Samsung Partners Bengaluru Startup EMBIBE to Transform TVs Into Educational Tools with Personalised Learning Experiences

• The collaboration aims to transform TVs into educational tools with personalised learning experiences for CBSE, ICSE, IB, Cambridge, all State Boards, JEE & NEET students
• EMBIBE’s integration will provide students access to a comprehensive collection of award-winning 3D explainers and personalised adaptive practice with hints & solutions
• The Samsung Education Hub app is available on all Samsung Smart TVs and Smart Monitors, offering an exclusive 50% discount on all annual subscriptions, one per EMBIBE profile.

South Korean electronics giant, Samsung, has partnered with Bengaluru-based EMBIBE, an AI-powered personalised learning outcomes platform, to integrate it into the Samsung Education Hub app, a designed-for-TV education app. The collaboration will help TVs become effective educational tools providing personalised learning experiences for students.

Through this partnership, EMBIBE, as part of the Samsung Education Hub app, will offer extensive educational coverage, supporting all major curricula, including CBSE, ICSE, IB, Cambridge, all State Boards and major entrance exams such as IIT JEE and NEET. Students will benefit from a large collection of award-winning, immersive 3D explainer videos, designed to make even the most complex topics easier to understand and more engaging to learn.

“The Samsung Education Hub app aims to expand the role of TVs in homes, transforming them from mere entertainment hubs to a seamless platform for online learning. This innovative ‘designed-for-TV’ education app is set to revolutionise the online learning experience, making it engaging and accessible to all. Our vision is to create a future where education knows no boundaries and knowledge is within easy reach at the click of a button,” said Viplesh Dang, Senior Director, Visual Display Business, Samsung India.

“Our partnership with Samsung TV marks a significant leap in delivering a truly personal, engaging, learning experience through one of the most trusted and loved mediums. Samsung has partnered with EMBIBE because we’ve solved two critical challenges: creating stunning interactive, multi-modal content and delivering it through a deeply personalized experience powered by AI. The synergy between Samsung’s innovation and EMBIBE’s expertise in edtech is a powerful combination that sets a new standard for educational excellence, creating a transformative learning experience for everyone,” said Aditi Avasthi, Founder & CEO at EMBIBE.

At the heart of EMBIBE’s offering is its personalised, AI-driven adaptive practice, which adjusts to each student’s learning level. Through the Samsung Education Hub, students will be able to access EMBIBE’s video-based learning resources and also its AI-powered adaptive practice in English, Hindi and 10 major regional languages, backed by over 10 years of educational engagement data of more than two crore students. They can choose from 54,000 practice tests and use personalised score-improvement features that will provide useful insights for improvement. In addition, students can avail Samsung’s exclusive discount of a flat 50% on EMBIBE annual subscription purchased on TV.

EMBIBE content will be available on all 2024 Samsung TVs and smart monitors and will be gradually made available on earlier models. Existing subscribers of EMBIBE, who own Samsung TVs will have seamless login and access to this rich educational content, along with Samsung TV users who wish to subscribe to the platform. Earlier this year, Samsung had teamed up with the leading ed-tech platform, Physics Wallah for Samsung Education Hub on 2023 & 2024 Samsung TVs.

Infosys to Launch Springboard, Its Digital Learning Platform, in London Borough of Southwark

Infosys has announced a collaboration with Southwark Council to launch its digital learning platform, Springboard, in the London Borough of Southwark. This initiative aims to provide residents, colleges, and schools with free access to the platform, which is designed to empower people with critical digital and employability skills.

The platform will be freely accessible to everyone, promoting digital literacy and ensuring that no one is left behind .

Infosys' Springboard will make devices and digital assets available to those who cannot afford them, fostering digitally engaged communities.

Entrepreneurs and small to medium-sized businesses can also enhance their services through digital efforts.

The platform features content on digital learning, emerging technologies, and life skills, and is led by a team of experts invested in equipping residents with the right tools and resources to participate in society and the digital economy.

It may be recalled that this initiative follows successful deployments in Brent and Sandwell, where over 50,000 users have already benefited from over 10,000 courses offered through the Springboard platform.

Governed by Southwark Council, Southwark is located in south-central London, extending from the Thames to the suburbia of Dulwich.

Southwark Council responsible for delivering local services and maintaining the area. The council provides a range of services to residents, including housing, education, social care, environmental services, and more.

The London Borough of Southwark is a vibrant and historic area located on the south bank of the River Thames. It forms part of Inner London and is known for its rich history, diverse communities, and numerous cultural landmarks.

About Infosys Springboard, it is a flagship digital learning platform designed to empower people, communities, and society with essential digital and life skills.

The platform is available in multiple regions, including India, the USA, and now the London Borough of Southwark. Springboard is powered by Infosys Wingspan, an integrated digital learning and collaboration platform. It includes masterclasses, programming challenges, and social learning features to create an engaging learning experience.

In India, Springboard has already reached nearly 400,000 learners and 300+ educational institutions, NGOs, and support groups. In USA The platform offers dynamic computer science and maker education content for K-12 educators, students, and families, as well as upskilling opportunities for post-secondary learners.

Infosys and The FT Unveil the ‘FT Money Machine’ for Apple Vision Pro Headset

• A digital twin of the landmark economic simulator ‘The Moniac’
• The FT Money Machine leverages Apple Vision Pro to deliver an immersive and interactive experience making economics education more effective and accessible

Infosys and The Financial Times have launched the ‘FT Money Machine’, an immersive extended reality experience that revives the historic Monetary National Income Analogue Computer (MONIAC). This innovative project uses Apple Vision Pro to create an interactive and educational tool for learning about economics.

The FT Money Machine allows users to explore and manipulate economic scenarios using intuitive gestures like eye tracking, hand movements, and voice commands. This experience bridges the gap between historical analog computing and modern digital learning, making economics education more engaging and accessible.

It leverages the creative design and build expertise from WongDoody, Infosys’ human experience agency, where WongDoody helped ensure that the FT Money Machine app exceeds user expectations in a seamless blend of historical significance and cutting-edge technology.

Infosys and The Financial Times have taken economist Bill Phillips’ original invention, a hydraulic analog computer created in 1949 that used water to model and study economic systems, as the foundation for a unique Extended Reality (XR) project which revolutionizes how we learn about economics and ensures education at scale.

 

Bill Phillips' Hydraulic Analog Computer Created in 1949

Emphasizing on 'learning by doing', the new XR app, accessible through Apple Vision Pro and available in the Apps Store, faithfully recreates the Moniac’s functionality while adding new, interactive features. This approach bridges the gap between historical analogue computing and modern digital learning, offering an unparalleled educational experience to the global student community.

Users of The FT Money Machine will not only experience the full operation of The Moniac but also can explore and create their own economic scenarios in free play mode. They will be able to interact with the machine using intuitive gestures such as eye tracking, hand movements, and voice commands, allowing them to adjust variables like consumption, taxation, and investment to see real-time impacts on the economy, as well as understand complex economic interactions, predict outcomes of various policy decisions, and enhance economic modelling techniques.

To try out the FT Money Machine, you'll need access to an Apple Vision Pro headset, as the experience is designed specifically for this device. Here are the steps you can follow:

1. Acquire an Apple Vision Pro: Ensure you have the Apple Vision Pro headset, which is required for the immersive experience.

2. Download the Experience: If available, download the FT Money Machine application or experience from the App Store or the respective website.

3. Set Up the Experience: Follow the instructions provided to set up the FT Money Machine on your Apple Vision Pro.

4. Engage with the Experience: Use the intuitive gestures like eye tracking, hand movements, and voice commands to explore and manipulate economic scenarios.

Keep an eye on any updates or announcements from Infosys and The Financial Times for more detailed instructions and availability.

Infosys and TTV Launch Junior Leaders Program

Junior Leadership Program to empower the next generation of young leaders through immersive digital learning opportunities

Infosys has launched a new initiative for Infosys Springboard with Table Tennis Victoria to nurture young leaders from within the sport.

