Indian EduTech Industry is considered to be one of the fastest growing industries amid COVID19. EduTech startups like Byju’s, Whitehat Jr, Unacademy etc has bloomed significantly during corona period and expected to continue growing at similar pace.

In today’s article of Market Forensics by Trade Brains, we’ll be discussing the Indian Edutech Industry scenario, how big it is and the major players in this industry. Let’s get started!

What is EduTech?

The word Edu-Tech is a portmanteau of two English words: Education and Technology. In simple words, Educational Technology (EduTech) is an amalgamation of hardware (teacher) and software (Technology), which connects the knowledge provider and seeker, just with the click of a button.

And an EduTech company is the one which designs software to enhance teacher-led virtual classrooms and promote learning virtually.

Global EduTech Industry

Let’s start with a Fun fact. Do you know that the Global EdTech Expenditure is expected to be 10 trillion US dollars by 2030? Just check the GDP of India to understand how big this number is.

The evolution of the EduTech startup has taken the world of education by storm. Interactive whiteboards have replaced the traditional chalkboards, smart tablets and Laptops have replaced textbooks, and we see a lot of investments coming in from schools in emerging technologies like Virtual Reality.

Globally India ranks Second in terms of Edutech startups. USA obviously occupies the 1^st spot. Brazil, UK, and China occupy the other three places to complete the top 5 countries.

There has been a lot of venture capital funding coming into the industry of Edu-Tech. Countries like China, Sweden, and Italy have more than half of their startups, being VC funded.

Morover, there has been a lot of acquisitions in the EduTech spectrum lately. In fact, there have been more than 200 acquisitions in this industry in the last decade and a half. The most noteworthy acquisition has been the takeover of Lynda by LinkedIn for a whopping amount of $1.5 bn.

The following image gives us a vivid idea of VC funding in the field of Edu-Tech.

(Source: www.indiaeducationdiary.in)

Indian EduTech Industry

Currently, India has more than 4400 Edu-Tech startups operational currently. The rise of the Indian Edu-Tech Industry has been a story in itself.

The Pandemic (COVID-19) has been a game-changer for this industry. The size of the industry has multiplied manifolds. By, 2022, the size of the industry is anticipated to be in access of $ 2 bn. And what also aides the growth of this industry in India is the fact 37% of the population in India is between the age group of 5-24 years.

Some of the notable international players in India in the Edu-tech domain are Linkedin, Coursera, Udemy, Edx, Khan Academy, Google classroom, etc.

The lockdown and fear had an adverse impact on classroom teaching. Schools, colleges, and educational institutions have resorted to online teaching.

According to a report published by RedSeer and Omidyar Network India, “In times of pandemic, the user base of the Edu-Tech industry has doubled, there has been a 50% increase in the time spend online (60 minutes to 90 minutes), and a massive jump of 83% in the paid users”

We see a massive jump in the B2B sector for Edu-Tech. Schools, colleges, educational institutions are aggressively expanding their foray to tech-based solutions. Technology plays a very crucial role in the continuity of education with their tech-based solutions. And technology has also played a very important role in safeguarding jobs in times of pandemic. And teachers and students have both benefitted from this.

Targetable EduTech Size in India

The current Edu-Tech population of 150 million in India is the highest in the world and with sustainable upgradation and continuous development, it is likely to go up in the future.

And as we know, in this world and age of tech innovation, change is the only constant. And tech companies need to constantly come up with new products and cutting-edge technology to be able to survive this competitive industry.

Promising EduTech Startups in India

(Source: thehighereducationreview.com)

In addition, a few notable mentions in this list of EduTech Startups or leading EduTech companies in India will be Unacademy, Vedantu, Great learning etc.

Government Initiatives to promote Online Education in India

There have been a couple of initiatives by the government of India to promote digital education in India – the SWAYAM program and DIKSHA program.

• The SWAYAM program was designed to achieve the three-degree cardinal principle of educational policy like Access, Equity and Quality. The main objective of this policy is to mainstream those students who are lagging behind because of the digital divide.
• The DIKSHA program is a national digital infrastructure program for Teachers. The center monitors the functionality of the program and makes sure that the benefits reach the teachers in an equal and non-partial way.

Closing Thoughts

The time of Pandemic has shown us the potential of the Indian EduTech Industry. It has proven to be the single most important medium to connect the knowledge seeker and knowledge provider.

Only time will tell the exact future of this industry. But one thing is for sure, this industry is here to stay and rule. And people in the remotest corner of the country have been able to access to quality education, which otherwise might have been a far fetched dream.

That’s all for today’s Market Forensics. We’ll be back tomorrow with another interesting market news and analysis. Till then, Take care and Happy investing!!

Hitesh Singhi

Hitesh Singhi is an active derivative trader with over +10 years of experience of trading in Futures and Options in Indian Equity market and International energy products like Brent Crude, WTI Crude, RBOB, Gasoline etc. He has traded on BSE, NSE, ICE Exchange & NYMEX Exchange. By qualification, Hitesh has a graduate degree in Business Management and an MBA in Finance. Connect with Hitesh over Twitter here!