and disruption for education. With the threat of the virus showing no signs of abating, educational institutes remained shut and students moved in front of the screens. The obvious beneficiaries of this unprecedented surge in e-learning were ed-tech start-ups, which lapped up the opportunity to jumpstart their growth.

    Several education technology enterprises which had been vying to establish a steady financial footing managed to secure their place in the market as the pandemic ensured people remain indoors. Riding high on the digital wave with rapid adoption of mobile phones and penetration of the internet, these platforms emerged as convenient options for students to continue learning within the four walls of their homes.

    According to the Indian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (IVCA) and PGA Labs data, Indian ed-tech start-ups witnessed a total investment of $2.22 billion in 2020 as compared to $553 million in 2019. Byju’s raised the most capital of $1.35 billion, followed by Unacademy which raked in $264 million this year.

    Behind the boom in e-learning

    Credited as India’s first ed-tech unicorn, Byju’s emerged as a key player in the e-learning space. The start-up had already been in robust growth mode after its collaboration with Disney last year to make learning fun for young students. It gained a surge in its usage after the government enforced a 21-day lockdown in March. Students reeling under increasing academic pressure began exploring digital alternatives as they navigated new rules of online schooling.

    Another Bengaluru based start-up, Unacademy, which began its journey almost a decade ago on YouTube, also recorded as many as 30 million registered users as demand for e-learning soared. Students aspiring to qualify in various competitive examinations, turned to the platform after traditional coaching centres also faced closure.

    Data states that Indian online education platforms have raised $4 billion in the past five years (2016-2020) and Byju’s Unacademy and Vedantu have led the charts and attracted the highest funding.

    Coursera, Toppr, upGrad, meritnation, Getmyuni, Brainlyand Flintbox were other major players that held significant market share in the country in 2020. With their live online classes, course videos and personalised doubt-clearing sessions with online tutors, the platforms managed to make inroads into student groups.

    Apps like eduTinker helped teachers – used to chalkboards and notebooks – to navigate the unfamiliar space and overcome challenges posed by new digital tools. These apps are not only aids to school education but also prepare students to pick up new skills. Among these extracurricular activities, coding is currently hot property thanks to White Hat Jr, which was recently acquired by Byju’s. Vendatu, too, launched Super Coders to provide coding lessons.

    Apart from children, youngsters too migrated online to learn new skills or explore hobbies. Universities also began offering free online courses for those committed to learn digitally. Ed-tech start-up Yellow Class did just that. It offers a chance to children to get into new hobbies like drawing or dancing. Some platforms like Elearnmarkets.com and StockEdge.com also provide certified courses in the stock markets and other financial market courses for small investors.

    Long road ahead

    A recent report by IVCA pegs India’s education market at$117 billion with around 360 million learners in 2019-20.

    While 2020 may prove to be a watershed year for e-education in India, there is still a long road ahead. Online platforms have proved to be convenient options when institutions were shut, but their real test would be when schools reopen and online sessions are replaced with actual classrooms.  There are still no clearly defined benchmarks of how efficiently students learn in these virtual classrooms. But, going ahead, ed-tech start-ups could collaborate with schools and other educational institutes in a way that ultimately benefits students in the post-pandemic world.

    How well these ed-tech platforms would complement the traditional system of education in India in the time to come is a story waiting to be told. Nonetheless, the groundwork has been laid in 2020.

  • KBC gears up for students special week starting 14 December

    KBC gears up for students special week starting 14 December

    MUMBAI: The upcoming week on Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) will welcome some of the brightest young minds from across the country, as they channelize their power of knowledge on the hot seat. It comes at a time when live online learning emerged as a key leveler of knowledge in these unprecedented times and helped kids continue learning engagingly. This students special week on KBC will see kids between the age group of 10-16 years take the hot seat by a storm! Will the audience get to witness a young crorepati?

    Facilitating this students special week, Vedantu, a popular Live online learning platform, conducted V Quiz- a live host quiz on its platform. Students who participated in this quiz, played consistently and maintained top scores, qualified to be featured on KBC. With a high level of participation and engagement, Vedantu witnessed a twofold increase in its daily active users and nearly five times increase in daily V quiz attendees. From amongst the ones who qualified, 8 students will be seen contesting for the hot seat and playing Kaun Banega Crorepati with  Amitabh Bachchan!

    As a platform, KBC has gone beyond its capacity as a show year after year, putting the common man at the forefront and celebrating human virtues of self-belief, patience, perseverance, courage, confidence, optimism and intelligence. This season has been no different with people from various walks of life who considered setbacks as a stepping stone for a greater comeback and won Big! In this season, KBC has witnessed three crorepatis already.

    Tune in to watch the students special week on Kaun Banega Crorepati from 14 to 17 December at 9:00pm only on Sony Entertainment Television

  • Vedantu & Airtel DTH take quality education to TV screens

    Vedantu & Airtel DTH take quality education to TV screens

    NEW DELHI: The DTH arm of Bharti Airtel (Airtel) and ed-tech brand Vedantu have announced a tie-up to enable students across India to access quality education.