Founded in 1925, Table Tennis Victoria (TTV) is the State Sporting Organisation for the Sport of Table Tennis in Victoria, Australia.

The Junior Leadership program offers promising young leaders an immersive learning experience to enhance their digital skills and community awareness. Participants will leverage a bespoke version of Infosys Springboard, the company’s digital learning and collaboration platform, to learn important skills such as inclusion, leadership, technology, and design thinking.

The Program's participants will be selected from a cohort of over 700 competitive and recreation players under the age of 18 from both metropolitan and regional Victoria. Participants will spend a day at the Infosys Living Lab in Melbourne, with hands on learning experiences across the Metaverse, Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, and how these technologies are shaping sports, our communities, and the world.

The program will further engage young people in volunteering and community leadership by supporting participants to deliver a table tennis project, in collaboration with their table tennis club, coach, or community organisation.

The program will not only grow the participants’ skills at an individual level but will also guide and grow Table Tennis Victoria in volunteer recruitment, increased female and junior participation, improved tournament structures, and performance pathways. Table Tennis Victoria will use this program as a foundation to establish a junior advisory committee in line with meeting the child safe standard of empowering young people. The first cohort of junior leaders will participate in the program in April 2024.

Ashok Mysore, Vice President, Infosys and Regional Head, Delivery and Operations, Australia and New Zealand said, "We are excited to collaborate with Table Tennis Victoria. Through a bespoke version of our digital learning and collaboration platform, Infosys Springboard, and our Living Lab in Melbourne, budding leaders in Victoria will have access to important digital and leadership skills.”

Andrew Weiss, Chief Executive Officer (interim), Table Tennis Victoria said, “In table tennis we are always looking for new ideas to improve and develop the sport across Victoria. Creating a Junior Leadership Program allows the youth of our sport to take on more responsibilities and have more of an influence on how we operate, bringing a fresh new perspective on how we do things. This program in collaboration with Infosys will give our younger generation the opportunity to voice their thoughts and opinions about what young people really want in the sport, giving them a seat at the table.”

Molina Asthana, Board Member, Table Tennis Victoria said, "We are delighted to collaborate with Infosys, and look forward to seeing the next generation of leaders from our Table Tennis community advance their skills using the Infosys Springboard digital learning platform.”

About Table Tennis Victoria

Table Tennis Victoria (TTV) is the state governing body for the sport of table tennis in Victoria. TTV is the largest state body in Australia with approximately 60 affiliate members (clubs & associations) and over 4,500 individual annual members (competitive and social registered players).

To learn more, visit: https://www.tabletennisvic.org.au/

Infosys to Provide Free Certification in AI and Generative AI Skills

IT services giant, Infosys, has announced that it has launched a free Artificial Intelligence (AI) certification training on Infosys Springboard, a flagship digital learning platform of Infosys.

Infosys AI-first specialists and data strategists, responsible for delivering Infosys Topaz™, the company's flagship AI-first offering launched in last month, will help shape the certification curriculum to help learners build future-ready skillsets

The certification will offer a variety of courses that cover a broad spectrum of topics related to AI, including an introductory course on AI and Generative AI, with a focus on deep learning and natural language processing, and a masterclass on AI and the impact of Generative AI, that will aim to focus on prompt engineering and AI-first software engineering.

In addition, a customized course on ‘Citizens Data Science’ will aim to cover various aspects of data science discipline, including python programming, linear algebra, probability and statistics, and exploratory data analysis. Learners will be awarded a certificate upon successful completion of the course.

Infosys Springboard provides a curriculum-rich virtual platform that delivers corporate-grade learning experiences, on any device, with closer educator-learner collaboration for students from Class 6 to lifelong learners.

"Infosys Springboard is committed to democratize quality education and strengthen the next-generation workforce with digital and life skills. Our aim is to demystify AI for learners through Infosys Springboard and help them make a conscious choice in building their careers. We firmly believe that AI proficiency will give young aspirants and professionals a competitive advantage in a dynamic and demanding job market," said Thirumala Arohi, Senior Vice President and Head - Education, Training and Assessment at Infosys.

Infosys had launched Springboard in September 2021 and in February last year it expanded to the US as well.

Mumbai Angels and Other Investors Invest INR 8 Cr in Digital Training Platform Spardha as a Part of Its Pre-Series A2 Round

Spardha will leverage the funds to expand its sales and operations team, upgrade its products, build its brand, and ramp up its marketing efforts to gain a stronghold in the global market

Mumbai Angels, a premium platform for private investments, along with others has invested INR 8 Cr in a Series A2 round of funding in Spardha, a digital training platform. Spardha will use the fresh capital to expand its team by hiring for its sales and operations teams and upgrading its products. The company will also be leveraging the funds to build its brand and for ramping up marketing efforts to expand its presence in the global market.

“Increasing consumer propensity for flexibility and reduced cost has made online learning a preferred option worldwide. With geographic barriers fading away in response to the online skilling revolution, there is a huge market yet to be explored. I am confident that Spardha is well placed to exploit this burgeoning glocal demand with its well-established global presence and versatile music platform,” said Nandini Mansighka, CEO & Co-Founder of Mumbai Angels.

“Spardha’s mission is to contribute to the holistic development of our students and teachers. We want to become the most trusted platform for Performing Arts Education globally. We have achieved a healthy user base of 15,000 so far. We are thankful to be backed by marquee investors who have placed their faith in us. We believe this funding will help us achieve our goal of expanding our footprint and augmenting our product offerings,” added Saurabh Srivastav, Founder and CEO of Spardha.

With the help of its curated curriculum, certified trainers, and state-of-the-art technology, Spardha is expanding rapidly not only in India but also in the international markets. Headquartered in Pune, Spardha, offers a unique blend of professional teachers, a result-oriented curriculum, personalized musical journeys for different student personas, and a digital platform where you can perform online, jamming, practice with your friends/peers, compete with your peers, co-create music with your peers and launch your own compositions.

The company plans to garner a user base of 50,000 in the coming months. With more than 400+ certified teachers on its platform across Hindustani, Carnatic, and Western Music, Spardha is one of the fastest-growing online music schools globally. Recently Spardha achieved one more milestone of crossing INR 10 Cr+ ARR in Sales and Renewals. More than 60% of the revenue comes from international markets, i.e., the USA, UK, UAE, Australia, and Singapore.

About Mumbai Angels

Started in 2006, Mumbai Angels, India's premier platform for private investment holds an AUM of USD 130 Mn and a 200+ strong portfolio spanning a wide range of sectors, such as Technology, Consumer, Life Sciences, DefenseTech, SpaceTech, EV, AgriTech, FinTech, EdTech, Gaming and Content, etc. Of the overall portfolio, the platform has exited/secured the next round of funding for 100+ of them. The platform has 700 investors spread across 60+ Global and Indian cities.

World’s Largest Hybrid Learning Workshop for Heads of 10K AICTE Approved Institutes and Colleges, conducted by Tech Avant-Garde (TAG)

Prof. Anil Dattatraya Sahasrabudhe, Chairman,AICTE as Chief Guest inaugurated the Hybrid Learning Curtain Raiser mega event held on 21 July 2022 at the Welcom Hotel by ITC Hotels. He was accompanied by the Guests of Honour Dr. Buddha Chandrashekhar, Chief Coordinating Officer and Prof. B. Thimme Gowda, Vice Chairman, Karnataka State Higher Education Council.

AICTE has advised all its approved colleges to adopt Hybrid Learning to make them robust and lockdown proof. Tech Avant-Garde (TAG)has been chosen to assist these colleges to transform into Hybrid Learning Spaces. Ali Sait, CEO, TAG, was also present.

As the first step towards Digital Transformation,TAG is conducting free certification program to train heads of Institutions in Hybrid Learning.Tech Avant-Garde, the Global Partner of Microsoft, in association with Microsoft Education is conducting this training program for Education Leaders on new paradigms of learning – Hybrid Learning.

Speaking at the event, Ali Sait, CEO of Tech Avant-Garde, said, “In Hybrid Learning, education will be reimagined, teachers will find their potential, learning will be from anywhere, any place on any device and there will be only one degree of separation between Learning and Education”.

