Blume Edtech Report 2022.pdf

Blume Ventures | December 2022
Indian Edtech in 2022
Building in the Shadow of Giants

Fund I
&
Opportunity Fund
Fund II
&
Opportunity Fund
Fund III
Fund IV
(Ongoing)
Fund Size $15M + $6M $60M + $40M $102M $250+M
Vintage 2011 - 2014 2016 - 2018 2019 - 2021 2021 onwards
Primary Cheque $100K-250K $250K-500K $750K-2M $1M - $2M
Reserves $750K $2M $3-4M $3-4M
# of Investments 74 49 26 ~30
Key Investments
Blume Ventures is getting bigger with each fund cycle
We are presently investing out of our fourth fund, and our typical cheque is ~$1 - 2M with a reserve of ~$3 - 4M. We are sector
agnostic tech investors: from AgriTech🌽 to SpaceTech🚀

Blume’s take on edtech and skilling has evolved over the decade
Thesis: Export of edtech
services, gamiﬁcation,
21st century skills for kids,
and verticalized
upskilling are key themes.
COVID-19: Formal education
moved online. After-school
learning became critical.
Blume details out key
opportunity areas and trends
in the 2020 Edtech Thesis.
Foreign admissions enablement platform
K-12 supplemental learning platform
(Acquired, 2020)
SaaS enabled marketplace for tuition centers
and their students
Leader in online test prep:
India’s 2nd most valued
edtech company
Test prep for government
exams
(Acquired, 2019)
Enhancing STEM
outcomes for higher
education
eCommerce for school
supplies
Thesis: Distribute B2B2C
via schools & colleges.
Thesis: Solve for students taking
competitive exams and
interviews → Discovered high
willingness to pay here.
Unacademy becomes
the ﬁrst unicorn in the
Blume portfolio
L&D and assessments
platform for employers
(Acquired, 2018)
Skilling and hiring
community for developers
Communication app
for schools
After-school tuitions
marketplace
Campus placement and
hiring platform
(Acquired, 2021)
The Jio explosion. Cheaper
smartphone devices (<10k Rs)
& cheap 4G data → online
learning TAM expanded.
Vocational upskilling
platform for women
2015
2011 2012 2013 2014 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

What’s changed in edtech since 2020?
The last 24 months have been the most pivotal for the Indian edtech space since the Jio revolution in 2016 that brought online learning
to students’ mobile phones in the most remote corners of the country. Here’s a quick look at what changed in the last 24 months and
how that impacts students, teachers, edtech businesses, and investors.
COVID-19 had a larger impact than expected
Indian edtech started seeing global traction
Newly minted giants started an M&A spree
China’s edtech crash sent global shockwaves
1
2
3
4
COVID-19 effects wearing off, hybrid resumes
5

1a/ COVID-19 had a larger impact than expected
New opportunity for hybrid
daycare and online learning
for pre-K12 kids
Demand for online learning grew
and offline tutors tried to teach and
sell online
Large opportunity for B2B
platforms catering to schools /
teachers
Offline after school tuitions /
hobby classes were COVID hit
Daycare centers and preschools
closed, especially as kids
remained unvaccinated and
vulnerable
Schools and colleges moved
online
Schools needed tools to support
online operations and training for
teachers
Large opportunity for online
B2C players and B2B catalysts
Parents needed alternatives for
daycare, especially as offices
restarted WFO
What happened? Which led to… So what?
3
2
1
1/ COVID impact 2/ Global traction 3/ M&A spree 4/ China edtech crash 5/ COVID effect tapers

2016
Ofﬂine models
of education
emerged
Ofﬂine test prep
like Akash and
FITJEE became
large. Online
models struggled
due to low mobile
internet
penetration.
2020
Online B2C
edtech grew
rapidly
B2B models saw
low technology
adoption and
tough sales cycles,
whereas B2C online
edu grew with viral
adoption and high
engagement.
Lockdown
pushed schools
and colleges
into sudden
closure → old
school, digitally
un-savvy
institutions
came online.
COVID-19 forced schools and colleges to adopt technology and will leave behind ‘digital
traces’, thus creating a new large opportunity in B2B/2C edtech.
1b/ COVID-19 had a larger impact than expected
1/ COVID impact 2/ Global traction 3/ M&A spree 4/ China edtech crash
COVID-19 was for B2B edtech, what Jio was for consumer apps
5/ COVID effect tapers