    Under the partnership, two dedicated DTH channels – Vedantu Masterclasses – will be available exclusively to 17 million Airtel Digital TV customers at Rs 4 per day. The channels will cater to students from classes 6 to 10 and slasses 11 to 12 respectively and will cover maths and science. The learning will be delivered by best-in-class faculty including graduates from IIT and AIIMS with a proven track record in teaching. The medium of teaching will be a mix of English and Hindi with plans underway to add regional language content, where possible.

    Bharti Airtel CEO and director Sunil Taldar said: “The TV screen is evolving beyond entertainment to becoming a hub for interactive education and learning that can be delivered in a safe and affordable manner, especially in these unprecedented times.  We are confident that this service will be well received by students and parents and education on TV will become a permanent feature, which will benefit millions of students.”    

    Vedantu CEO and co-founder Vamsi Krishna added, “Having established Vedantu as the unanimous choice for LIVE online learning in the metros and key cities, our next mission is to make our highly curated teachers and content available to a vast majority of Indian students. As a brand we are going the extra mile to make quality education accessible. Our partnership with Airtel DTH is in this direction and we are delighted to use our collective strengths to sustain India’s learning needs in smaller towns and villages.”

    India has a total of 260 million school-going children. In particular, those in small towns and villages have little or no access to high-quality learning due to limited broadband access as well as a shortage of faculty. Some even travel long distances for tuitions and this is challenging especially during the current pandemic. Airtel and Vedantu believe that with its deeper penetration, the home TV screen will provide a ubiquitous medium to impart knowledge and bridge the gap between quality teachers and students.

  • PhonePe’s Kunal Dubey joins Vedantu

    PhonePe’s Kunal Dubey joins Vedantu

    NEW DELHI: Kunal Dubey has joined Vedantu as head of marketing. He was previously working with PhonePe as head of business marketing and media planning, a brief stint of under six months. He had joined the cashless payments app in June 2020.

    Prior to that, Dubey was with Dentsu India Slingshot as country head.

    His longest stint has been at Flipkart between 2014 and 2019, where he served in multiple capacities such as director – brand marketing communications, and head of media planning and buying; associate director brand marketing and social media head; and others.

    Dubey has an overall 14 years of experience in the industry. He has worked at multiple agencies and brands including eBay, Reliance Communications, McDonald’s India, and Reliance Communications.

  • Vedantu’s usage soars during the Coronavirus Pandemic, making it the largest LIVE Online Learning Platform in K-12 education

    Vedantu’s usage soars during the Coronavirus Pandemic, making it the largest LIVE Online Learning Platform in K-12 education

    Vedantu, a pioneer in LIVE online  learning has witnessed a major surge after it announced support to students with free access to its complete learning platform during Covid-19 lockdown.  Owing to the temporary pause in learning across schools, tuition & coaching centers, students have extensively adopted LIVE online classes of Vedantu. The interaction with Master Teachers, Study Material, Tests & Assignments, LIVE Doubts feature has seen a massive increase during this outbreak as students continue learning from the safe confines of their homes.  The learning & teaching methods are changing drastically during Covid-19 period. While the entire EdTech industry is witnessing a shift, the number of subscribers on Vedantu’s platform has grown exponentially to 6,50,000 additional learners across K-12 & Competitive Exams such as JEE & NEET.

    Driving Impact at Scale is Vedantu’s singular vision as a pioneer of LIVE Online learning and a testimony of this is 1 Million students that attended LIVE classes on Vedantu’s patented platform WAVE post the lockdown in the country. 

    Students learn best when their brains are challenged in a peer learning environment. Wave is India’s first and only patented, revolutionary, interactive LIVE online learning platform by Vedantu. It is designed with interaction of students’ in mind. The platform enables the teachers to run Live Quizzes, Leaderboards, Hotspots in a gamified manner. 

    During this Covid-19 period, Vedantu has crossed a watch time of 1 Billion Minutes across its platform & channels

    Vedantu’s delivery of best quality education with India’s best teachers, its patented WAVE platform along with the comfort, safety and flexibility has resulted in such strong numbers. And as per a recent survey conducted on its platform, Students find LIVE Interactive classes more engaging, convenient and a better way of learning than offline classes.

     Vedantu’s collections and revenue grew by 80% over the previous month, achieving the highest growth over the collective last 2.5 years.

    “We will continue to provide free access to our platform to support students across the country ensuring uninterrupted & uncompromised learning, from the safety of their homes. Staying true to our vision, we’ll continue to invest in providing the best in class holistic learning experience & learning outcome for every child” said, Vamsi Krishna, Co-founder and CEO, Vedantu

    Vedantu's LIVE classes and the entire program can be easily accessed at home from your Mobile, Desktop & Tabs.