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As the government begins to take steps to fix <keyword id="1464841" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="edtech" source="Orion">edtech</keyword> platforms like <keyword id="2900267" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="byju" source="Orion">BYJU</keyword>'s, several parents have shared their plight on social media and professional networking platforms as representatives from online education providers continue to force them to buy courses. The Ministry of Consumer Affairs recently pulled up edtech firms during a meeting with them and self-regulatory organisation India Edtech Consortium (<keyword id="306435" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="iec" source="Orion">IEC</keyword>) amid aggressive misselling of courses to parents. "Hey BYJU'S and <keyword id="8080458" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="whitehat-jr" source="Orion">WhiteHat Jr</keyword>... Trust me I am pushing my daughter to start learning coding, and do IIT JEE preparations with you guys, but she is just not willing to do so. Kids these days don't listen to their parents. She just wants to be an artist. So, please stop calling me to sell these plans/devices," Prashant <keyword id="445" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="sharma" source="Orion">Sharma</keyword>, who is into business development and a consultant with a penchant for storytelling, posted on LinkedIn. His post led to a barrage of similar situation being faced by parents all over the country, who are fed by constant aggressive selling of courses by the edtech representatives. <keyword id="14487485" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="srikant-ganesh" source="Orion">Srikant Ganesh</keyword>, Vice President at Dentsu Creative India, posted that he can totally relate to Sharma's experience. "My 9 year old son's into chess, plays the keyboard and is into speed-cubing and has no inclination towards computers / coding as such. I believe BYJU's and WhiteHat's of the world realise that there's more to kids these days than just learning to code and yes! They have a mind of their own and no one can push them into something they are not inclined towards. This false sense of FOMO being created by such brands should stop and so should the calls," Ganesh lamented. After the Centre took serious note of mis-selling of courses to parents by edtech firms, self-regulatory organisation IEC said it is committed to protecting consumer interest and has resolved 100 per cent complaints received till June. However, fresh complaints surfaced on social media platforms this month, indicating that the problem has not been addressed in totality. "This happened to me. The sales representatives of #Byju's need to be trained to handle a 'No'. I have personally experienced this when a representative called my wife and she said that we don't want to enroll. He kept calling and then I had to intervene. He kept insisting that your child had been registered on their site, so how could we say No! He didn't seem to understand and finally I had to explain to him by activating my desi side. I registered my complaint on their site but it was removed the next day," posted Dheeraj Grover, Senior Manager, HR, at VVDN Technologies. Thangarathnavel M., Head of Business Development-South Asia at German company Covestro, said on LinkedIn that he could fully relate to it too. "I had enrolled my son 2 years back but it was not much of any use. Few months back I started receiving calls from them again to enrol my son for the physical classes. But even after saying no, the calls never stopped. Once I gave a piece of my mind to one of the callers and asked him to share the mobile number of Mr. BYJU. Now the calls have stopped coming. Hope they stop this forever," he described his plight. Earlier this month, the Centre warned edtech companies against unfair trade practices. In a meeting with the IEC, Consumer Affairs Secretary, Rohit <keyword id="255172" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="kumar-singh" source="Orion">Kumar Singh</keyword>, said that if self-regulation does not curb unfair trade practices, then stringent guidelines would be formulated for ensuring transparency. The meeting was attended by representatives of the IAMAI, along with IEC member companies including upGrad, BYJU'S, Unacademy, Vedantu, Great Learning, WhiteHat Jr, and Sunstone. During the meeting, issues pertaining to unfair trade practices and misleading advertisements for the Indian edtech sector figured prominently. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/sustainability/article/opinion-green-financing-in-india-need-significance-urgency-and-way-forward/articleshow/92948265.cms">OPINION: Green financing in India — Need, significance, urgency, and way forward</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/top-10-airlines-in-the-world/slidelist/92950615.cms">Top 10 Airlines in the world in 2022: Stats and performance explained</a>

My child likes chess not coding, parents fume at edtech marketers on social media

<ul><li>Video series shares the story behind the apps created by 8-year-old Manya, 10-year-old Agastya and 11-year-old Yuvraj. </li><li>The kids have a candid conversation with actor <keyword id="18461" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="R-Madhavan">R Madhavan</keyword>. </li></ul>EdTech start-up <keyword id="8080458" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="WhiteHat-Jr">WhiteHat Jr</keyword>’s students Manya, Agastya and Yuvraj recently interacted with celebrated actor R Madhavan to share their thoughts and motivation, which led them to create the apps PicKaboo, Pat a Pet and Med Maze, respectively. The actor spent time with the young creators to understand their inspiration, quizzing them about the development process and their experiences of learning to code. Madhavan, a technology enthusiast, was impressed by the sheer display of compassion &amp; intellect, which went way beyond the kids’ age. These interactive sessions were released today by WhiteHat Jr in a three-part video series. <div type="Youtube" id="FR7aUYw2h2k" title="One on One With Maddy - Promo | WhiteHat Jr" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/FR7aUYw2h2k/mqdefault.jpg"></div> Since its launch in 2018, WhiteHat Jr has continually empowered children to view themselves as creators. Here is what R Madhavan has to say of his experience of engaging with these tech-whiz kids, “Kids are our future and every time I connect with these bright, young minds, I am left even more awestruck than before. It is wonderful to see kids this young learning how to code and creating apps. I’ve seen the apps that Manya, Agastya and Yuvraj have created and it takes a lot of skilled guidance and mentoring to be able to mold kids’ minds to think in such a manner. At a young age, the mind is more supple and receptive to new thoughts, ideas and learnings. There are also no inherent inhibitions to curb one’s creativity. All they need is the correct guidance and I am glad to see that WhiteHat Jr is effectively empowering kids.” Talking about the students’ inspiring work featured in the latest videos, WhiteHat Jr, Founder and CEO, Karan Bajaj said, “The holy grail of edtech is individualized outcomes for each child as each and every one of them is special. Our 1:1 live online learning aims to deliver on this promise. We are delighted to see that kids such as Manya, Agastya and Yuvraj and so many others look upon themselves as creators and not just passive consumers of technology.” 8-year-old Manya Singhal from Haryana has created the <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gmail.singalshikha.picKaboobymanya">PicKaboo app</a>. She loves to teach her little sister everything she knows. With the concepts she learnt with WhiteHat Jr, Manya has developed an application that would help kids of her sister’s age group get information on their own in a fun way. 10-year-old Agastya Singh Yadav from Noida has created <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.whitehatjr.agastya.patapet">Pat a Pet</a>, an app for pet owners to connect with foster families for their pets while they are away. Agastya tapped into his own real-life challenge of finding a loving and caring foster home for his pet when he had to be away from home during his vacations. 11-year-old Yuvraj Shah from Kolkata has created the <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gmail.mpriyanka.medmaze">Med Maze app</a> to help people donate their unused but not expired medicine to people who need them but cannot afford them. Yuvraj hopes to be able to improve healthcare for the underprivileged by helping them access medicines easily.