1c/ But, we’re now seeing education move back to “normal”
EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING & REVISION
Revisions, doubt-solving,
learning-by-doing, etc.
ADMINISTRATION
Admin jobs like records, counselling,
performance tracking, etc.
COMMUNICATION
Three way communication:
students <> teachers <> parents
HOBBY AND CO-CURRICULAR LEARNING
2pm to 5pm slot in the student’s schedule:
dedicated to post school learning.
ASSESSMENTS
Quizzes, homeworks,
non-competitive exams for
students; and grading for
teachers.
CORE
EDUCATION
goes back
ofﬂine
Need for daycare and social development drive core
learning ofﬂine
But, digital traces will remain in peripheral services
around core learning

2a/ Edtech startups were able to gain traction globally
Middle East
USA
Canada *Maps not to scale

2b/ Edtech startups were able to gain traction globally
Higher demand, faster
growth, larger funding $ for
platforms that were earlier
seen as niche premium
markets
Indian Edtech startups expanded
abroad and acquired paying customers
in North America, SEA, the Middle East
TAM for spaces that were earlier
considered niche effectively expanded
to account for global demand and
higher ARPU
Indian edtech attracting
capital from global investors
→ increasing overall pool of
capital and increasing
valuations

3a/ Large edtech companies became even larger

3b/ Via inorganic growth…
2020 saw edtech giants licking the cookie in several adjacent spaces and spur large scale consolidation via acquisitions,
especially in K12.
* BYJU’s acquisition of
Aakash Education is
the largest edtech
acquisition in the
world by a VC backed
company at $1Bn
*

4a/ Edtech in China saw a major crash

4b/ Edtech in China saw a major crash
Pool of global capital that would
have been invested into the Chinese
market, now needed a new
deployment opportunity
In 2021, China imposed a ban on
for-proﬁt tutoring services focused on
public school curriculum and
entrance exams. These regulations
have been catastrophic for Chinese
edtech companies: The stock of New
Oriental Education and Technology
Group was down 86% YoY, and TAL
Education Group saw over 93% of its
value wiped out.
Some level of uneasiness - will the
same thing happen in India when
edtech giants become too big?
Increased $$ infusion into
Indian market from abroad
Yet to fully play out.
However, chances of this are low
given that we are an economy
geared towards American style
capitalism and smaller role of
government.

5/ COVID eﬀect wears oﬀ and Edtech moves back to hybrid
Schools and colleges reopened in phases after
COVID → hybrid learning sets in after 1+ years of
online school and college.
As hybrid teaching kicks in and online fatigue sets in,
the ‘hotness’ around edtech dies down and the
funding boom reduces. This spells trouble for a lot of
companies that raised at rich valuations earlier -
especially if they were not monetizing or not
focusing on outcomes.
This brought down the time students spent online
and the reliance of schools and colleges on online
platforms for day to day teaching.

Sudden crisis in country →
engagement in online teaching
increases, strong B2B models
emerge
In a nutshell
2020 2021 2022
Fatigue in
online education
COVID-19 pushes India
into lockdown & fear
Summer of edtech in India +
China edtech crash
Number of edtech startups
increase, especially for K12
where student free time is
highest
Massive funding boom for
edtech startups
Larger edtech startups
become even bigger “giants”
M&A boom
in edtech
Funding begins to reduce
Saturation becomes evident
with higher CAC, lower
retention rates
Consolidation in edtech
Kids staying at home, parents
working at home → need ways to
engage children → online
extra-curricular classes
become popular
Choke points at
Series A / Series B stages
for edtech startups
Early signs of
market slowdown

High volume, low differentiation
What does this mean for edtech investors?
Frequent exits, lower MOIC
The capital warchests built by EdTech unicorns allowed them to go
after smaller players building across various sectors. This meant
good beach exits for these founders, but disappointing returns for
investors - thus leaving them tentative on expanding their presence
in the EdTech sector.
EdTech perhaps commands the highest share of startups
across sectors. This means that the market has become
extremely crowded, with it making ﬁnding companies
with differentiated plays and a right to win, hard to
identify.
2
1
Note: This includes data from the last 5 years

