According to media reports on Monday, China-based ByteDance, the parent company of the short-video-making app TikTok, is exiting the edtech sector in India.
Following the ban on TikTok last year, ByteDance currently operates Snapsolve, a learning app, and Resso, a music streaming platform in the country.
According to a report in TechCrunch citing sources, “ByteDance is shutting down its edtech business in India.”
“Most of the employees, if not all, are being let go,” one of the sources said, according to the report, adding that “the edtech division employed over three dozen people in India.”
ByteDance was yet to react to the report.
SnapSolve says it is “the choice of over 1 million Indian students for doubt-solving and learning.” The app assists students from classes 6 to 12.
“SnapSolve is a doubt-solving app providing instant solutions to math, physics, chemistry, biology and science doubts and NCERT book questions. Similar to Vedantu, Byju’s, Doubtnut, Quesgo, Snapsolve is a free learning app that insists on building your unique learning experience,” reads its description on Google Play Store.
The Indian online edtech market is flourishing in the remote learning era, with several new platforms attracting significant funding.
The Indian government banned many Chinese-developed applications, including TikTok, in 2020, due to concerns that they were involved in activities that jeopardized the country’s national security and defense.
This year, reports arose that ByteDance had begun selling the short video-making app’s AI technology to other companies, notably in India, where the app is prohibited.