Hybrid Learning Training Program

This program will commence from 29 July 2022. Training will be conducted in three batches. The sessions will be conducted online over a period two days.The duration of training for each day will be for one hour and thirty minutes. The participants can select the batches during registration.

The training dates are as follows:

• Batch 1: Friday 29th July 2022 - Saturday 20th July 2022
• Batch 2: Friday 05 Aug 2022 - Saturday 06th Aug 2022
• Batch 3: Friday 12th Aug 2022 - Saturday 13th Aug 2022

The registration link for training program is -https://tagevent.in/aicte

This training program will cover the following topics:

• Develop your vision and build a roadmap to get there
• Prepare your Stakeholders
• Develop model Colleges
• Stay connected 
• Real time case studies

The Education Leaders who attend this program will get certified and the colleges will become eligible for two sessions of advisory on Hybrid Learning, to be availed within 2 months of the program.

The program will be conducted on Knowledege L’avenir platform.

About Tech Avant-Garde:

Tech Avant-Garde (TAG) is India’s largest Solution Provider in the education segment, supporting all genre of institutes, ranging from K-12 schools to universities. TAG is a part of the Accelerator program of Microsoft and has been certified as a Global Trainer for Microsoft in Education. TAG won the award for the Best Worldwide Training Partner of Microsoft Asia region. TAG, as a co-sell partner and ISV of Microsoft, has implemented the Digital Transformation and Holistic Learning program to help educational institutions to navigate from physical classrooms to digital classrooms. Some of the products and solutions of Tech Avant-Garde include Lycee-Cyber Academe, an ERP Campus Management solution, Efeeonline, an Online Multimode Fee payment solution for educational institutions which is connected to the Bharat Bill System developed by NPCI. TAG also works in knowledge enhancement of educators through Knowledge L’avenir, the largest social learning platform for teacher and Knowledge Key Foundation, to bring state-of-the-art technology and tools to aid institutions and teachers to enhance their digital teaching and learning skills.

Gamification of Education: Digital Twin Technology Is Set to Turn Over New Leaf in Learning

The article is authored by Dr. Nachiket Bhatia, CEO, Dr. Bhatia Medical Coaching Institute & E-Gurukul

Gamification of Education

Elements of games added to conventional learning to make it more engaging is the gamification of education. These elements could be point systems, challenges, social connections, player control, goals, rewards, feedback, etc. They are applied while teaching to increase student engagement.

Gamification of education allows for “fun while you learn”. The way players interact in virtual gaming is one of the key motivations for the education industry to implement gamification in education. Games trigger emotions and engage us better. Such learning relieves the pressure on learners and simultaneously encourages them to participate.

Games are also effective because they are competitive and competition gives rise to mental toughness, better collaboration, and enhanced social and emotional learning. Efficiency is gained through such learning because the learner is in charge of their own learning journey.

Digital twin technology

A digital twin is a ‘virtual clone’ of any real-world object. It makes real-time judgments using real-time data, simulations, algorithms, and machine learning. Students can walk through the universe from the ease of their schools or homes. The use of this technology can help in better understanding of Model building, surgical training, and other practical instructions. Whereas real-world simulations can replace chemical labs and hands-on dissection labs.

The use of digital twin technology in education will allow students to participate, compete and learn in a simulation environment. Also, combining and visualising data using digital twin technologies will improve decision-making, give rise to immersive learning experiences and enable effective planning as well as action. Its use will also allow us to correct any shortcomings of a decision before making it a reality.

How will gamification of education using digital twin technology benefit learners?

Having disrupted learning all over the world, the pandemic has led us to not only rethink how education could be improved in isolation but also how we can foster immersive learning experiences. Virtual reality has answers to it.

Self-learning apps are already using gamification to engage the learners. But, a nascent idea of gamifying digital twins is gaining momentum. Digital twin technology is one of the growing technologies related to industry 4.0. It paves way for experiential learning by combining game elements, data and technology and is especially relevant to higher engineering, manufacturing and medical education.

Today, the use of simulations is common in education. But now, more and more simulations are being upgraded from static scenarios to real-world scenarios. Simulators alone aren’t as effective as they are with the use of gamification techniques because gamification engages the learners for a longer time and motivates them to get more involved. Therefore, gamification approaches such as the liberty to make mistakes, practice, repeat and collect awards are also getting integrated into simulations.

Universities like Stanford and Copenhagen school have already adopted this technology in higher education. Researchers suggest virtual game-based learning encourages immersive learning, cognitive development, creativity and better decision making. Even NASA used digital twin technology to explore the unexplored in space. Similarly, a platform named digital twin studios designs safety training video games using digital twin technology for the workers in the Oil and Gas industry.

The use of digital twin technology has recently also aroused the interest of healthcare practitioners as a possible solution to overcome healthcare limitations and expand the possible treatment options. Researchers at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, for example, are working on a project to create a "digital twin" of an individual using data collected from in-home and on-body sensors. Its development will enable future health care practitioners to employ artificial intelligence for evaluating various treatments and their potential outcomes on a patient's digital twin before executing them in the physical world.

The digital twin reform in healthcare is still underway but soon, it is likely to revolutionize the ways of treating and diagnosing the patients. It has high potential in higher education as well. Medical students will be able to use digital twins of animal and human dead bodies to perform dissections and analyses. Concepts of virtual organs, genomes, anatomy and medical procedures can also be well understood with its use.

According to research, games can help to develop complex cognitive skills and metacognitive skills for deep learning. Simulators assist students to relate theoretical topics to real-world events and improve analytical abilities by allowing them to compare different points of view, build arguments, reflect, and evaluate circumstances. Their combined use in education can become a powerful learning tool.

Conclusion

Gamification of digital twins for an enhanced learning experience will allow the learners to take lead in experiential learning. However, this concept has a lot of scope that is yet to be explored. It is a viable option because it is sustainable and effective. Large-scale application is important to turning digital twins' potential into genuine impact. It aims to reform the understanding of complex systems and subjects that need practical learning. Technology is all into our lives. We have adopted technology to make our lives easy. There are challenges to this but with its help, the students will be better prepared for real-life situations in near future.

Edtech Startup PrepInsta Launches New OTT Learning Platforms - PrepInsta Prime

PrepInsta, edtech startup for practice coding, aptitude, and new technologies announces new platform PrepInsta Prime which will follow an OTT format enabling learning material and techniques for college students and working professionals.

PrepInsta prime shall offer 150+ courses under a single subscription plan. The array of courses covers popular upskilling programmes including- UpSkilling Courses, Coding Courses, Placement Preparation courses etc., to widen the scope of job opportunities for the aspirant.

The subscription includes upskilling courses like - AI/ Machine Learning, Cyber Security, coding courses in C/C++, Python, DSA, Competitive coding and the platform also provides company-specific micro-courses for brands like Amazon, TCS, Mu Sigma, Capgemini and others 150+ courses. 

PrepInta Courses

“We aim to democratise learning where a learner should get access to quality education at affordable prices with PrepInsta Prime Subscription. Students should not sacrifice learning outcomes and should have access to and explore all skills, technologies and job opportunities in the new digital world,” said Atulya Kaushik, CEO & Co-Founder, PrepInsta.

"We target upskilling around 100K learners by the end of 2022. Additionally, PrepInsta prime shall continue adding new courses in sync with the market demand. By the end of the current calendar year, we plan to have at least 300 courses on its portfolio.", said Manish Agarwal, Chief Marketing Officer, PrepInsta. 

Unlike other platforms where aspirants can only access a single course, and get restricted if they wish to explore, through PrepInsta Prime they may avail all the courses available on the platform. The subscriptions for the students are available at a very nominal price starting from INR 2499 for 3 months to INR 6499 for 48 Months.

About PrepInsta

Founded by Atulya Kaushik & Aashay Mishra, PrepInsta is a free platform for students to practise coding, aptitude, and new technologies. PrepInsta helps students to prepare for placements with the best study material, coding problem set, AI based performance tracker with over 1.5 million + monthly users.