What does this mean for edtech startups? (1/2)
High CAC, low RoAS Tough talent market Trust is hard to gain
Large capital raises and a pressure
to show rapid growth pushed
startups to spend aggressively on
marketing to acquire users →
pushing up CAC (we’ve seen it as
high as 40% of revenue) across
the market. The trickle down
effect on younger startups forced
them to also spend aggressively.
Edtech startups were the ‘hottest’
employers in 2020-21, with rich
salaries and high growth allowing
expedited learning. But the
slowdown has made jobs more
uncertain and ‘edtech fatigue’
made other spaces more attractive.
In a market with rampant ad
spend and competition at every
corner, trust from customers
became hard to gain. As schools
and ofﬂine routes reopened,
retention rates and LTV took a
further hit.
We asked edtech founders what challenges they faced through the last two years…
1 2 3

What does this mean for edtech startups? (2/2)
Offline coming back strongly Battle for time & mindspace Locked up cap tables
With schools reopening, B2C
edtech players with pure online
channels are bearing the brunt of
customer churn. The number of
paid edtech users doubled from
2019 to 4.9M in 2020, but then
dropped to 4.8M in 2021. While this
might mean that hybrid model
may be a long term winner,
smaller players find it tough to go
hybrid with limited cash.
Whether it’s solutions focusing on
core curriculum, or supplemental
learning, or hobby learning, or 21st
century skills, they all vie for one
crucial currency - a higher share
of the customer’s screen time.
With a crowded market, it
becomes difficult to assert a clear
right to win for this time-share. EdTech has been one of the most
focused upon sectors in the Indian
startup ecosystem in the last
decade. This has meant that
everyone from early stage to
growth stage investors to late
stage investors, are deep into the
ecosystem with their existing
investments, making it relatively
tougher for new edtech founders
to gather backers for their journey.
4 5 6

Expanded user pallette
2
Most market sizing reports in
the past have underestimated
the edtech TAM for one simple
reason: a good product creates
its own market.
This report covers spaces like
21st century skills, ﬁnancing,
communities and more - that
were not covered in the 2020
report.
The last two years made us rethink our edtech matrix
Motivation > Biz Model Catalysts of education
Instead of revenue model (B2B
vs B2C) we looked at what the
consumer’s motivation is:
Acing an entrance exam?
Getting a job? Finding new
mentors? Because the goal of
the consumer will determine
how much and where they will
pay, how they will discover the
platform, and how they will
behave.
Businesses that are not directly
engaged in teaching (or not
directly engaged in imparting
learning) but are servicing the
overall education sector, have
been seen as catalysts as
opposed to “B2B models”,
because their distribution,
stickiness, and ARPU looks
different than a learning
platform. Examples include
ﬁnancing of education, admin
tools for schools, etc.
3
1

To break the edtech sector down into subparts, we classiﬁed businesses on three broad axes:
1. Age group served
2. Core job to be done
3. Paying customer persona
And we looked again at how edtech stacks up
Reach milestones! Get into college! Get a job! Meet career goals!
Student Parent School Employer

Blume’s Edtech Matrix: Here is how we visualize the current space
PreK K-8 Grade 8-12 College Employed Adults
Age: Age: 0-8 Age: 8-14 Age: 14-18 Age: 18-25 Age: 20-60
Key Stakeholder: Parent Parent & School Student, Parent, & School Student, College, & Recruiter Learner & Employer
Core Learning
Foundational Learning
Personality Development
Curricular learning (“Getting good marks”)
Test prep (“Getting into college”)
Curricular learning Upskilling
Getting a job
Supplemental
Learning
Co-curricular (languages, coding, vedic math, public speaking) Hobby Learning
Extra-curricular (music dance, etc)
Communities / Networks / Mentorship
21st century skills (Personality development / social
development / Communities / Mentorship)
Catalysts
Daycare, health, and safety P2P learning / Counselling / Teacher tools Admissions → Communication →
Placements
Hiring
Admissions → Communication → Placements
Financing Financing

The COVID-19 impact also pushed the estimations of market size
$4b $6b
PreK:
$0.9b
K12 (test prep, co curriculars
and extra curriculars):
$2.7b
College students & adults
upskilling & learning:
$1.6b
K12 & college ﬁnancing:
$0.3b
K12 and college B2B plays:
$0.5b
*These are only inclusive of customers in India. The effective TAM for startups selling globally is much larger,
since it also includes the global TAM.
How we saw the TAM in 2020 How we see it in 2022*

And global traction proved that actual TAM is much larger
Global Market Size: ~$101b
~$6b
Edtech startups in India have
proved by getting engagement
and subsequent revenue
abroad that their TAM is limited
not just to $$ spent by Indian
parents / students / institutions
but also includes global spend.
The global edtech market is
expected to grow from ~$101b
in 2022 to ~$300b in 2029.