When R Madhavan felt ‘under accomplished’ after meeting kids from WhiteHat Jr

<keyword id="10387" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="microsoft" source="Orion">Microsoft</keyword> India and <keyword id="23248" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="online-learning" source="Orion">online learning</keyword> platform <keyword id="8080458" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="whitehat-jr" source="Orion">WhiteHat Jr</keyword> on Thursday announced a collaboration to provide students as well as teachers access to personalised learning experiences with popular game <keyword id="858537" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="minecraft" source="Orion">Minecraft</keyword>. The collaboration is part of Microsoft and WhiteHat Jr's joint vision to reimagine learning in India with technology to unlock new possibilities for learners and empower educators. "The skills of the future will look very different from the skills that exist today. Platforms like Minecraft are ensuring students have deep, immersive learning experiences that unlocks both creativity and critical thinking. Our partnership with WhiteHat Jr is a strong step in making learning engaging and preparing young adults with the skills they need to thrive in a digital economy," Navtez Bal, Executive Director, Public Sector, Microsoft India, said in a statement. The Code with Minecraft programme will provide students an opportunity to master important coding concepts through a highly curated curriculum based on Minecraft. As part of this collaboration, Microsoft will also help upskill WhiteHat Jr educators through special workshops delivered by the Minecraft <keyword id="6355445" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="education" source="Orion">Education</keyword> Edition Teacher Academy. The course is available in multiple packages for students aged 6-14 years. Students start with game-based learning on Minecraft where they can build their own game heroes, game worlds and play multiplayer games within Minecraft's rich, ever-evolving environment, while learning foundational coding concepts such as commands, sequences, variables, loops and conditionals. "Students love our classes as they work on live projects and develop new skills with the support of a live teacher. For years, Minecraft has fascinated children across the world. We are very excited to be able to collaborate with Microsoft India and bring such an engaging learning experience to children," Trupti Mukker, CEO, WhiteHat Jr noted. With Minecraft students are presented with fundamental blocks to imagine and create various shapes, items and entire worlds. Students use simplified block code editing to modify anything, from how characters look to the physical laws that govern them. Additionally, Minecraft gives students access to a thriving 140-million-strong global community of gamers and creators. SEE ALSO: <h2 style="margin-bottom: 8px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 22px; line-height: 28px; font-family: LabGrotesque-Black, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; order: 3; color: rgb(17, 17, 17); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a class="list-title-link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/oppo-find-n-foldable-smartphone-to-launch-on-december-15/articleshow/88179557.cms">Oppo’s first foldable smartphone ‘Find N’ to launch on December 15, confirms Pete Lau</a></h2><h2 style="margin-bottom: 8px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.5; font-family: LabGrotesque-Black, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(17, 17, 17); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a class="list-title-link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/top-tweets-and-hashtags-of-2021-in-india-most-retweets-and-likes/slidelist/88180800.cms">Twitter in 2021 — These were the most liked and retweeted posts and hashtags in India</a></h2>

Microsoft, WhiteHat Jr collaborate to offer Minecraft game-based learning experience

<ul><li><keyword id="191862" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="sridhar-vembu" source="Orion">Sridhar Vembu</keyword> is the founder of India’s one of the biggest <keyword id="6361043" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="software" source="Orion">software</keyword> bootstrapped startups, <keyword id="265415" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="zoho" source="Orion">Zoho</keyword> Corp.</li><li>Vembu highlighted that he consciously avoided programming and computer science because he did not have any interest in it.</li><li>Vembu was 26 when he first started <keyword id="1574956" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="coding" source="Orion">coding</keyword> and founded Zoho at the age of 28.</li><li> Several startups in India have been pulled up for aggressive marketing campaigns to promote their <keyword id="8345659" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="coding-for-kids" source="Orion">coding for kids</keyword> products.</li></ul>As coding for 6-12 year olds is on a growth trajectory, <keyword id="841822" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="indian-software" source="Orion">Indian software</keyword> icon Sridhar Vembu has emphasised that late blooming is fine too. Vembu, founder and chief executive (CEO) of India’s one of the biggest software bootstrapped startups, Zoho Corp, highlighted that he consciously avoided programming and computer science — the hottest subjects even back in his days — because he was not interested. The Padma Shri awardee (India’s fourth highest civilian honour) said that he was 26 when he wrote his first code and it was only by the age of 30 that he had developed deeper thoughts about software. <div type="javascript" title="Custom" contenttype="Text"><cdata><![CDATA[ ]]></cdata></div> Platforms like <keyword id="8080458" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="whitehat-jr" source="Orion">WhiteHat Jr</keyword> and later Lido Learning have also been pulled up for creating aggressive marketing campaigns based on the fear of missing out. Later, both the companies redacted the ads. <div type="image" title="An Indian software icon says don&amp;#39;t push kids need not learn coding early" msid="86190620" hostid="261"></div> Currently, startups working in the segment are Tinker Coders, Camp K12, StayQrious, Coding Ninjas and CodeYoung. Byju’s alone has two such startups in its portfolio — WhiteHat Jr and Toppr that also offers Toppr Codr. It is now in talks to acquire a US-based company Tynker. Vembu’s recent statement just adds to the debate that kids should not be pushed into coding at such an early stage. Over the last couple of years, with the advent of startups like Whitehat Jr, an increasing number of parents are pushing kids to learn how to code. The recent disruptions led by new technology has added to the demand for an early start in learning. However, there are many who believe this fear of missing out may be unwarranted. Vembu seems to be one of them. He is an influential voice in the technology space ⁠— also member of the National Security Advisory Board led by Ajit Doval ⁠— who founded Zoho Corp when he was about 28 years old. The company is currently in its 25th year of operations and has never raised money from investors despite being profitable. Zoho currently has over 50 apps in nearly every major business category, including sales, marketing, customer support, accounting and back office operations. It also offers an array of productivity and collaboration tools. ALSO WATCH: Sridhar Vembu explains why he is not interested in taking Zoho for an IPO. <div type="Video" msid="86195015" hostid="261" title="Sridhar Vembu explains why he is not interested in taking Zoho for an IPO" dataSource="BUSINESSINSIDER" thumbUrl="https://denmark.timesinternet.in/cmslite/api/app/images.jpg?msid=86195015"></div> The company is headquartered in Chennai in India and has offices in several countries — United States, Japan, China, Singapore, Mexico, Australia, the Netherlands, and the United Arab Emirates. The company claims to have more than 60 million users around the world, across hundreds of thousands of companies. It employs over 9,000 individuals. SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/lenskart-vision-fund-will-invest-20-million-in-eye-technology-startups/articleshow/86188885.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Lenskart is setting aside $20 million for technologies like instant glasses, spectacles for the colourblind and other breakthrough ideas</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/apple-wants-you-to-update-your-iphone-mac-and-apple-watch-after-it-fixed-a-software-flaw-that-let-hackers-spy-without-anyone-clicking-a-link/articleshow/86185768.cms">Apple wants you to update your iPhone, Mac, and Apple Watch after it fixed a software flaw that let hackers spy without anyone clicking a link</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/facebook-has-a-secret-system-granting-5-8-million-high-profile-users-immunity-from-its-rules-a-new-report-says/articleshow/86177677.cms">Facebook quietly lets 5.8 million politicians and celebrities get special enforcement of its rules, report says</a>

