Edtechs: For Whom!!
I n 2021, Edtechs started on a high, garnering $ 6Bn funding. According to some reports, there are 9043 edtech startups in India alone, largely competing for the K12 segment. The party seems to have slowed down in 2022 once the schools opened. The funding dried up, valuations plunged, and enrolments dropped resulting in mass layoffs (6000 laid off and as per experts, they may lay off another 60,000). The fundamental question that arises is who was the target audience!! School Management, Teachers, Students, Parents or ... the answer is not very simple. The internet is full of stories from lack of a viable sustainable business plan; a near non-existent market survey; key target audience ie teachers and students ignored; mindless scaleup; expenditure on non-essentials; lack of understanding of the education sector; value vs valuation, and many more such like issues. Education is a serious business, specially in a country as diverse as India. It is a long haul. More...