startups learning like see trends market lot

The Indian EdTech Market – 240+ Startups that are Building the Future ofEducationNecessaryThese are trends that are seeing a widespread industry reach and marketadoption. If you are an incumbent or a new entrant, you should have a clearstrategy and initiatives for these trends.Test Prep, K-12 education, and online learning categories have the mostindustry adoption and market strength. Though there is a lot of competition,we will see a lot more companies entering this space as Indians spend a lot ontuition ($23.7 Billion in 2013) and preparing/cramming for standardized tests.Sadly, we won’t see a lot of OpenCourseWare like NPTEL and IGNOU anymore asthe barrier for entry is high (You’ll need high-quality content which usuallycomes from prestigious universities for OCWs like MIT and Harvard OCW and EdX.Our IIT’s OCW is NPTEL, and we got IGNOU too. So, I don’t see any otheruniversities that caliber of content). Instead, we will see more startupsworking on freemium gamified apps for language learning and more niche onlinelearning platforms.ThreateningThese are trends that have significant market growth forecast and unusualinvestment activity. Early adopters have embraced it, and these trends are ontheir way to gaining widespread industry and customer adoption.Boot camps are a promising trend. Generally, a classroom-based traininginstitute would conduct a course for around 30–40 hours, and you can’t becomea good developer with that theoretical knowledge. Bootcamps are intensive 100+hours of hands-on programs that generate better results — startups likeGreyAtom, School of Accelerated Learning are some of the exciting startups inthe boot camp space.Niche Online Learning is another promising trend. One of the startups ridingthis trend is LearnApp (an Indian version of MasterClass for finance). SkillLync is another online platform for mechanical engineering students to learnskills that aren’t taught in universities. We’ll see an increasing number ofniche online startups as the barrier for entry is low with higher marketdemand and lower industry adoption.Financing is an interesting trend. We’ll see a lot of fintech and startupsentering this space helping students with microloans, interest-free EMIs forboot camps/online learning platforms, and access to scholarships.Counseling startups like Leverage Edu use AI/ML to help students find programsand colleges they are best suited for and then match them with a panel ofmentors. This is a novel idea, and this trend is gaining some momentum thesedays.ExperimentalThese are trends that are in the conceptual or early stage with a fewfunctional products/services and minimum market adoption. These trends areeither gaining media or investor’s attention with a lot of Poof of concepts inmotion. Personally, I’m excited about everything that happens in this quadrantas this is where actual innovation happens.AI in Edtech is shaping up nicely in India with companies like CarveNicheTechnologies, eDreams Edusoft aka Funtoot, and Genius Corner Educom (alsoLeverage Edu) are hard at work coming up with AI/ML-based personalizededucation for students and professionals.AR/VR is another trending experiment that is slowly seeing gaining somemomentum. Companies like SkillVeri, iAugmentor, PAL Genie Technologies, andSimulanis have working products and services to help create an immersive andinteractive learning experience. AR/VR should gain a lot of traction in thefuture as the wearable tech grows. The use cases are endless, and so are theopportunities — I’m super excited about this trend.Classroom Tech is basically using tech to enhance the learning experience, andcompanies like SRJNA and Experifun Learning Solutions have come up with hybrid(Real and Virtual) tools and tech to help enrich the learning experience inclassrooms and add a personal touch too. We will see new startups competingfor this space with more novel solutions soon.High Tech Labs are something I wish had when I was at school. These arestartups which help kids build prototypes with 3D printers. Companies like3Dexter help students develop good visualization, problem-solving and criticalthinking techniques while acting as a platform to unleash their creativeenergies. The success of these labs will be instrumental in setting thefoundation for the future of education in India.TransitoryThese are trends that see adoption with an uncertain market. As these trendsmature, we’ll see more opportunities and categories.Information portals are easy to build and maintain when compared with otherstartups in this space. Ideally, these portals are meant to bring clarity,visibility and the level of choice that people have in their hands right nowwhen it comes to selecting a school/course/university. Companies like MeetUnivand Minglebox help find universities, courses and get unbiased reviews andadvice from peers, mentors, and industry experts.High-quality Course Materials are hard to find, and startups like Prozo helpstudents get their hands on notes, books, and other course materials.Democratizing course and study material will have a massive impact on howstudents learn and prepare for exams. I see trends pointing to more marketadoption for these startups and marketplaces in the next few years.Collaboration and management tools and admin tools are critical for next-genschools and universities. Startups like Linkstreet Learning provide video-based learning and collaboration tools for organizations, and eShiksa isanother management portal that helps educators manage, analyze, and reportextensive data while saving time by eliminating repeated data entry. I’mpredicting that these startups will grow into a new age niche LearningManagement systems, but this is a very nascent category.Now that we have a clear bird’s eye view of what’s happening in the Edtechindustry. Let’s look at the market gaps.