It is no doubt that Covid has brought a huge transformation in our lives. But the most important change among these, was the rapid boost in the adoption of technology, especially in the education sector. This pushed further a rise in investments in edtech companies. But some major companies like Byju’s had achieved unicorn status much before the pandemic outburst. Its Chief Operating Officer, Mrinal Mohit, says, “While students have always preferred the online learning medium, the pandemic has brought about a significant change in the mindset of parents and teachers as well. This will lead to sustained growth. We are also expanding our footprints across international markets by providing ‘one-on-one’ personalised classes under the newly launched Byju’s Future School.” going forward, India will continue to witness the edtech boom even when the situation returns to normal.

Owning to the Modi government’s focus on the new National Education Policy (NEP) and its thrust to online and blended learning, a lot of Edtech companies believe that their growth will continue over the next few years. Great Learning’s Co-founder Arjun Nair says that even as educational institutions resume physical classes, their belief and confidence in digital learning has grown substantially. Here are some of the Edtech companies in India that remained at the topmost positions during the pandemic.

Byju’s

Byju’s has become the topmost Edtech company with good quality online education. The company which started as a coaching class service is currently one of the most successful ones. The Bangalore based company was founded by Byju Raveendran and his wife Divya Gokulnath. Many big companies like Owl Ventures, Tiger Global Management, General Atlantic and Qatar Investment Authority invested in the company. To make learning a full filled and interactive task, the company has also collaborated with Disney. Their main aim is to provide education that is more personalized, engaging and easy to grasp. WhiteHatJr and SPAN Throughtworks Private Limited are Byju’s subsidiaries. It has also made its place among the leading unicorns of India.

Ekeeda

Prof Mahesh Wagh founded Ekeeda to create employable degree holders with cutting-edge integrated job readiness programs for engineering students. By providing aspiring engineers with industry-relevant technology and tools training along with internships and placements, Ekeeda seeks to accelerate their careers. To train students on industry-relevant practical skills, Ekeeda provides Corporate Career Tracks and gives hands-on experience with personal coaches, industry projects and technical internships.

Brainly

Brainly is an online community where millions of verified experts and students come together to solve questions. In 2009, Michal Borkowski founded the company in Poland. Users are allowed to ask doubts related to their assignments that get answered by the experts belonging to that field. It has acquired funding from Prosus Ventures, General Catalyst Partners, Learn Capital, Runa Capital and MantaRay. Brainly has become one of the world’s largest online learning communities, owing to the sudden switch to the online mode of education.

CollegeDunia

This online community founded by Sahil Chalana in 2014, provides a search engine that helps students find the right college and course for themselves according to their qualifications. It serves information for students on higher education both abroad and in India. After entering the course, one can find a compiled online brochure of the colleges with all the required information. M Chandrasekaran and Gray Matters Capital had earlier invested in the company. Amidst the surge of online modes of education, the company aims to grow its mobile-based application.

Study ‘n’ Learn

Founded in 2011, SmartSchool Education Pvt. Ltd. is a rapidly growing education company in India. Various institutions across the globe have been receiving innovative K-12 educational solutions through the platform. In 2017, Smart School released the StudynLearn App. The app has chosen a board feature and provides personalised content PAN India. It is the online edtech app that can runs in offline mode as well. The Bilingual feature of this app prevents the language barrier among students. From KG to 12th, the app provides learning material for all subjects. To enhance the learning among students and help memorize, the content served by StudynLearn includes games, quizzes, practice tests and real-life videos. In 2013, the content provided by SmartSchool received CBSE approval.

Gradeup

Specialising in curating content for acing competitive exams like JEE and NEET, Gradeup is also one of the leading edtech start-ups in India. Vibhu Bhushan, Shobhit Bhatnagar and Sanjeev Kumar founded the start-up under the parent company GradeStack Learning Pvt Ltd in 2015. They are invested in an interactive and engaging exchange of solutions and queries between aspirants and experts. To increase its audience organically, the company focuses on using Data Analytics.

Therefore, with more people aligning towards the online method of learning, it is clear that in the coming years, India will witness a shift from the traditional one-to-many approach to one-on-one learning experiences.