Building in the shadow of giants

Edtech founders today are building in the shadow of giants
Core Learning
Getting a job
Supplemental
Learning
Co-curricular Hobby Learning
Extra-curricular
21st century skills
Catalysts
Placements
Hiring
Financing Financing
Acquisitions by BYJU’s

Edtech founders today are building in the shadow of giants
Core Learning
Getting a job
Supplemental
Learning
Co-curricular
Hobby Learning
Extra-curricular
21st century skills
Catalysts
Placements
Hiring
Financing Financing
29
Acquisitions by Unacademy

And the expansion of giants made some spaces too crowded
Core Learning
Getting a job
Supplemental
Learning
Catalysts
Placements
Hiring
Financing Financing

But large opportunities still exist in other spaces
Core Learning
Getting a job
Supplemental
Learning
Catalysts
Placements
Hiring
Financing Financing

And we are seeing key themes emerge in these spaces
Core Learning
Getting a job
Supplemental
Learning
Catalysts
Placements
Hiring
Financing Financing
GAMIFICATION & WEB3 IN LEARNING
HELPING INDIAN STUDENTS MIGRATE
EXPORT OF INDIAN EDTECH SERVICES
SHIFT FROM ‘EXTRACURRICULAR’ TO ‘LIFE AS A CV’
DIGITIZATION OF SCHOOLS
EDUCATION EMERGING FROM COMMUNITIES
VERTICALIZED UPSKILLING

There has been a spurt in the number of edtech unicorns
Company Business
Byju's is the most valued edtech startup of the world, valued at $21B. It started with providing pre-recorded
teaching content for students in K12.
Unacademy offers courses for test preparation and multi disciplinary learning. It enables educators to create
courses and offers live courses to students.
Eruditus provides online courses in executive education by partnering with global universities and their
alumni.
Upgrad is a 'Lifelong learning' company offering industry relevant courses and certiﬁcates for working
professionals.
Vedantu is a live online tutoring platform in the K12 space.
Lead provides a school management software to assist in the digitisation and transformation of affordable
private schools.
Physics Wallah is a test-prep platform that provides online courses for students preparing for Class 12 board
exams, NEET, IIT-JEE and other competitive exams.

First generation of edtech unicorns are mostly in core learning
Core Learning
Getting a job
Supplemental
Learning
Co-curricular (coding, vedic math, public speaking) Hobby Learning
Catalysts
Placements
Hiring
Financing Financing
First generation of unicorns mostly fall in the core education space:
Get good marks → Get into college → Get a job

Company Business
Classplus is Shopify for ofﬂine tuition centers and allows centers to offer live classes and sell content on white
label app.
Teachmint provides SaaS solutions to individual tutors to manage virtual classrooms and online teaching.
Brightchamps provides coding, robotics, and design classes and interactive learning to students in grades 1-12.
Upskilling courses for college students and new graduates to get jobs in software engineering and data
science.
We’re also seeing several soonicorns emerge at > $500M

Core Learning
Getting a job
Supplemental
Learning
Catalysts
Placements
Hiring
Financing Financing
They will form the second generation of edtech unicorns
Second gen of unicorns will be
outside core learning /
traditional B2C models. These
soonicorns fall in 21st century
skilling and catalysts plays.
These companies all started out
different enough from the giants
to not attract direct competition
(or acquisition offers) from them
and had capital from their cap
tables still available to them.

