Ed-tech start-up GuruQ India, which connects tutors and students through its digital platform, offers tuitions at extremely pocket-friendly prices that begin only at Rs 200 per hour. When students opt for bulk classes (booking of five classes or more), the tutor might agree to lower the price even more, said Minal Anand, CEO and co-founder, GuruQ.
Moreover, “if a particular student has three or four friends studying the same subject, then they can opt for a group class with the same tutor, who may once again agree to teach at a lower cost,” informed Anand, who started the firm in 2016. “We have been self-funded since 2016 and then we received a pre-series A funding of Rs 2.5 crore in 2018,” she added.
Presently, the company is in talks with investors for another round of funding, which will come by the end of this calendar year or by the beginning of next year. The money received from the funding will be used primarily for marketing, growth, expansion and technical innovation, along with the recruitment of the top talent.
The company is planning to expand its functionalities, offerings and geographical reach to most of the tier 1 and 2 cities in North India. The expansion will happen in a phased manner after thorough market research is done. “Catering to regional languages while constantly upgrading our technology is high on our priority list. We plan to go operational in at least 8-10 cities by 2020,” Anand said.
GuruQ has a dashboard that is presently being used by more than 17,000 tutors and over 10,000 students. “Owing to the immense popularity of the dashboard, we felt inspired to make the interaction between students/parents and tutors even more user-friendly by launching an app in December,” she said.
This will surely make the entire process of finding and tracking a tutor much more simplified, time-saving, convenient and transparent, she said. On installation of the app, both the student and tutor will receive push notifications that will remind them of the upcoming classes and they can stay updated even while they are on the go.
GuruQ follows a five-step stringent tutor vetting process. The first step for tutors is to register their basic details and get their mobile numbers and e-mail IDs verified. In the second, they take a proficiency test in the subjects concerned. The third step involves filling up of an advance detail form by tutors, followed by the submission of photocopies of all their credentials. The fourth step is an online or offline interview. The fifth step involves conducting a thorough background check of tutors.