An Indian software icon says kids need not learn coding early

<keyword id="2003276" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Jio">Jio</keyword> Platforms is among the most <keyword id="11169583" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="influential-companies">influential companies</keyword> in the world, according to the 2021 TIME 100 Most Influential Companies. As per the TIME magazine, over the past few years, <keyword id="6355199" type="DOMAIN" weightage="20" keywordseo="reliance-industries">Reliance Industries</keyword> has built India's largest 4G network by charging some of the lowest data rates in the world. Now leading investors are turning to Jio Platforms, the holding company for <keyword id="10926" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Reliance">Reliance</keyword>'s digital businesses, to reach its more than 410 million subscribers, it said. "Last year, Jio raised over $20 billion in capital, a testament to the value and potential of its rapidly growing user base," it said. This is the first ever list, TIME has come out with regarding the most influential companies in the world. that highlights businesses making an extraordinary impact around the world. To assemble it, TIME solicited nominations across sectors including health care, entertainment, transportation, technology and more from our global network of editors and correspondents, as well as from industry experts. Further, ed-tech company BYJU'S also has made it to the list. TIME said that as users of his company's signature <keyword id="235499" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="APP">app</keyword> nearly doubled to 80 million during the COVID-19 pandemic, Byju Raveendran, the founder went on a spending spree, fueled by funding from investors like Tencent and BlackRock. The BYJU'S summer acquisition of <keyword id="8080458" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="WhiteHat-Jr">WhiteHat Jr</keyword>, an app that teaches kids to code, along with the purchase of Silicon Valley educational-game maker <keyword id="2251704" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="osmo">Osmo</keyword> in 2019, gives the company a foothold in the US e-learning market. In April, the company announced plans to dramatically expand outside its home base in India, adding one-on-one lessons in the US, the UK, Indonesia, Mexico and Brazil. BYJU'S also snapped up a leading Indian test-prep school for almost $1 billion. The explosive growth has turned BYJU'S into one of India's most lucrative startups, increasing the company's expected value to $15 billion, up from $5.5 billion in July 2019, it said. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/info-edge-shares-jump-by-2-5-as-markets-cheer-its-move-to-sell-750-crore-worth-shares-in-the-upcoming-zomato-ipo/articleshow/82285596.cms" style="">Info Edge shares jump by 2.5% as markets cheer its move to sell ₹750 crore worth shares in the upcoming Zomato IPO</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/covid-19-vaccine-phase-3-registration-on-cowin-and-aarogya-setu-not-working-for-18-on-28-april-morning/articleshow/82284828.cms" style="">COVID-19 vaccine phase 3: Anxious Indians are complaining of CoWIN and Aarogya Setu registration being delayed</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/zomato-ipo-the-food-delivery-unicorn-has-filed-drhp-for-a-1-1-billion-initial-public-offering/articleshow/82286611.cms">Zomato reveals its much-awaited IPO plan and it’s worth $1.1 billion</a>

Mukesh Ambani's Jio Platforms listed in TIME magazine's 100 most influential companies in the world

<ul><li>In an interview with Business Insider, <keyword id="327937" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Karan-Bajaj">Karan Bajaj</keyword>, CEO of <keyword id="8080458" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="WhiteHat-Jr">Whitehat Jr</keyword> said that the company is doubling the number of employees and teachers to meet the 100% month-on-month increase in student enrollments. </li><li>For the non-teaching roles, the startup is looking to hire employees across domains like sales, curriculum creation, operations. </li><li>The minimum compensation we are considering for entry-level employees is ₹500,000 per annum. </li></ul>The <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword> pandemic has ushered an era of <keyword id="23248" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Online-learning">online learning</keyword>. As students move to remote learning setup, Indian edtech startup Whitehat Jr has ramped up hiring to meet the surge in enrollments. In an interview with Business Insider, Karan Bajaj, CEO of Whitehat Jr said that the company is doubling the number of employees and teachers to meet the 100% month-on-month increase in student enrollments. ALSO READ: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/careers/news/uber-has-revoked-job-offers-made-to-graduates-from-iims-mdi-spjimr/articleshow/75740158.cms">Uber has revoked job offers made to graduates from IIMs, MDI, SPJIMR</a> “We have 400 employees and 1,500 teachers as of now and we are doubling on both fronts. If we look at last month (April), we added about 700 people — 500 teachers remotely and 200 employees — despite the lockdown and onboarded all of them virtually,” he said. At a time when companies are downsizing their workforce, the startup, which offers AI courses to children aged between 6-14 years, is also looking to hire professionals from other startups. The teachers will be hired on a contractual basis as they are freelancers and are supposed to work remotely. “Teachers are all on cloud, so we have set up a very strong tech to enable the teachers to facilitate learning. We were able to scale that very well,” he added. <div type="image" title="Snapshot 2" msid="75688788" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Online coding classes at Whitehat Jr&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> They are onboarding women as teaching staff, who have a strong academic background in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) in fields such as machine learning and space technology. Women account for 85% of the teaching staff at Whitehat Jr. ALSO READ: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/policy/economy/news/breaking-down-modi-20-lakh-crore-stimulus-rbi-and-finance-ministry-steps-land-and-labour-laws/articleshow/75709001.cms">RBI and Finance Ministry have already spent nearly half of Narendra Modi’s $270 billion stimulus⁠— watch out for changes to land and labour laws</a> For the non-teaching roles, the startup is looking to hire employees across domains like sales, curriculum creation, operations. “The company is growing at 100% month-on-month. With that kind of doubling up, the tech has to be built more scalably and operations teams have to take care of the growing number of classes. So we need strong resources in every department.” Most of the new hires are expected to have 1-5 years of experience. However, Bajaj said that the startup is hiring across spectrum — team leaders, directors and other middle management roles. So, the experience may vary for them, according to the seniority level. “The minimum compensation we are considering for entry-level employees is ₹500,000 per annum,” he added. Backed by Nexus Venture Partners and Omidyar Network India, the startup is now eyeing global expansion as the enrollments increase exponentially. The company claims that its US business is growing more than 200% every month. “We have a strong 25-member internal recruitment team, and consultants who are giving us hundreds of profiles. People are also applying via social media platforms. So, all mechanisms are open right now,” Bajaj said. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/policy/news/india-chief-economic-advisor-krishnamurthy-subramanian-on-labour-law-changes/articleshow/75709571.cms">India’s Chief Economic Advisor uses the word ‘squatters’ to describe India’s ‘formal’ workforce while pushing for controversial labour law changes</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/ratan-tatas-advise-to-investors/articleshow/75687743.cms">Ratan Tata’s advice to investors — 'Don't dismiss anything as being too far out'</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/70-of-oyo-hotels-in-china-have-reopened-and-bookings-are-rising-slowly-the-company-says/articleshow/75687657.cms">70% of OYO hotels in China have reopened ⁠— and bookings are rising slowly, the company says</a>