Company Business
Doubtnut is a multilingual app that uses ML to answer doubts and questions of students within a few seconds.
Once a student posts a picture of the question, the platform recommends a video of a tutor answering the
question. It is valued at $154M and has over 2.5M DAUs.
Cuemath provides after school maths classes for K12 students. The content is taught using an adaptive
learning platform, visual simulations and guidance of a teacher. It is valued at over $400M and has a user base
of 200k+ students across 20+ countries.
Leverage edu is an enrollment management platform for colleges. Through this platform, universities can
connect with students, provide relevant information and offer admission. Students can use the platform to
prepare for entrance exams, ﬁnd and connect with universities and apply for education loans. It has over 400
university partners and has helped place 10K+ students. It is currently valued at $120M
Toppr is an after school e-learning and test preparation platform for school students focus on on school
curriculum and entrance examinations. It was acquired by Byju's in 2021.
Inﬁnity Learn, launched by Sri Chaitanya, a leading educational group is an online platform offering exam
preparation solutions to school students. The products include online classes, self learning modules, mock
tests and a doubt clearing app. It is currently valued at $312M, with 1M+ users and 100K paid users.
The 2021 boom also created a large set of edtech cos > $100M

Company Business
Collegedekho is an online college discovery platform. Its objective is to facilitate student recruitment for
colleges and universities across degrees and streams. The website has a listing of over 35k colleges and has
counselled over 2M students. Its current valuation is $120M.
Quizizz is a gamiﬁed learning platform that uses quizzes to teach students the school curriculum. Quizziz can
be used at school, college or work to create quizzes and polls. It is valued at $300M with over 50M users across
150 countries.
Newton school provides an income share agreement program. It offers a 5 month long full stack development
course. The course offers live classes and projects, access to a doubt solving platform, mentorship and
interview preparation. It is currently valued at $133M
PlanetSpark provides live online classes to K8 learners on English Communication, Public Speaking, Grammar,
Creative Writing, Debating, Vlogging and other 'new age' skills. With its current valuation at $135M, it has over
2k tutors and has trained over 22k students.
Varsity tutors is an online platform for test preparation and school curriculum. The focus is on K12 curriculum
and test preparation tutoring for SAT, LSAT, MCAT, GRE. Its current valuation is $107M.
The 2021 boom also created a large set of edtech cos > $100M

Deep-dives into key opportunity areas

We went deeper into each of these opportunity areas
Market size of space?
Stakeholders and customer personas?
What drives purchase decisions & usage?
Interesting companies we’ve met?
And looked at…

1/ PreK under age 8 x Learning & personal development
Core Learning
Getting a job
Supplemental
Learning
Catalysts
Placements
Hiring
Financing Financing

PreK
Age: Age: 0-8
Key Stakeholder: Parent
Core Learning
Supplemental
Learning
Online learning and development platforms for children under the age
of 10 have taken off in a big way. We’re seeing several companies
working on:
- Foundational learning: Learning languages, numbers, shapes, etc.
- Behavioral and personality development: Managing emotions,
developing curiosity, etc.
- Reading, awareness, social skills: Developing reading habits,
interacting with diverse peers, etc.
The sector saw a boost from COVID as preschools and daycare centers
remained shut. But the much larger boost came from demand from
“millennial” parents who wanted their children to have a head start
before beginning competitive exams and core academic learning.
Blume’s market size estimate:
~$500m

🌏 Global exposure and learning is highly valued
󰟴 ‘Personal ﬁt’ with teacher > teacher’s educational qualiﬁcation
💰 Mother makes purchase decision, father makes payment → moms are the key persona to target
Customer
Persona
What have we seen work well in this space?
➔ Stress: “What products / services are my
friends or siblings giving their kids?”
➔ Aspirations: “My child better than me -
should get more than I did”
➔ Guilt: “I don’t spend enough time with my
child and need to make up for that”
➔ Fear: “My child might not be hitting
milestones / may get left behind”
➔ Convenience: “I need to keep my child
occupied while I am at work in a safe and
nearby location”
➔ Curiosity: “This new thing I heard about
sounds interesting, I should try it for my kid”
✓ Enabling discovery: Word of mouth and referral channels works
best - not performance marketing. Build strong referral incentives,
track, & grow % of users coming via referrals.
✓ Building trust: Customer reviews from parents (on Facebook, app
store, testimonials) are key. Should tie back to higher referral rates.
✓ Solving for fear: Build strong feedback loops to showcase child’s
achievements to parents. Should tie into retention.
✓ Solving for aspiration: Enable parents to share these loops with the
outside world seamlessly, tying into organic discovery.
✓ Solving for guilt: Allow for periodic involvement of parents in the
learning process via group classes or projects.
✓ Sampling works well: Build trial versions which end users can enjoy
and leaves them wanting for more. Track trial to paid %.

