This acquisition allows Adda247 to enter the CA test preparation market for the first time.

“This acquisition is expected to significantly expand Adda247’s user base, which currently has 40 million monthly users,” the company said in a statement, without disclosing the deal’s financial details.  

This acquisition adds Ekagrata Eduserv to Adda247’s growing list of companies. Previously, in 2021, they acquired StudyIQ, a platform focused on UPSC exam prep. More recently, in 2023, they bought Veeksha, a company developing learning modules that use augmented and virtual reality.

“We’ve been planning to launch the CA category, and in Ekagrata, we found the perfect team to lead and grow this segment. Over the next several years, we aim to invest substantially in this category and establish a leadership position in the CA test preparation market,” said Adda247 CEO Anil Nagar. 

Adda247, founded in 2016 by Anil Nagar and Saurabh Bansal, caters to students aiming for careers in public sector banks, government departments, and the railways. Their comprehensive selection of exam preparation resources includes live online classes, pre-recorded video courses, practice tests, e-books, and study materials for different exams.

The edtech startup offers courses in 12 regional languages and is planning to expand to even more states and languages this year, reaching two or three new regions. 

To strengthen their new CA test prep section, the founders and employees of Ekagrata Eduserv will join Adda247. Ekagrata’s founder, Anshul Agrawal, will take the lead as director of the CA category at Adda247.

“Joining forces with Adda247 presents an exciting opportunity to scale our impact in the CA test preparation space,” said Agrawal.  

The Edtech firm boasts an impressive user base with roughly one million paid users as of May 2024. They aim to grow this number to 1.7 million by year’s end.

Financially, the company is on an upward trajectory. Headquartered in Gurgaon, the startup reported a revenue of Rs 243.39 crore for the 2023-24 financial year. This represents a significant 88% increase compared to the previous year. There’s positive news on the profitability front as well. The firm reduced its net loss by a substantial 66%, bringing it down to Rs 101 crore from Rs 296 crore in the same period.

In terms of funding, the startup secured $35 million in its latest funding round led by WestBridge Capital in 2022. This round also saw participation from tech giant Google, alongside existing investors like Info Edge Ventures and Asha Impact. Adda247’s total funding reaches a healthy $63 million with this latest infusion.

Ziyyara distinguishes itself through its commitment to personalized, one-on-one online tuition classes. Unlike traditional e-learning platforms with group classes, Ziyyara tailors learning to individual needs and styles. This, along with flexible scheduling and curriculum support, addresses the limitations of conventional education. Ziyyara has revolutionized education by making it more accessible and learner-centric, breaking down geographical and economic barriers.

With expansion plans in mind, will Ziyyara explore additional revenue streams beyond one-on-one tutoring services?

Ziyyara transcends the boundaries of traditional tutoring, prioritizing the quality of education for all. This commitment extends to diverse learning needs, encompassing exam preparation for IELTS, language acquisition in various tongues, and specialized programs for business communication, i.e., Business English. Recognizing the unique potential of every child, Ziyyara is actively developing initiatives to empower students with unique abilities. 

How did your experiences aid in founding Ziyyara inside the EdTech industry? How have things gone so far on your journey?

Ziyyara’s passion for teaching and witnessing the limitations of traditional classrooms fueled the creation of Ziyyara. Recognizing the need for personalized learning and addressing geographical barriers motivated the development of a platform offering flexible and accessible education. Ziyyara’s growth from bootstrapping to profitability with a growing student base (over 5,000) reflects the success of our mission.

How does Ziyyara ensure quality and consistency for tutors across a potentially global network?

Ziyyara uses several strategies to guarantee the caliber of its tutors:

• Selection process: Tutors undergo written and oral interviews to assess their subject matter expertise and teaching skills.
• Matching: Ziyyara matches students with tutors based on qualifications, experience, and teaching styles.
• Communication: Regular parent-tutor communication fosters transparency and allows for addressing any concerns.
• Feedback: Student and parent feedback helps Ziyyara monitor tutor performance and make adjustments if needed.

1. How does Ziyyara’s platform facilitate effective communication between students, tutors, and parents?

Ziyyara prioritizes communication through various features:

• Real-time communication tools: The platform allows for interactive communication during online classes.
• Quarterly parent-tutor meetings: These meetings ensure parents are informed about their child’s progress and can discuss any concerns with the tutor.
• Dedicated coordinators: Coordinators provide additional support and act as a communication channel between all parties.

What distinguishes Ziyyara’s online tutoring services from conventional tuition?

Ziyyara goes beyond the limitations of traditional tutoring by offering a truly personalized educational experience. One-on-one classes ensure an in-depth focus on individual learning styles and needs. Students can schedule classes conveniently, while online delivery breaks down geographical barriers, making high-quality education accessible to a global audience. Ziyyara’s curriculum support is adaptable, catering to students who need help with specific questions or comprehensive subject coverage. Regular communication between parents, tutors, and students fosters transparency and a collaborative learning environment.

How do you see artificial intelligence impacting the future of online learning experiences at Ziyyara?