This edtech startup is looking to hire 1,500 teachers and 400 other staff immediately⁠— CEO says the business is doubling every month

<ul><li>With students moving to remote learning setup, edtech companies like Gradeup, Vedantu, Simplilearn, <keyword id="2008319" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Upgrad">upGrad</keyword>, Unacademy, Masai School and others are hiring across roles including educators and product managers. </li><li>According to a <keyword id="769079" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="ManpowerGroup">ManpowerGroup</keyword> estimate, there are approximately 12,000 job vacancies for permanent roles across edtech companies in India, as of June. </li><li>Another 90,000 job openings are for contractual roles in the edtech sector. </li><li>Krishna Kumar, CEO and Founder of Simplilearn believes that the lockdown has been a ‘game-changer’ for the edtech sector as there has been a sudden surge in enrollments from students as well as working professionals.</li></ul>As schools and universities move to online modules for learning continuity, edtech has emerged as one of the top sectors that have been hiring aggressively despite the lockdown. With students moving to remote learning setup, these edtech companies like Gradeup, Vedantu, Simplilearn, upGrad, Unacademy, Masai School and others are hiring across roles including educators and product managers. Krishna Kumar, CEO and Founder of Simplilearn believes that the lockdown has been a ‘game-changer’ for the edtech sector as there has been a sudden surge in enrollments from students as well as working professionals. Over 1 lakh job opening in edtech companies for permanent and gig roles <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/jobs/situations-vacant-12000-jobs-on-offer-in-edtech/articleshow/76175565.cms">According to</a> a ManpowerGroup estimate, there are approximately 12,000 job vacancies across edtech companies in India, as of June. And that constitutes only the permanent job roles. Another 90,000 job openings are for contractual roles in the edtech sector. Simplilearn now has over 100 job openings for permanent roles and 500 vacancies for specialised or gig roles. “At Simplilearn, we witnessed a 30% jump in enrollments between March and April, 2020. While hiring was always part of the plan, the current phase has also triggered the need for more manpower to cater to this rising demand,” Kumar told Business Insider. However, as far as appraisals are concerned, Kumar said that the company is in a ‘wait and watch’ mode. “But all bonuses and variables are paid as per plan,” he added. Masai School is also planning to add nearly 20 people by the end of June. This includes Lead instructors, curriculum leads, technical mentors, marketing manager, admissions counselor and subject matter experts. “In addition to this, we have also rolled out appraisals to the existing team, for the year,” said Prateek Shukla, CEO &amp; Co-founder of Masai School. The demand for educators increase as the learner base grows Whitehat Jr, on the other hand, is doubling the number of employees and teachers to meet the 100% month-on-month increase in student enrollments. The company plans to hire 1,500 teachers and 400 other staff almost every month, CEO Karan Bajaj <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/careers/news/jobs-at-whitehat-jr-edtech-startup-profile-experience-salary-and-other-details/articleshow/75687582.cms">said </a>in an earlier interview. Unacademy too, plans to onboard over 500 educators over the next one year while it is also focussing on recruiting across teams such as sales, operations, confirmed Tina Balachandran, VP, HR at Unacademy. The edtech companies attribute the rise in jobs to the increased demand for online learning. “Due to the increased demand for online learning, we are definitely ramping up our backend and technology and have plans to hire 1500 employees across all levels and with domain expertise in the field of technology, product, finance, strategy &amp; HR,” said Vamsi Krishna, CEO &amp; Co-founder of Vedantu. The platform says that its revenue grew by over 80% with the students spending an average of 18-20 minutes per live class daily. Gradeup also witnessed nearly 25% surge in daily enrollments, especially live classes for JEE &amp; NEET aspirants. “With Covid 19 and the lockdown due to increase in demand, our requirements in academic positions have specifically gone up. At the same time we are also scaling up on the sales team to cater to the demand of online classes which were provided by offline institutes in the past. For the next quarter, we will hire technology, product and sales professionals. We have been hiring 30-40 people for these categories since May,” Shobhit Bhatnagar, CEO and Founder of Gradeup told Business Insider. Meanwhile, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/education/news/media-mogul-turned-education-entrepreneur-ronnie-screwvala-says-coronavirus-might-have-usher-a-new-era-of-online-learning/articleshow/74550344.cms">upGrad</a> onboarded senior staff including CEO Arjun Mohan and VP Puneet Tanwar, amid the lockdown. “We have closed a couple more senior management positions too, on the product and business side and they will be joining us in the next 4-6 weeks. All our hiring procedures have been shifted to online with immediate effect, which includes video calling at the time of shortlisting the candidate, followed by another round of interview call with the HR and the respective team manager,” Mayank Kumar, Co-founder &amp; MD, upGrad said. The hiring and onboarding has also witnessed a shift. Companies are virtually onboarding employees via video conferencing tools — leveraging technology and digitisation. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/careers/news/digital-skills-that-experts-believe-you-need-to-survive-the-current-job-crisis/articleshow/76167406.cms">Digital skills that experts believe you need to survive the current job crisis</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/education/news/indian-government-may-allow-schools-to-open-after-august-15/articleshow/76252838.cms">Indian government may allow schools to open after August 15</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/education/news/iit-bombay-kharagpur-roorkee-and-kanpur-students-will-not-have-to-sit-for-final-year-exams/articleshow/76167610.cms">IIT Bombay, Kharagpur, Roorkee and Kanpur students will not have to sit for final year exams</a>

Edtech hirings at an all-time high — over 4,100 job openings in Unacademy, Vedantu, Simplilearn and more

