BENGALURU: While the pandemic hit several other sectors, the online learning space in India witnessed a $2 billion funding in 2020, according to a report by Research firm Tracxn. Market leaders including Byju’s, Unacademy and upGrad have attracted investments from global PE/ VC funds and gone on to acquire smaller firms which either have a specialised tech product or service offering, leading to further consolidation within the sector. India’s edtech sector is expected to be $30 billion market size by 2030.
As Covid-induced lockdown continues, the demand for online learning is set to grow further. Industry leaders say the edtech boom will continue in 2021 despite the economy on a backtrack due to rising Covid cases. On Monday, upGrad announced acquisition of Bengaluru-based video learning platform Impartus for Rs 150 crore. UpGrad, which enables upskilling of professionals/ civil services aspirants through remote learning courses is now aiming to venture into K-12 online education space through this acquisition putting it at loggerheads with Byju’s, which now commands a valuation of over $15 billion.
With this acquisition, upGrad, which predominantly focuses on working professionals, will now be able to strengthen its presence among higher educationinstitutions and learners, which is a Rs 560 billion market, the company said. Another major player, Unacademy, also expanded its target and acquired six miche firms last year as well as secured SoftBank Vision Fund’s Vision Fund 2 funding to turn into a unicorn. The $1 billion acquisition of Aakash Educational Services by Byju’s – India’s largest edtech firm – in April paved the way for the integration of technology channels and physical learning resources.
Bright future
Edtech has matured since the onset of Covid pandemic and this is expected to continue this year as well, said Siddharth Maheshwari, co-founder, Newton School.