The company anticipates AI’s role in personalizing learning experiences. They might integrate AI for: 

Recognizing the potential of AI to personalize learning, Ziyyara is exploring its integration for several purposes. AI could analyze student performance to suggest customized learning paths, ensuring each student progresses on a tailored journey. Additionally, AI-powered platforms could dynamically adjust content difficulty and pace based on a student’s understanding, creating an adaptive learning experience. Furthermore, AI might provide students instant feedback on their work, accelerating their learning and progress.

Ziyyara emphasizes accessibility. Beyond online learning, are there any plans to explore additional access points, such as mobile apps?

Ziyyara is focusing on accessibility, suggesting an interest in expanding access points. Developing a mobile app would be a natural progression, allowing students to access learning materials and connect with tutors on the go. But for now, our ultimate goal is to provide students with one-on-one communication with utmost dedication. This would further enhance flexibility and cater to the different needs of students with varying learning preferences.

In 2021, Nuvepro collaborated with Imarticus Learning to look into the potential benefits of integrating hands-on experience with cloud technologies in their curriculum.

This partnership aimed to improve Imarticus students’ learning experience by adopting a more practical approach to learning in investment banking and other sensitive industries.

Nuvepro seamlessly incorporated its expertise in hands-on learning to provide a customized solution after recognizing the initial hurdle faced by Imarticus, which was a pressing need to have robust security measures keeping in mind the sensitive nature of the investment banking industry. 

With the help of Nuvepro, Imarticus students can now learn the intricate details of investment banking with the confidence that cutting-edge security measures protect their learning environment.

Arun Reddy, COO of Nuvepro, said, “Through our tailored cloud lab solutions, we empower learners to gain invaluable hands-on skills, making the overall learning process more effective. Security is paramount, especially when serving banking and financial customers. That’s why our lab platform is VAPT performed, ISO27001 certified, and SOC2 compliant, ensuring a secure environment for learners.”

Nuvepro’s collaboration enabled Imarticus to deliver specialized training to renowned banking organizations like DBS Bank and CitiBank. Imarticus Learning and Nuvepro also worked with Citibank on several programming projects, showcasing the flexibility and scalability of their cloud lab solution. 

This partnership has bridged the gap between academia and industry while also revolutionizing the training process for students. Imarticus has upskilled its students and given them the knowledge and practical skills they need to succeed in investment banking by embracing cloud labs.

Nikhil Barshikar, CEO of Imarticus Learning, said, “Nuvepro’s partnership with Imarticus Learning is a game-changer in the education landscape. By integrating hands-on learning and cutting-edge technology, we equip our students with invaluable practical skills in the dynamic business world. We firmly believe this partnership will leave a lasting impact, empowering individuals to lead, innovate, and make a positive difference in their respective fields.”

The company employs two business models. While the B2C segment facilitates direct interaction between students and tutors and develops an on-demand one-on-one deep learning experience for the students, the B2B segment involves partnerships with educational institutions. It seeks to improve the learning experience within schools, colleges, and training institutes.

According to a statement from the company, Avidii offers teachers immediate, on-demand, customized learning in mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology, as well as commerce and arts subjects, primarily for students between the ages of 11 and 18. Additionally, it has said that it serves several educational boards, including the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), the Indian Certificate of Secondary Examination (ICSE), and State Boards, empowering students to achieve high exam scores.

“We are happy to begin our much-awaited operations in India. Within no time, Avidii has attracted 400+ Tutors across India, with thousands of users already having tried the platform. We aim to achieve 1 million users by year-end and embark on our journey of growth within the country. We are looking to increase our tutor network extensively and are hopeful of achieving good traction soon,” says Deepak Subbarao, Co-Founder of Avidii.

“We have created a simple platform in Avidii wherein the Tutors make sure that the answers and explanations are complete, precise, and accurate. At Avidii, Tutors use a variety of advanced teaching tools—such as digital whiteboard, graphic annotation features, and sharing of learning materials—to create comprehensive learning sessions for the students. In fact, students cultivate the confidence and habit of getting conceptual clarity in one-on-one sessions in real time. Moreover, they can use Avidii on-demand to quickly get their doubts cleared and acquire the skills to hone difficult subjects with dedicated help,” he added.

Interviewbit Technologies Pvt. Ltd., the company that operates Scaler, did not disclose the transaction’s financial details.  

The acquisition will help Scaler’s growth and a number of its business units, including strategy, product design, B2B enterprise, operations, and instructor org, the company said in a statement.

Pepcoding, launched in 2017, specializes in business analytics, data science, web development, CBSE, and GATE courses. It provides offline and online classes for undergraduate students to develop their coding skills and find job opportunities.

Following the buyout, Sumeet Malik, a co-founder of Pepcoding, joined Scaler as an instructor and content creator to improve the learning experience for students, particularly in the low-level design curriculum.