<ul><li><keyword id="8080458" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="WhiteHat-Jr">WhiteHat Jr</keyword> is the latest venture of former Discovery Networks CEO, <keyword id="327937" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Karan-Bajaj">Karan Bajaj</keyword>.</li><li>This edtech startup helps children between the age of 6 and 14 build market-ready apps, games and animations online, by using the fundamentals of coding.</li><li>The idea is to train children from an early age and instill in them a spirit of creation. </li><li>Following the initial success of the venture, Bajaj is confident it will do well in global markets too and will soon come up with a plan to take WhiteHat Jr to other countries.</li></ul> Barely a year after launching <keyword id="6345492" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="edutech-startup">edutech startup</keyword> WhiteHat Jr, former Discovery Networks CEO and founder Karan Bajaj is firming up plans to take it international. Based in Mumbai, this edutech startup helps children between the ages of 6 and 14 build market-ready apps, games and animations online, using the fundamentals of coding. Within a year of its launch, Bajaj shares that WhiteHat Jr received a phenomenal reception from parents in India and is therefore hopeful that the global market will accept the product too. Since an edutech platform like this doesn’t really exist anywhere else currently, it is expected to do well even outside India. He adds that starting December, they will start pushing the startup internationally. The idea for starting WhiteHat Jr came to Bajaj when he was reading about the Industrial Revolution and how Mathematics hadn’t been a part of school curriculum till then. “After the Industrial Revolution, every school had to create a new curriculum but it took them 10 years to implement that. I realized something similar is happening now. Today, consumer tech is at the center of every household but the school curriculums are extremely basic. Nobody is teaching children coding from an early age,” explains Bajaj. Why parents are invested in the idea As a part of WhiteHat Jr’s curriculum, a six and a half year old Venkat Raman Patnaik developed a reward management system app that keeps a record of a ‘to-do’ list for school children, along with reward points that they earn for it. Similarly, 7-year-old Hirranyaa Rajani created a sign language app for the hearing impaired that benefits those with hearing impairment and those who want to learn sign language. Bajaj says that parents are welcoming WhiteHat Jr wholeheartedly because they are seeing the world changing in front of their eyes. With more and more automation disrupting the industry, a lot of jobs are getting redundant. “With automation, conventional occupations are getting disrupted. And more and more parents are aware of that,” says Bajaj. The startup has been witnessing 100% month-on-month growth since its launch in November 2018. “Between November and March, we were forming the product in beta and launched in April. After that, we doubled every month. We also raised our Series A funding very quickly in June, so the response we’ve been getting indicates that parents are quite aware of everything,” he adds. While their current curriculum caters to children between the ages of 6-14, Bajaj says they will soon launch a curriculum for 9-12 grades too. How WhiteHat Jr works The model of WhiteHat Jr is simple. It is a web-based system, much like a virtual classroom, and the teacher to student ratio is 1:1. The kids have to book a session online which then connects them to the teachers. There is also a coding platform where the participants can practice coding. Each session is around 45 minutes to an hour long. The sessions encourage children to develop apps, games and animation. “We are sending the top 1% of these kids to the US for a week-long mentorship with Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. We also have an in-house team that helps them think on how to take a product and make it more market-ready,” says Bajaj. Currently, around 3,000 students and 350 teachers are on-board. It is also heartening to see children from non-metro cities are coming on board too. The metro to non-metro ratio is about 55:45. The future of WhiteHat Jr In November, when Bajaj started the company, he raised a seed funding of $1.3 million. He has just raised a Series A of $10 million. “Right now we are running a positive cash flow business, so there’s no immediate need for more funding right now,” explains Bajaj. The entity’s marketing and growth strategy would be linked to acquiring more users. “Right now we’ve only been doing B2C digital marketing but next we want to enter school channels and build more alliances. Till now, we’ve only done performance marketing but the outpouring of demand has been significant,” he adds. Bajaj further adds that they might consider an ad campaign after their next round of funding and has a plan to go global. “Taking the organization global is an important part of the plan because nobody has ever heard of a six-year-old creating apps and products that are disruptive and market-ready. So I think it has a great potential globally too where parents have already seen consumer tech to be the centre of their households. The idea that their kids can be a part of a technologically-driven future or create that future is a resonant idea globally. Starting December, we're going to push for international markets, but those plans are still being defined,” Bajaj says.

Former Discovery CEO Karan Bajaj’s edutech startup WhiteHat Jr to go global soon

<ul><li><keyword id="2900267" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Byju">BYJU</keyword>’s has acquired US-based digital reading platform Epic, which focuses on kids under the age of 12, for $500 million.</li><li>The Indian edtech giant plans to invest about $1 billion in the US market to expand its presence globally.</li><li>The company believes that the international market would make about a third of its revenue in the next three years.</li></ul>After a decade of breaking new ground with edtech in India and garnering 100 million users globally, Bengaluru-based BYJU’s seems to be making an interesting move with its razor sharp focus on the American market. The edtech giant on Wednesday, July 21, announced that it plans to invest $1 billion in the North American market to accelerate its growth in the next two years. BYJU’s has flagged off its American expansion plan with the acquisition of US-based digital reading platform Epic, which focuses on kids under the age of 12, for $500 million. Epic runs on a subscription model that gives classrooms and families unlimited access to thousands of books, videos and quizzes. The seven-year-old American startup, founded by Suren Markosian and Kevin Donahue in 2013, has a user base of two million teachers and 50 million kids registered on the platform. The company claims to have doubled its user base from 20 million kids pre-COVID. Epic has raised about $50 million to date from institutional investors like Creative Artists Agency, Evolution Media and Reach Capital. This acquisition of Epic is in line with the plan that BYJU’s founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Byju Raveendran described in an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIe5VhDvJXU">interview </a>with Business Insider in November last year. <div type="ExtQuote" text="“It’s very different how kids learn at different level — at individual level, subject level, age level or grade level — so what we have done is that for a lot of these early-age group level we have used a lot of these movie-like or game-like interaction to make sure that they get interested in the subject. By bringing that interactive appeal, we have been able to engage, but at the end of the day we are an educational company and our core strength has been how do you simplify a concept, how do you help them visualise the context and how do you help them contextualise the concept.”" auname="Byju Raveendran, CEO of BYJU's"></div> Markosian, CEO and cofounder of Epic, told Business Insider that the vision behind building Epic was to bring books and children together through technology. The company wanted to remove all the barriers between a book and a child, and help them find the right books so that every child will be excited about reading. “And so we've built this platform where children can independently discover any book or any content they like to read. The platform makes it a lot of fun to read, and a lot of 100 discoveries, new books, or kids love using it,” Markosian said. Last year, around one billion books were read on Epic’s platform. BYJU’s looks to go big in the US market The Indian business will continue to make money from the recently-acquired Aakash, which has a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/heres-why-byjus-may-want-to-spend-a-billion-dollars-on-acquiring-aakash-educational-services/articleshow/80243456.cms">network of 200 coaching</a> institutes bought for $1 billion in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/byjus-closes-its-deal-with-aakash-educational-services-for-nearly-1-billion/articleshow/81912772.cms">April 2021</a>. Anita Kishore, head of strategy at BYJU's told Business Insider that India will continue to be BYJU’s biggest market in terms of revenue due to the presence of BYJU’s core product offering in the country as well as because of the Akash acquisition. <div type="ExtQuote" text="Three to four years out, we would see about a third of the revenue coming from international markets," auname="Anita Kishore, head of strategy at BYJU's"></div> Kishore explained that BYJU’s is planning to focus now on the American market, as the USA is its biggest market outside of India. “The other advantage that US marketing gives us is the fact that it is English speaking, right? A lot of our products, while you know, they need to be customised, and so on. Given the language is English, we are able to actually scale those products well, with teams in India. Hence, the US has been a key market for us,” she added. WhiteHat Jr, BYJU’s other portfolio company that was acquired for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/byjus-acquisition-of-white-hat-jr-comes-in-line-with-neps-decision-to-teach-coding-in-schools/articleshow/77384750.cms">$350 million </a>in August 2020, has been folded by BYJU’ into the BYJU’s Future School brand that will focus on international markets like the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and other English speaking markets. The offering was launched last month, with 11,000 female teachers. For this venture, WhiteHat Jr has also stepped foot outside of its traditional coding for kids offering to introduce Maths. WhiteHat Jr’s CEO and founder Karan Bajaj has been heading this vertical and will introduce other offerings Science, English, fine arts and music classes soon. Taking a step forward, BYJU’s has also launched its learning app featuring Disney characters to the US last month. The company had also acquired educational game system Osmo two-years-ago, which has now scaled about four-times, as per the pressnote by BYJU’s. Kishore further added that BYJU’s will be clocking in more than $300 million in revenue from the US market alone in the financial year 2022. Of this, BYJU’s Future School will be clocking in about $100 million+ in revenue, Epic would add another $100 million+ to it and Osmo doing another $100 million+. Notably, BYJU’s is currently the most valued edtech startup in the world and the highest valued Indian startup. The company has garnered the interest from marquee investors like Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, Sequoia Capital India, Silver Lake, Tencent, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), General Atlantic, Tiger Global, Qatar Investment Authority and many more. The company had reported a revenue of ₹2,800 crore in the financial year ending March 2020, as its user base crossed 50 million. It has doubled its user base twice since then due to the tailwind from remote learning. SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/policybazaar-plans-to-raise-close-to-870-million-through-its-ipo-at-a-likely-valuation-of-3-5-billion/articleshow/84606274.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">PolicyBazaar plans to raise close to $870 million through its IPO at a likely valuation of $3.5 billion</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/swiggy-raises-1-25-billion-in-a-mega-round-of-funding-led-by-softbank-and-prosus/articleshow/84578974.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Swiggy gets a $1.25 billion cheque from Softbank for the same reason Zomato went for an IPO</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/brookfield-backed-tower-infrastructure-trust-to-acquire-space-teleinfra-for-900-crore/articleshow/84585544.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Brookfield-backed Tower Infrastructure Trust to acquire Space Teleinfra for ₹900 crore</a>

