CURRENT SCENARIO OF ED-TECH COMPANIES

One of the largest and most important sectors of the global economy, the education industry, is undergoing a digital revolution. Artificial intelligence, automation and digitalization are redefining norms in education as more efficient and engaging forms of educational delivery channels emerge.

There has been very little innovation with education being one of the most traditional sectors globally where the “service” has been delivered in almost the same way for centuries. In fact, the penetration of digital technologies prior to COVID-19 was low, at only 2-3 per cent, which is well below most other sectors of the modern economy. However, COVID-19 has propelled education technology, commonly known as edtech now, into the mainstream and has removed the main bottlenecks, namely teachers’

COVID-19 has been a strong catalyst to the sector
Before the pandemic and the overnight shift to working from home, online learning was operating on the fringes of the offline offerings. In most cases, it complemented the traditional learning process or substituted live tutors where there was no other way to access them. During the crisis, there were no alternatives, and online suddenly became the norm. Adoption and usage has swelled and the demand for edtech solutions has grown at an extraordinary pace, fast-tracking the digitalization of education by five to ten years. With the extra resources, and a vast population of educators and students who are now much more open to digital learning, edtech could transform education as we know it.

EdTech in India :

In India, EdTech is no longer a sunrise sector, but an industry whose moment has arrived with more than $5 bn in private equity investments over the last five years. Two unicorns have already been created in this space with Byju’s being the most valuable unicorn out of India at a $16.5 bn valuation and Unacademy also entering the elite billion-dollar club recently. There are more than 4,500 startups operating in the edtech space in India currently, an industry that is projected to grow to $30 bn in the next 10 years from the current market size of around $800 mn, according to a recent report by RBSA Advisors.

The pandemic-driven lockdown has given a huge booster shot to the already growing industry with schools moving online and work from home culture poised to become an accepted way of life. As per a recent report by The Ken, since the pandemic broke out, Byju’s alone added 20 million new students on its platform with over 64 million registered students currently.

While the pandemic has been a shot in the arm for the edtech industry, the current edtech landscape will keep on developing with new products, focusing on providing a more customized and personalized learning experience for users, well after the age of lockdowns and curfews comes to an end. With these seismic changes bringing a new future for the education sector, this is a space investors can leverage if they want to integrate profit with purpose.