“We are delighted to welcome the PepCoding team to the Scaler ecosystem. Sumeet’s team has demonstrated a unique ability to stay true to its core ability to transform the learning experiences of young engineering students. Their experience with undergraduate students will come in handy to our recently launched residential undergraduate program, the Scaler School of Technology. Pepcoding’s diverse talent pool and Sumeet’s extensive industry expertise will help accelerate the pace we are working towards achieving our vision and mission,” said Abhimanyu Saxena, co-founder of Scaler and InterviewBit.

Scaler, founded in 2019, provides tech talents and college students with upskilling courses. Additionally, the company has partnered with Microsoft, Google, and Amazon for placements. 

Sumeet Malik, Founder and CEO of Pepcoding said, “We are excited to be a part of one of the fastest-growing tech education companies in India and work towards the shared vision of nurturing future-ready technology talent. Like Scaler, we are excessively focused towards the success of our students and firmly believe that the nation has enough raw talent to one day build products and companies that will dominate the world, similar to what organisations like Google, Microsoft and Uber have done. All they need is the appropriate direction and access to opportunities. This strategic union with Scaler will help us take a step towards revolutionising how India learns and works with technology.”

In February of last year, the company completed a $55 million Series B round of funding.

In the last two years, Scaler has made three acquisitions. For $50 million, it acquired the online learning platform AppliedRoots in March of last year. It acquired Coding Minutes and Coding Elements in 2021 to expand its operations.

According to a press release shared by Zawya, this partnership aligns with Bahrain’s Economic Vision 2030 and the digital transformation strategy.

Mo3lim and TechoSmart will collaborate on e-learning using an advanced platform that the firm will make available, according to Mr. Mohamed Alhujairi, CEO of TechoSmart. He also emphasized the significance of e-learning and how it would result in a cutting-edge, adaptable, affordable, and interactive educational system that would support conventional education.

“We share the same social and cultural values with Mo3lim, and they have shown that they have a comprehensive understanding of the region’s needs. We will work together to meet those needs and achieve our goals as effectively as possible,” said Mr Alhujairi.

According to the founder and CEO of Mo3lim, Mr. Sameer Rahmah, the collaboration would aid in developing and implementing cutting-edge technology in digital transformation.

He said, “Today we are transferring e-learning in Bahrain to accessible spaces, enabling all stakeholders in the educational system–from government and private entities to students and teachers–to benefit.” 

To ensure that e-learning protocols were applied specifically customized to Bahrain’s educational system, he added that Mo3lim would try to learn about the Bahraini experience in e-learning.

SpeEdLabs has grown 10 times in product revenue in just 8 months and now has over 3000 clients. By June 2022, the startup is on track to generate INR 1.5 crore each month. SpeEdLabs receives over 2 million questions per month from its Question suggestion engine, resulting in more than 10 million analytical data points per month.

Nandini Mansinghka, Co-Founder and CEO of Mumbai Angels, said, “The advent of AI enabled Platform-as-a-Services solutions have been revolutionizing the hitherto unorganized after school tuition market. There is a tremendous demand for the non-generic mode of learning given the one size fits all education system prevalent in India today. We are confident that the unique tech driven learning solutions will continue to enrich students’ learnings and fuel future demand for personalized coaching.”

“As the world gradually moves toward a hybrid model of education, it’s high time children/students receive education personalized as per their requirements. Pure Online Tutoring was a forced choice during Covid lockdown, but now the Offline classroom model using technology will be the successful hybrid model. SpeEdLabs platform uses data-driven hyper personalization, dynamic adaptive learning, algo driven automated content management and analytical data visualization to help students achieve their potential as we bring the best of both worlds. We are also delighted to have marquee investors supporting our journey. Currently present in 200+ cities, enabling 100,000+ students and empowering over 5000 teachers, SpeEdLabs will soon be expanding their presence to 800 cities across 23 states in the country,” said Vivek Varshney, Founder of SpeEdLabs.

According to the business, 90-95 per cent of the industry is still untapped, giving edtech companies plenty of room to grow. 

Vedantu stated that it is now adequately funded and does not foresee any further funding requirements in the next two years. Last year, the company collected $100 million from a group of investors, putting it into the coveted unicorn club.

“Within the time frame of 18-24 months we want to be IPO-ready, which means the shape of our P&L (Profit and Loss), our systems and associated processes, we want to be robust and mature in those,” Vamsi Krishna, CEO and co-founder of Vedantu, said.

Vedantu experienced a “12 times” growth in its key metrics during the pandemic. After COVID, the company sees “hyper growth,” which will pave the way for “growth”.

“Even before COVID, our growth rates were pretty strong, not as strong as during COVID times… but 2-2.5 times is still strong growth. What COVID did was that it accelerated that growth. With cases receding, the acceleration will go back and normalcy will come, which is over 2-2.5 times,” Krishna said

At its Vtopia event on Thursday, Vedantu launched WAVE 2.0, an interactive and engaging classroom.

“The patented technology will redefine the learning experience and performance recognition at a whole new level. The 2.0 version of the WAVE (Whiteboard Audio Video Environment) learning platform envisions inspiring every child, making quality education accessible and creating an impact at scale in India,” the company said in a statement.