These 5 edtech startups are upskilling young India
From PlanetSparks and WhiteHat Jr. to Kiddopia, here are some edtech startups that are making kids futures ready with their advanced curriculum and upskilling programmes.
Traditional education in India has mostly revolved around academics and does not impart any holistic growth. Its negative repercussions can be clearly seen among job seekers today as they find it difficult to find relevant jobs.
According to India Skills Report 2022, recruiters are seeing a shortage of skilled workers while hiring, and there is a significant skill gap among candidates. Job seekers also lack skills like communication, critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and people management.
To eliminate skill gaps by inculcating mandatory skill education at the school level, the National Education Policy (NEP) was introduced by the central government in 2020. While the NEP is still being implemented on a larger scale, only a few state governments have mandated skill education.
However, some edtech startups have been at the forefront of this skill revolution, equipping children with relevant skills.
Additionally, there is also a paradigm shift in the way parents are approaching education. Millennial parents, who themselves have experienced a demand shift in the job market, are now focused on inculcating the
right skills to their children.
In a world that is moving towards the metaverse, and where most operational jobs are being automated, the focus is now on developing some core skills that can help students ace whichever career they choose.
YourStory has curated a list of edtech startups that can help kids improve their skills.
PlanetSpark
was founded by Maneesh Dhooper and Kunal Malik in 2016. The startup offers LIVE 1:1 classes in public speaking and creative writing for children aged 4-16 years. It intends to help children become confident communicators.
Co-founders, PlanetSpark
The platform has a unique WOW Curriculum that includes application-based learning through storytelling, debate, podcasting, stand-up comedy, poetry, and book writing. It deploys a pedagogy wherein a personal tutor is assigned to each child to help them eliminate their fears associated with public speaking.
While initially children learn the fundamentals of English and gain confidence to communicate effectively, later they are enrolled in various activity-based clubs for peer-to-peer (P2P) and practical learning.
PlanetSpark also enables children to leverage their communication skills and grow their confidence by helping them launch their own podcasts, published books, audiobooks, blogs, etc.
The startup claims that its students have become podcasters, published authors, bloggers, and creators in various capacities.
The startup offers its programmes across 13 countries, including India, the USA, Canada, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia.
Additionally, through its skill learning programs, PlanetSpark emphasises fostering other soft-skills in children such as articulation, negotiation, debating, creativity, and pitching, among others.
In December 2021, the startup raised $13.5 million in Series B from Prime Venture Partners, Binny Bansal, Shirish Nadkarni, Deep Kalra, Gokul Rajaram, and Dr. Ashish Gupta for business growth, product
development, and international expansion.
WhiteHat Jr.
is a Mumbai-based startup founded in 2018 by Karan Bajaj.
The startup provides a range of online coding courses that make coding accessible to kids and young teenagers. They learn structure, sequence, logic, and algorithmic thinking to generate creative outcomes like animations and apps.
The startup also offers various other courses, including music, illustration, and animation.
In August 2020, Whitehat Jr. was acquired by BYJU’S for $300 million.
Karan Bajaj, Founder and CEO of WhiteHat Jr.
Its coding programmes are available for children from grade 1–12 and are divided into five segments, comprising Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Professional, and Applied Tech.
Kiddopia
Established in 2012 by husband-wife duo Anupam and Anshu Dhanuka, Mumbai-based is a platform for kids aged 2–7 years.
The startup is building edutainment apps for preschool children and providing integrated learning that is curriculum-linked. The startup operates on a subscription-based model.
It focuses on building a strong foundation for kids’ cognitive skills, interpersonal skills, language skills, general knowledge, creativity, role-playing, and social-emotional learning.
To make learning fun, Kiddopia focuses on creating constructive and exciting content for pre-school and early school children.
The app includes inputs from parents, teachers, artists, and developers who build learning experiences for curious little minds.
Yellow Class
Founded by Vishal Gupta in 2019, Gurugram-based is a hobby learning platform with 40 categories for children aged 3–12 years.
Founders of Yellow Class
The edtech firm focuses on extra-curricular learning and offers classes in dancing, crafts and painting, personality development, sports, music, flameless cooking, and yoga.
Through curated content and live classes, Yellow Class boasts of a range of celebrity instructors who provide training in the fields of their expertise.
Some of the celebrity instructors include Shaan (singing), Arun Govil (storytelling and personality development), and Srikanth Kidambi (badminton).
In August 2021, Yellow Class raised $6 million in Series A investment led by Elevation Capital, India Quotient, Titan Capital, and First Cheque for product development, leadership hiring, content creation, brand marketing, and strategic expansion in selected geographies.
Little Leap
New Delhi-based , founded by Vishal Gupta in 2019, is an edtech platform that focuses on English language learning and is also designed to foster the holistic development of children.
With its gamified learning approach, the startup aims to inculcate soft skills such as emotional intelligence, grit, curiosity, and creative thinking in children, and aims to empower students to become well-rounded individuals.
Little Leap offers over 300 engaging and playful activities to enable learning; over 20 competitions for children to implement skills learnt in a competitive environment; and a peer-to-peer learning environment wherein children collaborate with their peers to co-create.
In July 2021, the startup raised Rs 2.67 crore in a seed round led by ah! Ventures, First Cheque VC, LetsVenture, and Goof Capital VC.
Edited by Megha Reddy