PrepInsta Prime is a new learning OTT platform for college students and working professionals which offers 150+ courses under one subscription offering - UpSkilling Courses, Coding Courses, Placement Preparation courses with Certifications and job opportunities.

Website - https://prepinstaprime.com/

Prime trailer - https://youtu.be/VIJZDU6XjVk

Tezos India Partners with The Blockchain School, Introduces Tezos Basics Course on The Blockchain School’s Online Learning Platform

Tezos India – an organization that enables people and entities to use the Tezos blockchain, has announced a strategic knowledge and outreach partnership with The Blockchain School – a new age ed-tech platform for blockchain enthusiast learners. As a part of this collaboration, Tezos India has now launched a Tezos Fundamentals video course named ‘Tezos 101- Fundamentals & Framework’ on The Blockchain School’s online learning platform.

The Tezos 101 course – the curriculum of which has been developed jointly by Tezos India and The Blockchain School teams -- is aimed at anyone and everyone who wants to get started with Tezos, including students, developers, entrepreneurs, product folks and crypto and blockchain enthusiasts. It primarily delves into creating an understanding of the fundamentals of the novel Tezos protocol, and then goes deeper with modules around Tezos Economy, PoS Mechanism, Smart Contracts, Tezos Governance and Baking & Delegating on Tezos, among other useful topics for the novice learners.

Speaking on the course launch and the latest partnership, Poorvi Sachar, Operations Head, Tezos India said, “We are happy to partner with The Blockchain School for launching together Tezos 101 course – which we believe will be highly useful for anyone who doesn’t understand the blockchain and Tezos fundamentals. This will be soon followed by detailed courses on development, which we also plan to launch on the Blockchain School’s online platform in the upcoming months. While Tezos India aims to grow the Tezos ecosystem in our country, The Blockchain School is, on the other hand, committed to boost-up the blockchain career development and learning space. With the confluence of our visions, we are partnering over the long term with each other, especially involving training and other developer adoption activities. At Tezos India, we are continuously creating a lot of content in-house with the help of our expert developers and fellows, and we strongly believe that Blockchain School is a fantastic and highly-relevant platform to activate the same on a regular basis.”

Tezos India, in partnership with The Blockchain School, also has plans to launch more hands-on courses on Using Tezos Sandbox Demo, Developing a Dapp with Tezos, and Creating Tezos Token and integration with Tezos. Tezos India aims to grow the Tezos ecosystem, by building and promoting the right resources and right content that can help people understand the technology better and embrace it, and thereby solving all kinds of non-tech problems vis-à-vis Tezos adoption. Their latest partnership with The Blockchain School, is, therefore, a significant step forward in that direction.

Notably, Tezos India has also previously launched a Developer handbook -- co-presented with TZ APAC -- which enables new developers to learn to code on Tezos within 15 days. Additionally, Tezos India and TZ APAC have partnered with Microsoft, Skoda and Tech Mahindra to deliver the Microsoft Century Program – a corporate-SME bridge program that seeks to uncover blockchain-based solutions on Tezos for industry-specific use cases. Whereas on the academic front, Tezos India has been setting up Tezos Clubs in various reputed universities (an annual development programme for blockchain enthusiasts to learn from the leaders in the ecosystem via workshops and in-house hackathons), Tezos Students’ Chapters that aim to add the Tezos curriculum in colleges/universities, as well as organizing various hackathons, masterclasses, fellowships and other training events.

About Tezos India

Tezos India is an organization supporting the Tezos ecosystem in the Indian sub-continent and is a grantee of Tezos Foundation. As innovation in the blockchain space advances in India, Tezos India constantly strives to address key barriers facing blockchain adoption to date in India with developer adoption, education & training, and ecosystem development. Tezos is a self-upgradable blockchain that enables forkless upgrades with its on-chain governance system, improving accessibility and longevity for solutions built and utilized by the Tezos community.

About The Blockchain School

The Blockchain School harvests the learning potential in blockchain by providing its community with the right set of knowledge in the right way. They are on a mission to help the community to understand, experience, experiment, and expand the applications of this revolutionary technology called a blockchain. Focusing on vertical integration, The Blockchain School strives to become the most-trusted capability building partner for everything related to blockchain.

LEAD Launches MasterClass with Celebrated Subject Experts to Provide Life Skills to Students

First session conducted by renowned author Chetan Bhagat for 8 lakh students at partner schools

Mumbai June 08, 2021: At a time when prolonged school closures have disrupted learning opportunities for students, EdTech major LEAD has launched MasterClass - a unique initiative for students to acquire real life skills from celebrated subject experts. The first such virtual learning session, to prepare students beyond exams, was organised for eight lakh students across 2000+ partner schools with renowned author Chetan Bhagat.

The initiative will provide an opportunity for students to learn from the journey and success of subject experts including celebrities and renowned personalities. LEAD will be regularly hosting such sessions every month for the benefit of students.

During the first session held on June 6, Bhagat shared tips on creative writing, story structure, characterisation, genres, elements of story, art of visualisation of character among others to help students with deeper insights on how these skills can be pursued professionally. He shared tips with students on how they can hone their skills to write, be it for films, documentaries, TV shows as well as publish books.

LEAD Co-founder & CEO Sumeet Mehta said --

With LEAD MasterClass, we want to bring experiences and learning for students in small towns, that otherwise would be inaccessible to them. Our mission to bring equity in education and LEAD MasterClass democratizes exposure and opportunity.

LEAD Chief Marketing Officer Anupam Gurani said, “It is important for schools to engage students and provide them with learning that prepares them not just for exams but also for life. Real life skills have become more critical now as the pandemic has limited the opportunities for students to explore their interests and pursue their passion. LEAD MasterClass will address this gap and not just provide fun learning sessions to engage students but also equip them with skill sets from successful and renowned experts.”

Each month, LEAD’s MasterClass will have skill-based themes such as Yoga, Public Speaking, Mental Maths etc. to name a few currently under consideration. Every session will be power-packed with inspiring stories, live Q&A sessions with celebrity and instructors, engagement in forms of quizzes, discussion sessions, live fun activities and take-home assignments to keep them engaged.

About LEAD School

LEAD School is promoted by Leadership Boulevard, one of the fastest growing EdTech companies in India. It combines technology, curriculum and pedagogy into an integrated system of teaching and learning, thus improving student learning and teacher performance in schools across the country. LEAD partners with 2000+ schools with an estimated 8 lakh+ students in more than 400 cities, including tier 2 to tier 4 cities, in 20 States.

One-of-a-kind Online School Launches in India

• The school imparts education from Standards 1-3 through hybrid learning model and advanced tech tools
• The school targets enrolment of about 5000 students in standards 1-3 by the end of March 2021 and acquire 1% of India's K-12 market share by 2025

A one-of-a-kind online school has launched in India. Known as Cyboard School, it is a brainchild of two serial entrepreneurs and visionaries - Rajat Singhal, Co-founder & CEO, and Kunal Singhal, Co-founder & CTO.

(L-R) CA Kunal Singhal (Co-founder & CTO - Cyboard) and CA Rajath Singhal (Co-founder & CEO - Cyboard)

Its salient feature is a hybrid model of delivery encompassing a mix of online classes which will be followed by physical camps spread over 30 days in a year and few city-level Interactions. The school targets enrolment of about 5000 students in Standards 1-3 by the end of March 2021 and acquire 1% of India's K-12 market share by 2025. It aims to overcome the drawbacks in conventional K-12 education, including lack of personalized learning, lack of requisite infrastructure and good teachers, limited student-teacher interaction and increased dependence on tuitions and impart futuristic education to students through state-of-the-art infrastructure, expert faculty members, irrespective of any geographical barriers.

"India possesses one of the largest educational systems in the world. The Online K-12 segment is projected to be nearly 3.7 times its existing size of $1.16 Bn to $4.3 Bn by 2025. The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the significance of digitization across sectors and education is no exception," Mr. Rajat Singhal, Co-founder, Cyboard School.

