INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Gradeup, an edtech startup in India that operates an exam preparation platform for undergraduate and postgraduate level courses, has raised
$7 million from Times Internet as it looks to expand its business in the country.Times Internet, a conglomerate in India, invested $7
million in Series A and $3 million in Seed financing rounds of the four-year-old Noida-based startup, it said
Times Internet is the only external investor in Gradeup, they said.Gradeup started as a community for students to discuss their upcoming
exams, and help one another with solving questions, said Shobhit Bhatnagar, cofounder and CEO of Gradeup, in an interview with
TechCrunch.While those functionalities continue to be available on the platform, Gradeup has expanded to offer online courses from teachers
to help students prepare for exams in last one year, he said
The startup offers dozens of courses and runs multiple sessions in English and Hindi languages
As many as 200 students tune into a class simultaneously, he said.Students can interact with the teacher through a chatroom
learning any concept and take their feedback
in India, more than 30 million students appear for competitive exams
that spend over $90 billion on different educational services
Chairman of Times Internet.In recent years, a number of edtech startups have emerged in the country to cater to larger audiences and make
access to courses cheaper
Vedantu, a Bangalore-based startup that raised $42 million in late August, offers a mix of recorded and live and interactive
courses.Co-founders of Noida-based edtech startup GradeupBut still, only a fraction of students take online courses today
One of the roadblocks in their growth has been access to mobile data, which until recent years was fairly expensive in the country
But arrival of Reliance Jio has solved that issue, said Bhatnagar
The other is acceptance from students and more importantly, their parents
Watching a course online on a smartphone or desktop is still a new concept for many parents in the country, he said
Today, the next wave is online live courses like Gradeup, with teacher-student interactivity, personalisation, and adaptive learning
This trend will keep growing in India, where online live education will grow very quickly for test prep, reskilling, and professional
fresh capital to expand its academic team to 100 faculty members (from 50 currently) and 200 subject matters and reach more users in smaller