BYJU's acquires another American startup, plans to spend $1 billion on US expansion

Edtech industry leader Byju's is raising nearly $150 million from <keyword id="2538679" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="UBS-Group-AG">UBS Group AG</keyword>, that will take its market valuation to $16.5 billion, reliable sources said on Thursday. UBS Group AG, part of <keyword id="349466" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="UBS-Asset-Management">UBS Asset Management</keyword>, will invest a total of around $300 million in Byju's, people familiar with the deal told IANS. The leading ed-tech company recently raised nearly $1 billion as part of its 'Series F' funding that included Baron Funds and Facebook cofounder Eduardo Saverin's <keyword id="3472137" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="B-Capital-Group">B Capital Group</keyword>. The latest fund-raising came after Byju's announced to acquire Aakash Educational <keyword id="266374" type="DOMAIN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Services-Ltd">Services Ltd</keyword> (AESL) through a strategic merger. The deal size is also pegged at close to $1 billion. In September last year, Byju's raised $500 million (approximately ₹3,689 crore) in a funding round led by global technology investment firm Silver Lake. Existing investors <keyword id="526777" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Tiger-Global">Tiger Global</keyword>, <keyword id="6375561" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="General-Atlantic">General Atlantic</keyword> and <keyword id="7849665" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="owl-ventures">Owl Ventures</keyword> also participated in the round that put the edtech startup's valuation at $10.8 billion. The new investment came barely a month after Byju's acquired WhiteHat Jr, a Mumbai-based coding platform, for $300 million. Byju's said it has seen over 20 million new students starting learning from its platform for free since the lockdown. The <keyword id="235499" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="APP">app</keyword> currently has over 64 million registered students and 4.2 million annual paid subscriptions. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/health/news/covid-19-vaccine-india-needs-a-separate-queue-for-second-dose/articleshow/82304003.cms">India may end up wasting millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses if there is no separate queue for second shots</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/health/news/if-you-have-just-recovered-from-covid-19-experts-say-you-dont-need-to-join-in-on-the-rush-for-vaccination-immediately/articleshow/82302460.cms">If you have just recovered from COVID-19, experts say you don't need to join in on the rush for vaccination immediately</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/careers/news/atlassian-says-its-employees-only-need-to-come-into-the-office-4-times-a-year-under-its-new-team-anywhere-policy/articleshow/82304516.cms">Atlassian says its employees only need to come into the office 4 times a year under its new 'Team Anywhere' policy</a>

BYJU'S is reportedly in talks to raise $150 million to become India's most valued startup