"We are excited to embark on this new journey in our endeavour to facilitate anywhere access to education. Through a hybrid model, personalized attention and leveraging of state-of-the-art technology, Cyboard School overcomes the drawbacks in conventional education," he added.

Cyboard School will commence initially with classes 1st, 2nd and 3^rd. Leveraging cutting-edge technologies, updated curriculum and the latest pedagogy to provide individualized attention to students are some of its unique value propositions. The school encourages Adaptive Learning to lay a strong conceptual foundation thereby eliminating the need for external tuitions. It also leverages AI for facial recognition and body language assessment.

The school is based on a monthly fee model. It will ensure economies of scale through advanced technology solutions.

The school has been co-founded by Mr. Rajat Singhal and Kunal Singhal. CA Rajat Singhal is a serial entrepreneur with a vast experience in multiple domains viz, Education, Finance, Hospitality and Real Estate. From bootstrapping businesses; to mobilizing and completing stuck-up projects; to land acquisitions; to turning loss making ventures into profitable ones, he has an experience of turning difficulties into opportunities which is also the case in Cyboard School.

Kunal Singhal is currently spearheading a transformation at EAZY ERP Technologies Pvt. Ltd. as a Managing Director with an objective to add innovative products and supporting tech startups to grow. He has also been the face of industry forums in different roles such as Co-Chairman, PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Elected Council Member, ICT & Electronics Committee and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Haryana. Further, Mr. Singhal has been conferred with many awards and accolades at different national & global platforms including. 'Emerging Entrepreneur in Make in India' by SME Channel, 2016, Sarthi 'SME Excellence Award, 2016, 'Outstanding Excellence Award' in Global Business at ICEIL 2018, Skoch Excellence Award 2018, DQ Award for 'Innovation in Supply Chain Visibility' 2018.

The management team comprises of mentors, technopreneurs, curriculum and content development experts and excellent administrators. Each master teacher would be teaching nearly 1000 students at a time while the AI tools embedded in the Platform will help minimize parental support and maintain the utmost level of discipline. Additionally, there would be assistant teachers for every 40 students below the master teachers for doubt clearance. Each kid will be given time slots to raise doubts and the top three queries will be solved, handled and explained by the master teacher and the rest would be taken up by assistant teachers/coordinators. A series of daily, weekly and monthly assessments would be held regularly for kids assessment. Extra classes without any additional fee would be structured to fill in the gaps, wherever required. A 3-tier structure of SMEs, Master Subject Teachers and Assistant Teachers alongwith AI driven assessments would ensure personalized attention to every kid.

About Cyboard School

Cyboard is a 100% online school that offers the best of all worlds: stress free, systematic and structured virtual classes from the comfort and safety of your own home. All you need is a computer or a tablet or a smart phone and an internet connection and you can learn from anywhere. The teachers work remotely and have a curriculum which is an amalgamation of the best national and international curriculums designed in the most effective & efficient prototype by industry's leaders.

Manipal Education and Medical Group Launches 'UNext' - An Affordable, End-To-End, Online Learning Platform For Professional Courses

Screenshot from u-next.com

BANGALORE, India, Jan. 22, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- UNext, a next generation online learning organisation and a subsidiary of the Manipal Education and Medical Group (MEMG), today announced the launch of its operations to offer high quality and affordable digital higher education solutions for learners across India. UNext will focus on programs catering to the higher education ecosystem by delivering online degrees, professional e-learning courses, and digital assessments with best-in-class content and technology stack. 

Speaking on the occasion, S. Vaitheeswaran, Group CEO, MEMG, said, "Our focus has always been to empower learners and transform lives through high quality, affordable professional education. With UNext, we're excited to take the Manipal legacy online. Now learners anywhere can access online degrees, industry relevant e-learning courses, and gain new skills and knowledge needed to become competent individuals and professionals to succeed in the world today. In fact, UNext will be one of a kind ed tech platform to offer online degrees and programs, coupled with digital assessments."

UNext is focused on revolutionizing the education sector by providing students access to a high calibre education platform through intuitive technology that will enable their potential to thrive in a dynamic world. UNext works with deemed universities, Institutes of Eminence, reputed academia and industry leaders to create innovative education solutions with industry relevant curriculum, skill-focused development programs, and scientifically designed academic evaluation options.

Speaking on the launch, Ambrish Sinha, Chief Executive Officer, UNext, said, "Our deep understanding of the education ecosystem coupled with a strong technology stack and quality content will enable learners anywhere to greatly benefit from our online degree programs. Our focus is building on a strong platform that makes learning in a digital world easy, seamless and on the go! We truly want to replicate the offline learning environment in an online world. And UNext is uniquely positioned in the marketplace to do just that."

UNext allows an immersive learning experience through a mobile-first LMS platform, access to world class faculty lectures - synchronous and asynchronous models, new age pedagogy, online quizzes and assessments, access to a wide alumni network, and expert assistance and career counselling to boost students' career opportunities. UNext is the only EdTech company in India that provides end-to-end education solutions from online degrees and programs to digital evaluation and examination management services.

UNext enables future-focused learning opportunities in the higher education ecosystem to be accessible by individuals and enterprises through online university degrees in collaboration with reputed Indian and global institutions through Online Manipal, professional upskilling programs in data science and emerging technologies, and digital assessment and examination solutions for corporates, governments, and educational institutions.

UNext will offer specially curated courses through partnerships with reputed organisations known for their scholastic prowess and quality of pedagogy, such as Manipal University Jaipur, IIM Indore, FutureSkills, NASSCOM, and HackerU.

About UNext

UNext is a next generation online learning organisation focused on the higher education ecosystem. With best-in-class content and technology stack, UNext offers online university degrees through Online Manipal, professional e-courses catering to various industries, programs in data science and emerging technologies from Jigsaw Academy, and digital assessments and examination management services for corporates, governments, and educational institutions through MeritTrac Services. Built with a start-up mindset, UNext offers easy access to courses, an affordable education, high quality content, and valuable outcomes for learners. UNext is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Manipal Education and Medical Group (MEMG). For more information, visit www.u-next.com.

Testbook.com Grows 8x in Enrolment, 4x Revenue in 9 Months

Start-up has gone multilingual, added 275 more to team to meet demand of more than 20,000 learners joining daily

India, January 18th 2021: Testbook.com, the edtech platform that aims at turning India’s examination preparation landscape for public sector jobs into a tech-driven, automated system where students can learn at their own pace, have witnessed 8 times growth in live course enrolment and hockey stick growth in active paid subscribers which increased to 8 lakh from 4.9 lakh, after the pandemic hit from April 2020 to December 2020. It has increased its monthly revenue by 4 times and is clocking an annual revenue rate of Rs 50 crore with more than 3.8 lakh transactions during the past four months.

The platform offers more than 250 online courses and more than 13,000 mock tests to prepare for more than 250 jobs in the public and private sectors. More than 20,000 new learners from across the country are joining the platform that facilitates complete learning and assessment with live-coaching on-a-daily-basis. Testbook.com has hired 275 more members to its team during Apr-Dec 2020 to meet the increasing demand from users.

The start-up has gone multilingual in content delivery and has doubled its team during the pandemic due to increased demand. It has built its technology to ensure uninterrupted streaming of live video lectures at 1/10th of data consumption. As a result, its video watch duration has gone up by 65% and is currently clocking close to 100 million minutes in a month. Testbook provides paid subscriptions that allow a one-stop learning platform to prepare for jobs along with regular studies.

Says Ashutosh Kumar, Founder and CEO of testbook.com, “Government job preparation got hit big time when the lockdown was announced and all government examinations were cancelled post COVID outbreak. Our revenues were also hit but we could make a V-shaped bounce with a one-stop platform that facilitates 360o learning for students with live coaching, online courses, mock tests, and doubt-solving support. Testbook App has Google play rating of 4.6 currently which is the highest among edtech apps, it has 10 lakh installations per month and a total of 1.8 crore installations till date.”

