Liqvid to incubate 5 ed-tech startups by extending tech, content, and seedfund support
Healthcare and education didn’t see disruptions as commerce and services (travel, cab, handymen etc.) in India. However, things have moved fast for these two sectors in the last couple of years. Education as an industry is ripe for disruption and YourStory expects that there will be at least one Unicorn to come out of this space in the next few years.
To drive disruption in the sector, education software maker Liqvid has launched an incubation platform for ed-tech startups. With this programme, the company will help entrepreneurs through technology, content, and experience in the area of ed-tech and willing to partner with entrepreneurs who can help leverage this to create great companies.
“We are especially excited about our latest mobile-first platform, which supports video, social, and analytics since any successful strategy in India would have to be mobile-first,” says Vivek Agarwal, Showstopper, Liqvid. The company has recently initiated this program and is in discussions with a few entrepreneurs. Vivek adds, “We are looking to incubate four-five entrepreneurs and are still in the discussion and evaluation mode.”
How it will help ed-tech startups?
Liqvid brings to the table a huge base of cutting edge technology, content, experience, and customer relationships. “We plan to make all these available to the entrepreneurs, combined with funding and mentoring. This will allow the entrepreneur to shrink the go-to-market cycle by a factor of five and the products can be available for the consumers in a matter of weeks. This will enormously derisk the plan as well as help to scale up the business much faster,” outlines Vivek.
The company also plans to offer seed funding to the companies. “We haven’t decided the size of the fund for this programme, however, we estimate to invest over Rs 35 crore towards incubating potential startups,” pointed out Vivek.
The mentors for the programme will include Vivek and other co-founders of Liqvid - Manish Upadhyay and Pankaj Manchanda. “Additionally, we have a very strong advisory board and a network of very seasoned professionals and entrepreneurs who will be available to the entrepreneurs,” concluded Vivek.
YourStory’s take
With more than 1.4 million schools and over 35,000 higher education institutes, India has the largest college going population and one of the largest higher education systems in the world.
According to an estimate, the education market of India is worth USD 100 billion annually, 60 per cent of which is accounted for by the K-12 sector. While B2C segment is developing, B2B segment has witnessed higher growth and has a high growth potential.
Such incubation programmes led by experienced ed-tech entrepreneurs will certainly help budding entrepreneurs to address various pain points encountered by student and institutions. We need some more such programmes promoted by people who made big in the sector to fuel innovation.