Most interesting seed and pre-Series A stage companies we’ve met in this space
Company Business
Wonderhood provides after-school learning app and toys for kids aged 2-6 in Math, Language, and
STEM.
Kutuki provides early learning to preschoolers using games, stories, rhymes, worksheets, live classes.
Big Fat Phoenix builds video games to help kids with socio-emotional learning and development.
talentedHippo develops immersive learning games in the metaverse, for kids aged 6-12.
Little Leap provides live online classes for personality and creative development of small kids.
Braingym Jr provides a gamiﬁed platform for kids to do daily questions as brain exercises to build a
learning habit in English, Math, GK.
Jumbaya provides animated read-along story books for children to help them build a strong reading
habit.
Vobble provides highly engaging interactive audio content to kids to help reduce their screen time via
their own handsfree and child-safe Vobble headphone device.

Core Learning
Getting a job
Supplemental
Learning
Catalysts
Placements
Hiring
Financing Financing
2/ PreK under age 8 x Daycare & preschool

PreK
Age: Age: 0-8
Key Stakeholder: Parent
Catalysts
Daycare
Preschools
Health
Safety
As more parents begin to live in nuclear families, and as more women join
the workforce, the demand for daycare and preschools will increase. This
space has remained complex in the COVID era as parents feared sending
their children to crowded pre-schools, more parents worked from home, and
now as parents begin to go back to ofﬂine work again.
We believe that a large opportunity lies in (1) hybrid models, (2) micro
preschools, and (3) physical centers that offer learning avenues that help
students get ahead of their peers.
~$350m

Customer
Personas
󰔧Daycare: Both parents work, nuclear family. Corporates (B2B2C / B2B perk) are a good channel.
👥Discovery starts with parents asking around in their circle: friends, neighbors, coworkers.
➔ Anxiety: “Need a place where my child will be
safe, healthy and happy while I’m at work / my
child should be with good like-minded children.”
➔ Guilt: “I don’t spend enough time with my child.”
➔ Fear: “My child might become developmentally
behind.”
➔ Convenience: “Should be near my home or
office.”
➔ Trust: “My friend or sibling has also sent their
child here / I know and trust the person who runs
it.”
✓ Corporate led GTM: Distribution led by employers; now
we’re also seeing employers funding / reimbursing
daycare cost with partner centers.
✓ Building trust: Customer reviews from parents (on
Facebook, website testimonials) are key! Should tie back
to higher referral rates. Track referral rates and incentivize
referrals.
✓ Hybrid engagement: Build online + offline hybrid tools
with children using offline daycare centers when parents
are at work and using online activities when parents are
working from home to maximize engagement and LTV.

Company Business
ProEves is a day care aggregator where parents get curated / high quality recommendations for Day
Care facilities.
Kreedo takes an innovative outlook for early education. From setting up a new preschool, to
introducing an evolved curriculum in existing schools, Kreedo presents a comprehensive array of
solutions for early childhood development.
Sportyze is a chain of gyms for kids (18 months to 8 years) focused on developing the child physically
(gymnastics and athletic development), so they can also develop mentally.

Core Learning
Getting a job
Supplemental
Learning
Catalysts
Placements
Hiring
Financing Financing
3/ K12 x 21st century skills

Edtech in 2021 saw the rise of co-curricular products like
coding and public speaking and extracurricular products
like music and dance. While the market for these spaces
has begun to get saturated, the market for 21st century
skills that help with holistic personality and social
development is still nascent. This includes helping
students develop and join communities, immerse
themselves in entrepreneurial skills, and learn real life
skills like personal ﬁnance etc. We believe startups looking
at this space and successful in acquiring customers in
both India and abroad will be highly bettable.
K-8 Grade 8-12
Age: Age: 8-14 Age: 14-18
Key Stakeholder: Parent & School Student, Parent, & School
Supplemental
Learning
Co-curricular (coding, vedic math, public speaking)
~$450m