Testbook.com provides students with free and unlimited access to more than 8000 video lectures, 50,000 questions, and 500 mock tests to learn and practice at any given point of time. In order to cater to the students in smaller towns, Testbook.com has created Testbook PASS which a unique code-based offline voucher that provides subscription-based access for students based in smaller towns to 250+ Online Courses and 13000+ mock Tests at a much affordable price. The students can access offline vouchers through a distribution network of more than 250 channel partners in more than 60 towns.

There are reading assignments, practice questions, and periodical tests tactically integrated with the courses to achieve effective learning pedagogy. Comparative performance analytics provide a compelling study orientation for students.

Testbook.com has received Series B funding of $8.3M from Matrix Partners, Iron Pillar, AngelList India, and Better Capital in January 2020. S.Chand publishers and Utsav Somani of AngelList had invested in the early years of incorporation.

About testbook.com

Testbook.com, incorporated in 2014 by four alumni from IIT Bombay, Ashutosh Kumar, Narendra Agrawal, Manoj Munna and Praveen Agrawal, is an edtech on a mission to reshape the process of how students prepare online for competitive examinations in India. A market-leader in the $5 billion examination-preparation industry in India, the company provides an innovation-driven, online learning and assessment platform that has been instrumental in providing a full-stack portal to prepare for public-sector employment from anywhere in the country.

Testbook.com serves more than 90 million applicants who vie for a fraction of available jobs with a success rate of 7% as compared to the national average of less than 1%. It has produced more than 37,000 selections during the past 3 years. It has ~15 million registered users and 800K+ active paid subscribers through the country who are utilizing the services to crack more than 250 central and state government examinations which are being conducted online.

Comedy King Johnny Lever Ties with Non-Academic Learning Platform Unluclass

• The King Of Comedy, set to inspire millions of comedians and artists from the new generation
• The course has been personally drafted by Johnny Lever himself to ensure every aspirant learns and imbibes the most out of it
• Johnny Lever unfolds his secrets on becoming a successful comedian on Unluclass
• Do you want to take a comedy course from Johnny Lever himself!? Log on to Unlu and subscribe at a very nominal price!

Putting an end to all the social media speculations around the video with Johnny Lever, Unlu today announced its exclusive partnership with the evergreen comedian. Lever has joined hands with Unlu to inspire and offer skill enhancing modules with his comedy class.

“The last decade has witnessed how people have started enjoying comedy in various forms. From being limited to cinemas, comedy now plays a larger role in the form of stand-up comedians who are immensely popular amongst youngsters. And to have a mentor for comedy classes, we all had the same name, Johnny Lever.” shares Vipul Agrawal, co-founder of Unlu. 

Set to go live on Jan 15th, Unluclass aims to provide hobby learning and classes that can inspire the budding talent inside learners. Delivered by the best in every industry, Unluclasses curate celebrities & artists who are veterans in their fields, and help condense 20-25 years of experiences in a few classes. 

(Behind the shoots) Vipul Agrawal, co-founder Unluclass poses for a picture with legendary Johnny Lever

Commenting on the development, Himanshu Periwal, co-founder Unlu says, “We are super happy to come up with a platform that enables every aspirant and dreamer to learn from the best at a very nominal price. Today, parents focus on what is their child’s strength and do not unnecessarily push them to academics if they don’t belong there. As such, learnings become handy when you are sure that you have the top most mentor at Unluclass.”

Meanwhile, Unluclass is soon coming up with classes taught by world-renowned instructors in various fields like comedy, music, writing, design, photography, fashion, film and TV, sports, entrepreneurship, lifestyle, and much more which starts at just INR 499.

Announced after the straight success of Unlu, a celebrity engagement app, Unluclass has already received a lot of market attention because of Unlu's 1000+ top line celebrity connections like Guru Randhawa, SainaNehwal, Shamita Shetty, Rajpal Yadav, Sharman Joshi, Kiku Sharda. This definitely makes Unluclass a super compelling proposition for all kinds of users.

Indian Edtech Firm Simplilearn Dominates International Markets; More Than 60% of Revenue Contributed by Markets Overseas

BENGALURU, India , Dec. 18, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Indian edtech firm Simplilearn , a leading digital skills training provider and the world's number one online digital skills Bootcamp, today announced that since the pandemic started, more than 60 percent of the company's revenue was contributed by international markets. In addition to its primary markets of India and the USA , the company witnessed strong demand from South Africa , UK, Saudi Arabia and Australia.

With over 70,000 learners learning live at any given time from across more than 150 countries, this year the platform's active learner base more than doubled the average of 30,000 learners per day at the beginning of the year. This year, Simplilearn partnered with some of the world's leading universities like Purdue , Caltech, MIT and the University of Massachusetts , Amhers t, to offer learners an internationally acclaimed program curriculum, further strengthening its position in the global learning landscape.

Simplilearn began its journey in 2010 by introducing the concept of upskilling and reskilling programs to help professionals accelerate their career paths. Perfected over the years, the programs offered by Simplilearn are designed using the highly effective bootcamp model, offering the right mix of online classes and expert instructor-led live classrooms. 

With leading practitioners and current experts in the field teaching the programs, the bootcamp approach to training not only focuses on offering a real classroom experience to its learners but also provides the opportunity to get job-ready training through hands-on labs in the skills and tools that are in top demand today. All this is made possible through Simplilearn's AI powered learning platform, ' EngageX' , that successfully delivers high engagement rates and a unique learning experience to the learners.

Krishna Kumar , Founder & CEO of Simplilearn, said, "Looking back a couple of years, skilling as a concept was focused more at an organizational level. Fast forwarding to today, upskilling and reskilling has become a global phenomenon with enterprises stepping up spends in L&D programs, especially focused towards digital skilling. At the same time, individual learners are acknowledging the need to upgrade their work profiles in line with industry and employer requirements. This in turn has resulted in an increase in demand for boot camp programs in digital economy technologies. At Simplilearn, all programs are designed according to the hands-on learning model and this has garnered interest from learners across industries and the globe. In fact, the pandemic catalyzed this further, and we recorded more than 50,000 corporate learner signups from across 12 countries."

He further added , "With a large part of the team based in India and a growing global learner base, Simplilearn's unique blended learning model has been one of the driving factors that has led to the company's profitable growth over the years. We are happy that Simplilearn is today one of the fastest growing and profitable Indian ed-tech companies serving a global audience."

Simplilearn conducts more than 1,000 live classes, with learners spending more than 500,000 hours every month on the platform. This program offered by Simplilearn gives learners the opportunity to upskill and get certified in popular domains such as Big Data, Data Science and Business Intelligence, AI & Machine Learning, Digital Marketing, Cyber Security, Software Development, and Project Management. The program offers sessions with subject matter experts and industry-certified Capstone projects. On completion of the program, learners receive a certificate of completion from Simplilearn and related partner companies and universities.

About Simplilearn

Simplilearn is the world's #1 online Bootcamp for digital skills training, focused on helping people acquire the skills they need to thrive in the digital economy. Simplilearn provides outcome-based online training across technologies and applications in Data Science, AI and Machine Learning, Cloud Computing, Cyber Security, Digital Marketing, DevOps, Project Management, and other critical digital disciplines. Through individual courses, comprehensive certification programs, and partnerships with world-renowned universities, Simplilearn provides millions of professionals and thousands of corporate training organizations with the work-ready skills they need to excel in their careers. Based in San Francisco, CA , and Bangalore, India , Simplilearn has helped more than 1,000,000 professionals and 2,000 companies across 150 countries to get trained, acquire certifications, and reach their business and career goals. With over 1,000 live classes each month, real-world projects, and more, professionals learn by doing at Simplilearn. Ongoing industry recognition for the company includes the 2020 Aegis Graham Bell Award for Innovation in EdTech, 2020 Stevie® Gold Award for Customer Service Success, and recognition by the prestigious Training Industry Inc. as one of the Top IT Training Companies for 2020. For more information, please visit www.simplilearn.com

Digital Learning Start-up, KopyKitab raises funding

 

• Round saw participation from Pacatolus, Stanford Angels led by Paula Mariwala, ace investors like Praveen Gandhi, Mohit Dubey, Jeenendra Bhandari & Manoj Mehta
• KopyKitab has previously raised $2 million from CBA capital, Pacatolus and a clutch of well-known angel investors
• KopyKitab's platform offers personalised and virtual learning for Higher Education and competitive exams
• The funds infused will primarily be used for scaling up the platform to include new services to increase expansion of technology for revolutionizing tutorials along with building an ecosystem in the Higher Education market

Wednesday, 2nd Dec, 2020: Bangalore-based digital learning Ed-Tech startup KopyKitab has raised an undisclosed amount from ace investors. The company founded by Sumeet Verma and Amit Shrivastava, has raised this fresh round from a clutch of well-known Institutional & angel investors like Pacatolus ( Singapore), Stanford Angels (led by Paula Mariwala), and ace investors like Praveen Gandhi, Jeenendra Bhandari, Mohit Dubey and Manoj Mehta.

