This ex-Amazon exec is taking performing arts online to make learning accessible and affordable
Online hobby startup Kafqa Academy leverages technology to increase access and affordability to performing arts, enhance learning, and provide higher interaction between learners and instructors.
An IIT Bombay and Stanford Business School graduate, Shariq Plasticwala decided to turn entrepreneur to follow his passion for performing arts and leverage technology to make it accessible to all.
Shariq, who was among the key executives for when it started its India operations, has been passionate about drama and theatre since he was 12 years old. His passion found expression through writing, directing, and even acting in plays during his IIT Bombay and Stanford days.
But the “aha moment” came when he came across a data point that revealed that hashtag dance viewership on TikTok overtook football, music, and fitness.
“There were business cases already built around the fitness space but performing arts was still a wide space and we got into it,” Shariq says.
In 2021, this led him to found Bengaluru-based , a global performing arts academy that offers classes in dancing, singing, and speech and drama, which started as a bootstrapped venture.
This tech-enabled hobby platform aims to serve learners as it nurtures an artists’ community by offering them opportunities.
Taking hobbies online
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, classes, be it music, dance, or vocals, could not be taught in the offline mode, which is why Kafqa Academy took learning online.
The e-learning startup says the market opportunity for performing arts, comprising dance, music, speech and drama, fine arts, and cooking, is worth $3 billion in India and is expected to touch $8-10 billion by 2027.
It aims to bring instructors and learners together to offer live teaching. The classes are offered in three formats between the instructors and students: one is to one, one is to eight and one is to twenty.
“We want to be the place where students learn from the best teachers and these instructors also get connected to other opportunities,” Shariq says.
The key target segment for Kafqa Academy are people who are interested or passionate about some art form, those who can learn the skill and also put up their content online. As of now, an overwhelming majority of the learners are in the 6-14 age group.
“Over 95 percent of our learners use the core skills we empower them with to create content on their own,” he says.
It helps connect instructors with production houses, event management firms, and casting agencies, opening up new economic opportunities.
How it works
To create a differentiation, Kafqa Academy solves various challenges normally faced by offline classes. The platform increases access, allowing students from far-flung areas to learn a new skill and offering instructors a wider reach.
According to Shariq, the best artistes or instructors generally reside in metros such as Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, and Hyderabad. A platform like Kafqa Academy gives them access to a larger number of students and allows interested learners from anywhere to log in to learn more.
The technology layer brings in numerous personalised elements for students, whether in the form of one-to-one interaction, tracking progress, and other gamification elements to keep the fun in learning.
“It is important to know the outcome of the learning and our technology helps to one know that,” Shariq says.
Kafqa Academy now offers classes across eight art forms, including Bollywood dance, hip-hop dance, Carnatic music, Bharatanatyam, speech & drama, etc.
The core team of Kafqa Academy
The duration of the classes ranges from six weeks to 24 months, depending on the various art forms. The fees start at Rs 600 per month and go up to Rs 4,000 per month depending on what kind of classes they take whether it is individual or in a group.
Shariq says, “Our mission is to make learning of these art forms affordable as the idea is to work with students for a longer period of time rather than charge more.”
Growth and the future
Kafqa Academy claims to have more than 100,000 registrations with 40 percent of students coming from four to five metros like Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi and the rest from almost 600 cities across India. It claims to have 14,000 students per month on average.
“We have been delivering more than 50,000 minutes of live learning every day by over 70 instructors,” Shariq says.
The founder has ambitious growth plans for Kafqa Academy – he plans to add more art forms to its portfolio and expand the age profile of students to the 15-25 years group. The extracurriculars startup is looking at having 600 instructors by the end of this year even as “our acceptance rate of applications from teachers is under two percent to ensure quality”.
Kafqa Academy raised a $1.3 million seed round of funding in October last year from the likes of Global Founders Capital (GFC), Enzia Ventures, Better Capital along with angel investors such as Kunal Shah and Ashish Hemrajani.
The pandemic, which initially led to full-fledged adoption of edtech, slowly led to a rise in the popularity of hobby and extracurricular startups. Apart from offline classes, schools, and online sessions on YouTube, Kafqa Academy competes in the online hobby learning space with the likes of YellowClass, FrontRow, Kiddopia, Geek Express, Hellosaurus, Bambinos, simpleclub, Kyt, and others.
Shariq believes its reach and the level of interaction it provides between students and instructors are its key advantages.
Shariq feels Kafqa Academy bring a balance between the passion and entrepreneur in him. “This is all very relatable and personal, which gives a different kind of feeling.”
Edited by Teja Lele