<ul><li><keyword id="2900267" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Byju">Byju</keyword>'s plans to invest $1 billion in the North American market over the next two years.</li><li>The company believes that that international market would make a third of its revenue in the future.</li><li>The Bengaluru-based company is estimated to earn $300 million from the US market in FY22.</li></ul> Byju's has had global aspirations since 2019, when it acquired US-based educational game system Osmo for $120 million. The pandemic and the resultant boost for online education platforms in 2020 have led to aggressive expansion by the Indian decacorn (startup valued at over $10 billion) this year. “India can provide teachers to the world, just like software engineers,” founder Byju Raveendran said in an interview with Business Insider in October 2020. <div type="Youtube" id="qIe5VhDvJXU" title="How EdTech Can Shape The Future Hereon?" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qIe5VhDvJXU/mqdefault.jpg"></div> Byju’s has already laid out an elaborate plan for the estimated <a href="https://www.austrade.gov.au/ArticleDocuments/5085/Edtech-US-market-snapshot.pdf.aspx/">$43 billion</a>+ edtech market in the US dominated by Age of Learning (valued at $3 billion) and Kajabi (valued at $2 billion) in the kindergarten to class 12 (K12) segment Byju’s is looking at. Two acquisitions in the last one month ⁠— Epic and Great Learning ⁠— have cost Byju's over $1.1 billion, and it plans to invest over a billion dollars in the North American market over the next two years. Besides that, the Indian startup has launched its core Disney-based learning app in the US and launched Byju's Global School for vocational learning. Industry watchers believe there may be more deals and acquisitions along the way. Investment bank Dexter Capital’s founder Devendra Agrawal, in an interaction with Business Insider, said that there is a lot of headroom for edtech to grow globally and there are few with the kind of muscle that Byju's ⁠— with a valuation of $16.5 billion ⁠— has. More importantly, Byju's can make more revenue ($376 million in FY20) in countries like the US, UK and Australia, where people can afford to pay more. Anita Kishore, the head of strategy at Byju's, told Business Insider that international markets would make a third of the company’s revenue in the next three to four years. The USA would be dominating the international market for Byju's. <div type="javascript" title="Custom" contenttype="Video"><cdata><![CDATA[ ]]></cdata></div> <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none;"></colgroup><tbody><tr><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Metric </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Base </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">July 2021 </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Growth </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Valuation </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$6 billion (2019) </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$16.5 billion </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">2.7X </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Users </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">50 million (May 2020) </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#ffffff;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">100 million </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">2X </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Subscribers </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">3.5 million (May 2020) </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">6.5 million </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">1.8X </td></tr></tbody></table> With steady business growth prediction in India, why do Byju's want to look at the American market? The company started its expansion plans in 2019 by acquiring Osmo, which produces augmented reality games for mobile devices. <div type="ExtQuote" text="“We are building a product for the international markets. At present, our focus is getting the K-3 (lower grades first, then second and third grades) product ready for launch in the next few months.”" auname="— Mrinal Mohit, chief operating officer at Byju&amp;#39;s, said in 2019 while announcing the acquisition."></div> <div type="image" title="Image 1 Byju&amp;#39;s last two acquisitions and a deal with Disney reveal its American dream ⁠— one that is anchored in India" msid="84784080" hostid="261"></div> The company made its second acquisition in the US last week. It acquired digital reading platform Epic for half a billion dollars. The buyout provided Byju's with access to the company’s user base of 50 million students and 20 million teachers in one hit. Byju's also leveraged its<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/how-karan-bajaj-sold-his-less-than-18-month-old-startup-white-hat-jr-to-byjus/articleshow/77415329.cms"> $300 million acquisition</a> of the coding-for-kids startup WhiteHat Jr by launching the <keyword id="7677076" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Future-school">Future School</keyword> brand that will focus on providing extra-curricular courses in international markets. The company has already launched its services in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other English speaking markets last month. It has also been piloting in non-English speaking countries like Brazil and Mexico, and will plan a full-roll out soon. <div type="ExtQuote" text="“The other advantage that [the] US market gives us is the fact that it is English speaking, right? A lot of our products, while you know, they need to be customised, and so on. Given the language is English, we are able to actually scale those products well, with teams in India. Hence, the US has been a key market for us.”" auname="— Anita Kishore, head of strategy at Byju&amp;#39;s, told Business Insider"></div> The 10-year-old startup expects to earn $300 million in the US in the financial year ending March 2022, all thanks to these three products. <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none;"></colgroup><tbody><tr><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Company </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Projected revenue in FY22 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Byju's Future School </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$100 million+ </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Epic </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$100 million+ </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Osmo </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$100 million+ </td></tr></tbody></table> Notably, the company has made four acquisitions, amounting to $2 billion, in the last six months. Two of which — Great Learning and Epic — directly related to the company's international expansion plans. Kishore emphasised that Byju's does not have any target number for acquisition or investments to expand its presence in the US. “It is more where we see a strategic fit and an alignment of vision with the founders. That’s where we go ahead and do that [acquisition].” <div type="image" title="Byju&amp;#39;s last two acquisitions and a deal with Disney reveal its American dream ⁠— one that is anchored in India" msid="84783979" hostid="261"></div> “ India will continue to be Byju's biggest market in terms of revenue for the next two years. However, they would want this ratio to change going forward. How soon it could change is hard to comment. The outside market, like the US, the growth could be higher. Two-three years later, the percentage revenue they get from the US market could be sizeable. It would not be more than 50% or more than Indian market. In the long term, it may happen that Byju's is getting more revenue from outside India.” -- Devendra Agrawal, founder, Dexter Capital A dream so big, it may need bigger deals Acquisitions are usually done for three reasons. First, to enter new geographies. Second, to incorporate new services or products into business offerings. Third, to eliminate a disruptor that could be a potential threat to the company in the long run. “Because of all three reasons, Byju's will continue to acquire new players…,” Agrawal told Business Insider. The organic way of doing so, by building a team and hiring people, may actually take a couple of years. The inorganic way, by acquiring companies, can help speed up the process of scaling up. Madhur Singhal, managing partner and chief executive officer (CEO) at consulting firm Praxis Global, explained that the company’s expansion largely depends on how well the company develops an empirically grounded model of technology and capability that taps the market opportunity with cross-selling into customers of acquisitions they are making. “If this strategy comes right, it could result in bigger and faster outcomes,” he added. While the global market will make up a third of Byju's revenue, India will continue to be the biggest market for the edtech company due to the massive growth of its core product in two to three years, Kishore emphasised. The recent acquisition of the test preparation chain Aakash Educational Services, which has over 200 coaching centres across India, is going to accelerate the company’s growth in India as well. Byju's had acquired Aakash for $1 billion earlier this year and it was the biggest edtech deal in the world. <div type="image" title="(image 3) Byju&amp;#39;s last two acquisitions and a deal with Disney reveal its American dream ⁠— one that is anchored in India" msid="84784062" hostid="261"></div> Even though Aakash may not contribute much to Byju's international plans, the acquisition will give the company a sizable revenue as well as profit. “If somebody has to distribute Byju's revenue — organic revenue versus revenue of acquired companies — Aakash would give them largest leverage purely from the EBITDA [earnings with interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation] and revenue perspective,” Dexter Capital’s Agarwal added. SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/lok-sabha-mp-mahua-moitra-says-delisting-of-adani-power-need-to-be-looked-into/articleshow/84752594.cms">Adani Group in spotlight again — Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra says delisting of Adani Power needs to be ‘looked into’</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/thelife/news/tesla-shrugs-off-the-global-chip-shortage-to-post-its-most-profitable-quarter-yet/articleshow/84777571.cms">Tesla shrugs off the global chip shortage to post its most profitable quarter yet</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/personal-finance/news/six-red-flags-for-investors-to-avoid-becoming-a-victim-of-misselling-by-agents-or-financial-advisors/slidelist/84782913.cms">Six red flags for investors to avoid becoming a victim of misselling by agents or financial advisors</a>

Byju's last two acquisitions and a deal with Disney reveal its American dream ⁠— one that is anchored in India