KopyKitab, India's leading digital learning platform is the one-stop destination for higher education students, offering full-stack solutions for personalised learnings.

The platform focus & caters to all higher education needs – coursework and competitive exams (with a user base of 5 million and 6 million app downloads with additional presence in 400+ campuses) , has witnessed a growth rate of close to 200% over the last 6-7 months. With its ability to specifically cater to the needs of the students, KopyKitab has been able to position itself as a market leader in the Higher education vertical and has been growing many folds.

Sumeet Verma, CEO & Co-founder, KopyKitab, says "There are 40K Institutes in India with 60% plus gap in quality faculty & curated content in a highly scattered market. KopyKitab has witnessed a massive growth, with changing consumer behaviours due to the Pandemic and with 68% of the traffic coming from Tier II and Tier III towns validates our business model. Our aim is to address the underserved market of higher education. As one size does not fit all, higher education is very regional and run on a push from its users (6Mn organic App downloads validates it). Every student from a different institute and region has a different way of studying and this is what KopyKitab continues to address. It helps students to manage their whole learning cycle right from all the formats of curated content i.e. books, notes, assessments etc to the tutorials in 7 different languages. We have evolved as one stop destination for higher education students. We believe this support from our investors will help strengthen our performance metrics further and reach our target of 10 Million users by the year end."

As major investments are not going towards customer acquisitions, the funds raised will be used for growing the technology for revolutionising tutorials along with building an ecosystem in the Higher Education vertical.

Praveen Gandhi says, "We believe in the model of KopyKitab and that's why we have backed the team from their early days. Unlike other Ed-tech players, KopyKitab focuses on demands from the students' side and works to give them what they need to further excel in their studies & outcomes. That makes them a very student centric platform. The way it has created an ecosystem with the top publishers in the country, no other company has reached that trust level with the IP holders, gained deep insights about the market faster. While the COVID-19 situation spelt bad news for the economy, it turned around the Ed-tech space drastically. Given that, we see KopyKitab has created very strong moats & emerging as one of the most formidable names in the Ed-tech space, we decided to provide them with additional funds to help them achieve even bigger milestones as they get ready for a bigger round."

KopyKitab has witnessed massive growth in its platform as education moved online since March. The MAU and paid users have grown 3x. The minimum average reading time on the platform is now 25 minutes per session with 80% repeat traffic has made it one of the most successful Ed-tech startup in India today. The additional funds raised will be used to further solidify their market leader position in the higher education vertical.

KopyKitab covers a base of 8% of the addressable market so far and aims to double it by the end of 2020. Kopykitab continues to offer its services amidst the COVID-19 pandemic through P2P (Peer to Peer) with structured learning options & Video Connectivity. From teacher to students, coach to the students or even content publishers to students and has created a highly optimised and beneficial learning environment for its learners.

About KopyKitab:

KopyKitab, a Bangalore-based ed-tech startup, founded by Sumeet Verma and Amit Shrivastava. KopyKitab is the one-stop destination for higher education students, offering full-stack solutions for personalised learnings.

40 Mn students in Indian colleges struggle to score good grades and so landing into good jobs. The market is pretty fragmented, there is a huge gap in demand & supply of quality academic material and quality tutors. It leads to low motivation to study well while they are in college and eventually, they are not skilled enough to get a decent job after graduations. The problem is more acute in underserved areas i.e. tier 2,3 cities, making higher education a serious business.

We ensure quality study material and quality tutors available to everyone. By reversing the problem, we can ensure equality for students learning from the beginning of the college, leading to better outcomes by the time they graduate.



KopyKitab ace investors include CBA Capital (MSDF, GMC),Anand Sudarshan, Madan Padaki, Nitin Gupta, Manish Vij, Satyen Kothari, Hero Chaudhary, Siddharth Anand.

upGrad and BookMyShow partner to build a cohesive LifeLong Learning ecosystem for India’s workforce

The exclusive strategic partnership will enable the large universe of BookMyShow users to access upGrad's best-in-class upskilling and career advancement online programs 

After catering to the educational and entertainment needs of millions of Indians over the years, upGrad, India's largest online higher education company and BookMyShow, the leading entertainment platform in the country today announced a strategic partnership, enabling users to opt for their preferred upskilling, career advancement courses and choice of entertainment - all at a single destination. 

upGrad is the higher edtech leader with a plethora of online programs in partnership with top-notch national and international universities across Management, Data, Tech, and Law. The programs are well structured suiting the industry requirements and demands and is available for professional with a brief to extensive work experience and to the first-time job seekers. With a world-class learning platform available at their disposal, learners can easily shortlist programs based on their competencies and career prospects that shall help them achieve meaningful career outcomes.


Over the last 5 months, virtual workshops and masterclasses on educative, upskilling content have been hugely successful on BookMyShow with the formats gaining ground to become among the top 3 paid categories on the platform. This has enabled a large adoption of upskilling and educative workshops across a wide audience demographic of millions of users on BookMyShow.

Bringing two of fastest-growing sectors of entertainment and education together, this unique collaboration aims to build and offer quality education, career-oriented and upskilling formats to millennials and young working professionals across metros along with tier 2 cities and beyond, where BookMyShow has a strong consumer connect across its plethora of entertainment offerings. Online programs offered by the edtech major will now be available on the BookMyShow platform.

Talking about the partnership, Arjun Mohan, CEO – India, upGrad said, "With this one-of-a-kind arrangement with BookMyShow, we will now be enabling millions of interested individuals with quality higher education options at the ease of their fingertips. We operate in times when optimism for online education is growing at a rapid speed, and such an alliance will only accelerate it further."

Highlighting the importance of the category and its uptake, Albert Almeida, COO – Live Entertainment, BookMyShow said, "With millions locked indoors through this pandemic, adoption of virtual upskilling workshops and masterclasses have seen a huge surge on BookMyShow. This specific category that enables individuals hone their professional skills and helps them with career advancement has risen to become one of the top 3 paid categories on the platform. With geographical constraints and physical learning making way for virtual education, our partnership with upGrad will enable millions of BookMyShow users get access to quality learning and skilling."

About upGrad

upGrad is India's largest online higher education company. Founded in early 2015, upGrad has impacted almost 1 million individuals globally, within a short span of 5 years. 

upGrad provides online programs in the areas of Data Science, Technology, Management and Law to college students, working professionals and enterprises. These programs are designed and delivered in collaboration with top-notch universities like IIT Madras, IIIT Bangalore, MICA, BIMTECH, NMIMS Global Access, Jindal Global Law School, Duke CE, Deakin University, Liverpool John Moores University and others.

With an 80% program completion rate, robust tech platform, outcome-based learning approach, industry-relevant curriculum, finest university credentials, strong mentorship, and steadfast placement support, upGrad has established its position as the leader in the Indian education system.

IIIT Bangalore and upGrad's PG Diploma in Data Science is India's first-ever PG Diploma, with over 10,000 alumni & learner-base, to be recommended and validated by the NASSCOM and is aligned to Government approved National Occupational Standards (NOS). upGrad has ranked No.1 in the #LinkedInTopStartups India 2020 list. This is the third time in a row that upGrad has been featured in the #LinkedInTopStartup list after 2018 and 2019. upGrad made it to the GSV Global EdTech 50 List 2020. upGrad has won the 'Best Communication and Teaching Platform' in the Education Innovation Awards 2020 by Entrepreneur India. upGrad has been awarded the title of 'Best Tech for Education' by IAMAI in 2019. upGrad received the 'Best Education Brands' award by Economic Times in 2018, and the Most Innovative Companies in India' by Fast Company in 2017. 

