Page 24 - Edtech

Top headlines: Byju's raises $250 mn; ACC posts surprise Q2 loss

Business Standard brings you top news of the evening

Edtech platform Vedantu takes majority stake in Deeksha for $40 mn

This partnership seeks to leverage Vedantu's technology and integrate it into offline centers to create a scalable hybrid model

Will hire 10,000 teachers in next 6 months, says Byju's co-founder

The hiring strategy is going to play a key role in the company's optimisation plan as it looks to target profitability by March 2023

PhysicsWallah makes acquisitions to foray into govt job prep, print books

Edtech unicorn PhysicsWallah on Thursday announced acquisition of test preparation edtech company PrepOnline and book publisher Altis Vortex for an undisclosed amount in a mix of cash and stock deal. With the acquisition of PrepOnline, PhysicsWallah (PW) has forayed into online competitive exam preparation segment and acquisition of Altis Vortex marks its entry into book publishing domain. "We look forward to this association and hope to provide world-class education content to our users," PW Founder and CEO Alakh Pandey said in a statement. PrepOnline was founded by Vivek Gaur, Manish Kumar, and Anurag Pareek, while Altis Vortex was established by Gaur and Kumar. PrepOnline focusses on preparation for NEET, Board Exams, and state-level government exams while Altis Vortex is publisher of NCERT-based books for class 11, 12, NEET and CUET-UG Exam preparations. PW has roped in 35 employees from PrepOnline, of which 18 are adept teachers with around 8-10 years of experience, to enhanc

Ed-tech firm FrontRow lays off 75% of staff, day after Byju's move

Second round of sacking to save costs reduces FrontRow's headcount to 45 people

Byju's to lay off 2,500 staffers, targets profitability by March

The company is also realigning marketing spending to enhance its global footprint

Byju's aims for profitability by March 2023, to fire 2,500 employees

Edtech major Byju's has chalked out a plan to become profitable by March 2023 to optimise its marketing and operational cost, which will lead to retrenchment of 5 per cent employees or about 2,500 people in next six months. Byju's co-founder Divya Gokulnath told PTI that the company will start focussing on building brand awareness overseas through new partnerships and hire 10,000 teachers for India and overseas business. "We have designed a path to profitability which we plan to achieve by March 2023. We have built significant brand awareness throughout India and there is scope to optimise marketing budget and prioritise the spends in a way that it creates a global footprint. Second is operational cost and the third is integration of multiple business units," Gokulnath said. She said that the K10 subsidiaries -- Meritnation, TutorVista, Scholar and HashLearn -- will now be consolidated as one business unit under India business. Aakash and Great Learning will continue to function as

Homegrown ed-tech platform Adda247 raises $35 million; Google new investor

Government test prep platform Adda247 on Wednesday said it has raised $35 million in a round led by WestBridge Capital; the round also saw Google as a new investor

Byju's says incorrect Indian map is not part of its study material

Edtech major Byju's on Sunday said an incorrect map of India that is circulating on the internet has been wrongly attributed to the company and it will approach the authorities for further investigation and action. The map, which has been attributed to Byju's, shows a few parts of Kashmir as "Azad Kashmir" and "Aksai Chin", sparking outrage on social media against the edtech firm. A Byju's spokesperson said the image in circulation is fake and not from its material. "All our content is watermarked and additionally our logo usage is incorrect, we never use an underline below the logo. We strongly condemn the incorrect map of India that is being distributed maliciously with our incorrect logo placed on it," the spokesperson said. The image has been attributed to student notes and also to an exam paper of Byju's, which has been denied by the company. "This is not part of any material that we have distributed. Our curriculum and all material created are strictly aligned to multiple ..

Edtech and 'dark patterns' to be focus areas for ASCI going ahead

The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) will be focusing more on the education technology sector and 'dark patterns' going ahead, a top official said on Friday. According to ASCI's secretary general and chief executive Manisha Kapoor, dark pattern refers to design behaviourial techniques being deployed by advertisers to manipulate the customers through fake reviews or falsehoods on pricing. "We are working on Edtech. We find education is a highly violative sector and will come out with a report after our study," Kapoor told PTI, speaking a day after the self regulatory organisation's annual general meeting elected N S Rajan as its chairman. She said with dark patterns, the body is taking a closer look through a detailed study. The official made it clear that the studies may or may not result in changes in the recommended code, but the broader attempt by ASCI is to nudge the industry participants and come out with guidelines wherever required. Another major concern of the

Internet firm Sulekha says will focus on ed-tech, Saas businesses

Company aims to have 125 million people using its English language learning app

IT giant HCL acquires majority stake in vernacular edtech platform GUVI

IT major HCL said it has acquired a majority stake in vernacular edtech platform GUVI -- one of the few companies in India to partner with Elon Musk's 'OpenAI' initiative -- for an undisclosed sum

Future of learning: Edtech start-ups' hybrid tilt to lure students

With the offline lure of greater teacher-student connect many such start-ups have forayed into brick-and-mortar centres to compete with existing offline institutions

Edtech major Byju's Rs 1,500-cr payment to Blackstone by September-end

The most-valued edtech start-up made headlines earlier this month after its FY21 numbers received an unqualified report from the company's auditor, Deloitte Haskins & Sells

Byju's focusing on profitable growth, $2 bn revenue in sight: CEO to staff

Asserts that FY22, the year in which the edtech firm incurred a Rs 4,588 cr loss, was the company's best so far and that 2022-23 is set to be even stronger

Did Byju's bite off more than it could chew?

Education technology company Byju's FY21 revenues came in flat, and its losses have widened about 20 times. While it may survive this crisis, questions still remain around the future of the unicorn

Edtech start-up Leverage Edu plans to double workforce in next 12 months

This comes after Leverage Edu raised $22 million in series B funding in March earlier this year, bringing the firm to a valuation of $120 million

Veranda Learning Solutions to raise Rs 300 crore in preferential issue

This raise includes an investment of Rs 61.4 crore to be subscribed by the promoters in the form of convertible warrants

Edtech start-up upGrad acquires corporate training solutions firm Centum

Company led by entrepreneur Ronnie Screwvala is on an acquisition spree and last month bought Exampur, a test-prep provider for state jobs

With a loss of Rs 4,588 crore, Byju's FY21 report card has many red marks

The FY21 revenue figure of Rs 2,428 cr is similar to the revenue figure of Rs 2,434 cr in the previous year, though the difference is that the bottom line in 2019-20 showed a profit of Rs 51 cr