What drives purchase decisions?
Customer
Persona
➔ Aspiration: “My child should get exposed
to western ideas, other students, new
experiences, reading, debate.”
➔ FOMO: “What are other children doing
that mine isn’t?”
➔ Fear: “My child might get left behind.”
➔ Curiosity: “This new thing I heard about
sounds interesting, I should try it for my
kid too.”
➔ Discipline: “Does my child enjoy
attending these sessions?”
✓ Enabling discovery: Performance Marketing and word of mouth
work well for such plays. Build strong referral incentives and track
and grow % of users coming via referrals.
✓ Building trust: Customer reviews from parents (on Facebook, app
store, testimonials) are key. Should tie back to higher referral rates.
Share curated teacher profiles with the parent.
✓ Solving for aspiration: Share unique experiences and interactions
the child goes through with the parent.
✓ Driving demand: Highly interactive, premium platforms have
been growing fast. Offline models now picking up pace post
COVID.
🌏 Global exposure and learning is highly valued in India 1A / 1
󰟴 ‘Personal fit’ with teacher > teacher’s educational qualification at this stage
💰 (Typically) Mother makes purchase decision → moms are the persona to target

Company Business
Openhouse has physical learning centers for students (preschool to 8th grade) to play, engage,
experiment, and learn curricular and non-curricular skills.
Playto allows kids to build small robotics experiments at home to solve relatable real world challenges.
Early Steps Academy provides group discussion sessions on real-world subjects (crypto,
entrepreneurship, climate, etc.) to help the child develop holistically.
STEMpedia offers AI and robotics kits for kids aged between 5-17.
Spark Studio provides online classes for extra-curricular and 21st century skills.

Core Learning
Getting a job
Supplemental
Learning
Catalysts
Placements
Hiring
Financing Financing
4/ K12 & College x Financing

K-8 Grade 8-12 College
Age: Age: 8-14 Age: 14-18 Age: 18-25
Key Stakeholder: Parent & School Student, Parent, & School Student, College, & Recruiter
Catalysts
Financing Financing
Market size estimate for
school financing:
~$140m
HELPING INDIAN STUDENTS MIGRATE
In India, education has traditionally been seen as the puzzle, the solving
of which opens doors for economical and social well being. This has
become even more important now with economic disparity visibly rising.
On top of this, the aspirational nature of Indian lower and middle class
families pushes the bread-earners to always stretch themselves when it
comes to spending on the education of their kids. The rising costs of
school and college education have made way for K12 and College
education financing players to enable parents to give their children the
quality of education “they themselves could not get”. Also, an increasing
number of students who wish to go abroad to pursue their education,
has made these financing players even more bettable.
Market size estimate for
college financing:
~$170m
+

💰 Buyer and decision maker is the parent → marketing / content should speak to them!
🔠 K12: Desire to send child to a better school than parents went to. Often a desire for English medium edu.
🌏 College: Faith in higher education for social / economic mobility OR desire for global education / migration.
What drives purchase decisions & usage? What have we seen work well in this space?
➔ Aspirations: “I want/ I want my kids to pursue
school/ higher education in the best of schools or
to get quality education abroad.”
➔ Competitiveness: “The competition in India is
extreme and my child might be better off trying
for global colleges.”
➔ Rising fees: “My family’s economic status doesn’t
allow me to adequately manage the rising fees.”
➔ Attractive products: “The market allows me to
access solutions like no-cost EMIs, SNBL
investment products, and more!”
✓ Partnership-led GTM: Well thought through & optimized
distribution channels via school/ college partnerships.
✓ NBFC Partnerships: Tie ups with NBFCs upfront to build
a good loan book size, which in turn enables becoming
an NBFC in the future - allows for sustainable margins.
✓ Thoughtful org building: Building your organization
depending on the type of financing solution - knowledge
capital heavy if investment products based for financing
fees, or sales heavy if loan disbursals for financing fees.
✓ Student / parent champions: Success stories from
customers inspires greater confidence & trust in new
customers
Customer
Persona

Company Business
Edufund allows parents to plan for and invest in the future college education of their child, starting at
any age.
Scholfe provides interest free loans to parents with ﬂexible repayment schedules to ﬁnance their
child’s K12 school fees.