Link: www.upgrad.com

About BookMyShow

Launched in 2007, BookMyShow, owned and operated by Big Tree Entertainment Pvt Ltd, is India's leading entertainment destination and the one-stop shop for every out-of-home entertainment need. The firm is present in over 650 towns and Launched in 2007, BookMyShow, owned and operated by Big Tree Entertainment Pvt Ltd (founded in 1999), is India's leading entertainment destination and the one-stop shop for every out-of-home entertainment need. The firm is present in over 650 towns and cities in India and works with partners across the industry to provide unmatched entertainment experiences to millions of customers. Over the years, the company has evolved from a purely online ticketing platform for movies across 6,000 screens, to end-to-end management of live entertainment events including music concerts, live performances, theatricals, sports and more, all accomplished at par with global standards. Some of the key properties that BookMyShow has brought to its markets over the past few years include U2's The Joshua Tree Tour, NBA's debut games in India, Disney's Aladdin, Cirque du Soleil BAZZAR as also international artists such as Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, Justin Bieber to name a few.

BookMyShow has also built India's largest organic reviews and ratings engine for movies and has driven technology innovations, such as the m-ticket and Movie Mode, impacting tens of millions of users and the industry at large. With continued support from investors including TPG Growth, Stripes Group, SAIF Partners, Accel and Network18, BookMyShow is invested in providing the best user experience, whether on-ground or online. Demonstrating category leadership, BookMyShow has grown beyond India with operations in Dubai, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Singapore amongst others. The Mumbai-headquartered company counts Ticket Green, Eventifier, Masti Tickets, Townscript and Burrp amongst its key investments in the sector. BookMyShow is also committed to society at large, by way of its charity initiative BookASmile, which provides entertainment experiences to the underprivileged. For more information, please visit www.bookmyshow.com

For further details, please contact:

Satasha Praharaj | satasha.praharaj@adfactorspr.com | +91-9124004777

79% Students Use Smartphones to Study Online: 'India Lockdown Learning' Report by Vidyasaarathi

• 59% are using WhatsApp and Zoom calls for their classes; while 30% are using their institution’s online platform
• 75% students still prefer physical classrooms over online learning; biggest challenge being poor network connection

Majority of students (79%) use smartphones to study online reveals ‘India Lockdown Learning’ report by Vidyasaarathi. The report goes on to state that only 17% of students attend their online classes using laptops and computers and rest 4% students attend it through mediums like tablets. Vidyasaarathi is one of the largest scholarship management portals in India - promoted by NSDL e-Governance.

Vidyasaarathi’s ‘India Lockdown Learning’ report is basis a nationwide survey conducted by collecting data from over 10,000 students across 400 cities to understand the transformation happening in the educational eco-system.  The survey helps us to take note of how students are adopting e-learning which is becoming the norm and the challenges they face in the transition. The survey is holistic in capturing all the essential data for us to discern the pros and cons of the new normal.

The report that provides unique insights and perspectives on the e-learning scenario in India further finds that WhatsApp and Zoom Calls to be the most preferred medium of 59% students for conducting online classes; followed by 30% of students using their school’s or college’s online platform to attend online classes.  

While online classes are part of the new normal, 75% of the students still prefer physical classrooms over online learning. Poor internet connection was highlighted by 57% of students as their biggest challenge for e-learning. 31% of students finding it difficult to focus and 12% finding it difficult to get doubts clarified while studying online.

Interestingly, over 60% of the students spend around 1-4 hours on e-Learning; followed by 31% spending 4-8 hours and 8% spending 8-12 hours studying online. This shows that despite the challenges, the students’ willingness to learn and the commitment of teachers towards online education.

Moreover, among the total number of students who are utilizing online classes, 62% of them are using it for curricular and 38% for extra-curricular activities. Amongst the extra-curricular activities 39% are taking online courses on art & craft. This indicates a shift from the traditional learning methods.

Majority of the students who took the survey were in the age groups of 12 to 28 years where 62% were males. The respondents are in their undergraduate and postgraduate courses. They come from middle class families, with around 90% students belonging to families with annual incomes below INR 7 lakh

Students are also well aware of the benefits of online classes. Majority of them cited that the biggest advantage of e-learning is the accessibility of the course content any time. Students also highlighted ease of use and convenient doubt clarification to be the other motivators for online education.

Indian students are new to the e-learning culture. Online classes in this pandemic situation has been a challenge for educators and for students as well. This survey highlights the need for good IT infrastructure so that the challenges of digital learning do not weigh it down.

Vidyasaarathi is among the three education financing portals developed by NSDL e-Governance Infrastructure which assists students in their education financing process– Vidyasaarathi (education scholarships), Vidya Lakshmi (education loans), and Vidya Kaushal (skill development loans).

About Vidyasaarathi:

Vidyasaarathi is a scholarship portal developed by NSDL e-Governance Infrastructure Ltd., which bridges the gap between students seeking financial assistance and companies with CSR funds wanting to contribute to the education space. Corporates can choose to create their own schemes and criteria to give scholarships to the deserving students. The schemes are designed in association with Tata Institute of Social Sciences. So far, over 30 corporates have associated with Vidyasaarathi to design and provide scholarship schemes to students, the portal is becoming popular amongst students.

E-Learning Market Expected to Reach $350 Billion in 2025 - Report

The dynamic shift to 'Work from Home' culture has resulted in people adapting to new reality - connecting solely to online platforms to work, teach and learn. While working from home has become the new normal, millions of employees found themselves with more time in hand. Many have channeled their extra time into learning new skills, thus resulting in the sharp increase in the online course enrollment.

The online education industry has shown significant growth over the last decade, offering millions of people worldwide the opportunity to gain new skills from the comfort of their own home. The recent COVID-19 outbreak has encouraged this trend by placing E-learning in the spotlight almost overnight as many suddenly had to work and learn while under strict lockdown measures.

While online education has been growing steadily in the past few years, COVID-19 pandemic has paved the way for stronger market growth. In fact, even before the outbreak, the E-learning industry was skyrocketing with the market expecting to reach a whopping $350 billion by 2025. E-teaching has become a great way to make supplement income. Interestingly, 52% of those who teach professional skills , generate income of $500+ per month and 21% earn between $1000 to $3000 per month.

Payoneer, which streamlines global commerce surveyed online teachers from 40 different countries inviting them to share how the crisis has impacted them and what they believe the future of E-learning holds once the outbreak subsides. As per the detailed survey, the E-learning market is expected to reach $350 billion in 2025 (E-learning platform typically cover two categories: Professional Skills and Foreign language). Up to 74% teachers joined the online education industry in the past two years (74% of professional skills teachers and 73% of foreign language teachers joined the online education industry within the last two years)

90% of all E-teachers would consider making e-teaching their primary source of income in the future. During COVID-19, 82% of professional skills teachers and 55% of foreign language learning teachers saw an increase in course registration. 87% of those teaching professional skills and 54% of those teaching foreign language expect that demand for their courses will increase in long-term.

About Payoneer:

Payoneer’s mission is to empower businesses to go beyond – beyond borders, limits and expectations. In today’s digital world, Payoneer enables any business of any size from anywhere to access new economic opportunities by making it possible to transact as easily globally as they do locally.

Payoneer’s digital platform streamlines global commerce for millions of small businesses, marketplaces and enterprises from 200 countries and territories.  Leveraging its robust technology, compliance, operations and banking infrastructure, Payoneer delivers a suite of services that includes cross-border payments, working capital, tax solutions, merchant services and risk management.  Powering growth for customers ranging from aspiring entrepreneurs in emerging markets to the world’s leading digital brands like Airbnb, Amazon, Google and Upwork, Payoneer makes global commerce easy and secure. Founded in 2005, Payoneer is profitable and has a team based all around the world.