<ul><li>Sonu Sood recently received UNDP’s Special Humanitarian Action Award.</li><li>He has emerged as a knight in shining armour and been applauded for his humanitarian work to send thousands of stranded migrants back home during the lockdown. </li><li>His rising affinity on social media has also helped him get popular in the brandverse. </li><li>We speak to experts to find out if the recognition from UNDP will finally help get Sonu Sood longer brand deals and bigger brands now. </li></ul>Sonu Sood, who plays an antagonist in most of his movies, is becoming India’s hero in real life. On September 30, he was honoured with the Special Humanitarian Action Award by the United Nations Development Programme for his selfless efforts to help people in challenging times. In the beginning of the lockdown, Sood and his team launched an initiative called #GharBhejoAbhiyaan that helped thousands of migrants who were longing to come back home. He later launched #<a href="https://twitter.com/PravasiRojgar?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1286322666580742144%7Ctwgr%5Eshare_3&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.socialsamosa.com%2F2020%2F08%2Fsonu-sood-campaigns-endorsements-through-the-lockdown%2F">PravasiRojgar</a> to help jobless migrants find a job and restore their livelihoods. He sent a few smartphones to students in Haryana who couldn’t afford online classes and helped students stranded across the globe return to the country safely. Soon, newspapers made special cartoons on him to celebrate the knight in shining armour and #Isupporttheherosonusood started trending on Twitter. It is for his philanthropic work that Sood is becoming popular even in the brandverse. Indian brands like Pepsi, Lay’s, Tata Tea Premium, Stayfree India, Edelweiss Tokio Life, Godrej Interio, WhiteHat Jr, ZEE5, to name a few, have approached him to help spread awareness on different social causes. Even in his brand work, Sood has spoken about the importance of wearing a mask, recognising everyday warriors around us, supporting local craftsmen, etc. Since he acted like a ‘Vighnaharta’ during the lockdown, Mangaldeep Agarbatti also approached him during the festival of Ganesh Chaturthi. Sonu Sood’s relief efforts for the migrants during the COVID-19 lockdown earned him praise from all quarters. He emerged a hero for his selfless, kind-hearted efforts for the community. It was due to his selfless image and uniqueness that brands started capitalizing on his growing popularity. Ergo, his brand value is also increasing subsequently. According to media reports, Sood is worth $17 million. However, it was only in early September that Acer signed a long-term deal with him. Sharing why the brand decided to on-board Sood, Sooraj Balakrishnan, Head-Marketing, Acer India said, “Apart from his exemplary work in cinemas where he is a well-renowned actor cutting across India, Sonu Sood has stood out in 2020 as an example of selfless service and humanitarian work that positively impacted and benefited thousands, if not lakhs of people in need during the pandemic. His contribution to empowering people echoes with Acer India’s brand mantra of empowering people through technology.” Balakrishnan agreed that Sood’s rising popularity is an indication that the consumers are looking for honest and real work now. He said, “People are looking for brands and public figures who have a purpose to make positive changes with honest and real work. Glamour alone will not sell and people like Sonu have really used his position for the good of people. I can vouch for his humbleness, genuine passion to help, and dedication to the cause during my interactions with him. Acer is proud to have him as our brand ambassador and we wish him more recognition for his work.” Apart from trust, caring, empathetic, relatability, and style, Kalyan Ram Challapalli, Chief Strategist and Founder, WolfzHowl Strategic Instigations, said one should also note his Bollywood-led personality attributes to evaluate him as a brand endorser. he is known for a good body (with muscles etc;), a sense of style (fashion) etc Challapalli said, “Brand Sonu Sood can also include attributes of health, fitness, style and fashion. In addition to this whether it is his “Arundhati” (Telugu – Tollywood Blockbuster) villain portrayal or other such south movies, he also has some traction in South Indian Movies and hence South of India as well (usually not a easy feat for a character artiste to achieve). Hence, Sonu Sood as brand ambassador represents trust, empathy, style, fitness and a pan-national appeal. But with the masses. Hence categories he can be used as a brand ambassador for are possibly: Agri-Fintech, Micro-Finance, Health Foods, Sports and Fitness Categories, Fashion category etc; But at a mass and masstige segments level.” Keeping these attributes in mind, Challapalli said that he can endorse brands in mass and masstige categories. “He can also represent “return to roots” desi culture brands across consumer segments. As a brand ambassador he can take “Ayurvedic or Indian natural products based health - Immunity” to both the higher economic strata consumers and the lower economic strata consumers. He can also be a good brand ambassador for democratisation of Insurance, or home loans, or even mutual funds to the masses and to ‘Bharat’,” said Challapalli. Sonu Sood’s social currency Harish Bijoor, Brand-Strategy expert and Founder, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc pointed out that the audience on social media is looking for real heroes now. Bijoor said, “Sonu Sood is the new hero. The new hero of a new generation that is driven more by social media accolades than traditional media praise. Social media seems to recognise the real star as opposed to the promoted star. This works for Sonu Sood. He and his image is pushed by an army of social media participants who chase the real as opposed to the made up.” Sood has 7.3 million followers on Instagram and 4.1 on Twitter. He became the talk of the town during the lockdown. As a result, his popularity on Google Search also peaked. The top searched topics included Sonu Sood Help, Sonu Sood Scholarship, <keyword id="10031923" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="sonu-sood-helpline">Sonu Sood Helpline</keyword>, Sonu Sood hotel juhu, <keyword id="10031921" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="sonu-sood-net-worth">Sonu Sood net worth</keyword> 2020. <div type="image" title="sonu sood google trends" msid="78414547" hostid="261"></div> During the period of January to September 2020, Sood was the most searched term in Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Uttrakhand, Telegana respectively. <div type="image" title="india-map" msid="78414550" hostid="261"></div>(Values are calculated on a scale from 0 to 100, where 100 is the location with the most popularity as a fraction of total searches in that location, a value of 50 indicates a location which is half as popular.) Sood’s impact on brand’s social image How will getting someone like Sonu Sood, who is a humanitarian influence, help how people look at a brand? Archana Jain, Founder and MD, PR Pundit, said, “The COVID-19 pandemic has had a deep impact on consumers. Consumer attitudes are changing. New socio-economic behavioural patterns are being witnessed. Global discourse centered around purpose and ethics is taking centre stage and scoring high on relevance in an increasingly values-driven world. An association with Sonu Sood therefore helps brands raise their bar on trust and dependability. Brands are able to foster a meaningful connection with the informed and empowered consumers and attach themselves to the value proposition of humaneness (demonstrated by his philanthropic work).” On how brands are looking for rays of hope in unsung heroes, Jain added, “Universally, people seek heroes in times of distress. With the heightened interest around all-things COVID-19, many brands have been shining the spotlight on heroes who have contributed selflessly for the betterment of society. Some have singled out the unsung warriors and some acknowledged personalities. Sonu Sood will always be remembered as the knight in shining armour who came to save thousands in need in their bleak times.” N Chandramouli, CEO, TRA Research said, “When someone achieves popularity by the work done, a reputation builds around the person - which is transmitted beliefs about respect. This transmitted belief spreads as more many hear about the person, also driving the person to try and achieve greater heights. Brands are self-centered in their approach, and naturally do not take Sonu Sood as an ambassador because of their philanthropic nature, but instead so that his 'goodness' rubs on them too. He has already been seen as a 'messiah', and even non-migrant travel or food based requests come to him, sometimes for books for education or to help a poor farmer's family. Since he has been open and accessible to most such requests, he has become an icon for the poor and needy. This is suff is like a movie-story, and he, the hero who is a do-gooder for society. Brands may not use him in PR too directly, primarily because it will not be appropriate to be seen directly promoting a brand by talking about it. Instead, advertising is slightly more distanced from PR, and therefore his presence as a brand's ambassador, is something that will look more appropriate. PR, as we often say, is essentially a trust building tool, and for Sonu, he has already built all the trust by demonstrating firmness of action.” Will recognition from UNDP help get Sonu Sood more brand deals now? Chandramouli said that Sonu Sood will be now known internationally, which might help him get more brand recognition. He said, “With UNDP's award he joins an exclusive group of international actors in different UN awards who have contributed to society beyond their call of duty, and his name will become more global. He will also come in the consideration sets of international brands which are looking at India as one of their key markets. Being a household name in India, brands will be able to reach their consumers through his endorsements.” Challapalli said that Sonu Sood will get more brands now. However, he is more likely to be approached by massy brands than aspirational.

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