The education industry has moved from traditional methods to more Web-based approached, with new technologies stepping in to make education a very different experience for the future. In that light, a research conducted by Craft Driven Market Research shows that, the 2016-2017 financial year should see a spike of 12% more funding for ventures in the ‘EduTech’ space. With new ideas, inclusion of educationists and students alike has been unparalleled, thus prompting the enthusiasm amongst financers in this niche segment.
Craft Driven Market research studied 270 Edu-tech start-ups of India which are currently running and investigated different parameters attached to them. With massive R&D and innovation taking place in these start-ups, the future of the country is expected to be much influenced by these start-ups. Moreover, with more than 1.4 million schools with an enrollment of 227 million students, India is one of the biggest education systems in the world. Also, there are currently more than 36,000 higher education institutes in India. There is a high potential for Edu-tech start-ups in the country while they evolve the face of education industry.
Major findings of the report are:
Delhi (NCR) hosts 25% of Edu-tech start-ups of the country followed by Karnataka and Maharashtra with 20% and 18% presence respectively.
Digital literacy centres have no relation with the presence of Edu-tech start-ups. Some states like Bihar and
Madhya Pradesh have a large number of digital literacy centres but almost no presence of start-ups.
There are 9 segments of Edu-tech sector that have been identified which are e-learning, learning management, ERP. Career counseling, extra-curricular, study material, Information provider, test preparation and 3D learning.
Number of funding in education sector is expected to increase by 12% in 2016 and 2017.
E-learning has received maximum funding till date followed by career counseling and learning management.
There has been maximum funding in the city of Delhi (NCR), followed by Bangalore and Mumbai.
The impact of EduTech startups is not just limited to the funding. What research has shown is that it had deeper effects socially, and affects the life of millions of students in a positive way. With all information like colleges, courses, institutions, education training, and the career options easily available via the internet within a few clicks, it makes for big changes in the education sector. Some estimates show, that by 2020, almost all students would be e-literate and would connect with various education service providers, without internet being as much of a problem.
However, the competition in the segment is also high. Most of the domestic start-ups have actually been more regional in their outreach, and some have even reached more remote destinations like the North-East! Aakanksha Aggarwal, the founder of Craft Driven Market Research, reemphasized by saying, “Currently there are more than 500 start-ups in the country in the education segment, many of them are regional. They have reached even to the North-Eastern states of the country. The time is not far away, when all the students and educationists will be connected through the bond of technology.”
What remains to be seen, is despite the infrastructural challenges for internet penetration, how deeply EduTech changes the education sector, and what it would mean for creating productive human resources for the country in the future.