Core Learning
Getting a job
Supplemental
Learning
Catalysts
Placements
Hiring
Financing Financing
5/ New graduates and working adults x Upskilling

As a continued result of increasing motivations, aspirations, and
competition, we’re seeing upskilling become one the largest opportunity
areas in edtech today - especially catering to white collar professionals
looking at certifications, higher salaries, newer industries or better roles. This
also works towards satisfying the demand which the market has for many
of these certified workers. A significant portion of this is now happening by
way of verticalized upskilling - that is, upskilling programs focused deeply
on one sector or profession.
College Employed Adults
Age: Age: 18-25 Age: 20-60
Key Stakeholder: Student, College, & Recruiter Learner & Employer
Core Learning
Getting a job
VERTICALIZED UPSKILLING
The market size of vertical upskilling as a
whole is the size of each vertical
combined - making it difficult to estimate
the composite market size.
That said, even single verticals like
Finance & Accounts upskilling present a >
$b opportunity. So, verticalized upskilling
across all verticals potentially represents
a massive market opportunity.

✓ Crucial metrics: Placement rate (or conversion to whichever
outcome is being driven) is the key metric.
✓ Partnerships: Partnering with universities / employers drives
both brand and placement rate.
✓ Case studies: Use case studies / success stories as marketing
collateral to show the outcomes.
✓ Productized courses: If courses can be productized enough
so as to not need specialized instructors, it helps avoid supply
side scalebreak.
✓ Quantity driven models: Acquiring students at low CAC is
key - vertical upskilling has the benefit of higher intent and
lower clutter, thus lowering CAC.
Customer
Persona
💰 End user is the buyer & decision maker → the most straightforward product & sales loop in edtech.
󰟴 In the long term, organizations could also pay more for hiring upskilled workers
🤔 People motivated by desire to get a better livelihood (job, promotion, higher salary, etc.)
➔ Career mobility: I want to move to other job
verticals, for which I need specialized learning
➔ Competitiveness: My peers are moving up in their
respective careers, I want to be better-equipped to
do that
➔ Lack of opportunities: My college education is not
sufficient to help me get a job, I need more skills to
get a good job
➔ Market signalling: I need to get certain
certifications for my job (eg: CFA, CA) or jobs that I
want are easier to get if I have taken certain
courses

Company Business
Zell Education is a verticalized upskilling platform for finance and accounts professionals.
Virohan is a verticalized edtech solution to educate people and make them job ready for allied
healthcare professional jobs (nurses, technicians, etc.).
Alippo provides micro upskilling courses to women in fields like cooking, makeup, home decor
making and enables them to join a community of other learners and launch home businesses.
Vocuni is a verticalized edtech play which specializes and focuses on teaching relevant skills for
blue-collar workers in the field of green jobs.
Oneistox is a design and architecture education aimed at university students and early career
professionals.
Lawsikho is a legal edtech company focusing on test prep, upskilling, higher ed, and enabling remote
work training and support to get remote jobs for graduates in India.

Core Learning
Getting a job
Supplemental
Learning
Catalysts
Placements
Hiring
Financing Financing
6/ New graduates and working adults x Community & Mentorship

College Employed Adults
Age: Age: 18-25 Age: 20-60
Key Stakeholder: Student, College, & Recruiter Learner & Employer
Supplemental Learning
Hobby Learning
Blume’s market size
estimate:
~$400m
We now are seeing an increasingly high % of college students and working
professionals, who are moving beyond the opportunity conﬁnes of their “core
education” and are looking for ways to upskill themselves. This supplemental
learning comes from either upskilling courses or from engagement in
communities/ networks or from mentorships. As a result, we are seeing an
uptick in players who are providing alternatives to traditional education
methods, community-based or cohort based courses, speciﬁc skill development
courses, etc. The reception so far amongst students has been fantastic and
there is a potential for large plays to be built in this market.

✓ Crucial metrics: Tracking Placement% in top 3
metrics to build a strong overall funnel.
✓ Case studies: Use case studies / success stories as
marketing collateral to show the outcomes -
channels like LinkedIn / college job-boards /
digital watering holes for students work best.
✓ Quality driven models: Building selective TOFU
will enable higher placement rates - build entry
barriers (like non-negligible fees / selection test
etc).
✓ Quantity driven models: Acquiring students at
low CAC is key → focus on unique GTM channels
Customer
Persona
💰 End user is the buyer & decision maker → it’s most straightforward product & sales loop in edtech.
🤔 Highly self motivated, curious, ambitious individuals with a desire to learn and grow.
🤝 Typically living in metro cities. Likely in good jobs / from good colleges / in professional networks.
➔ 1st-2nd year students:
◆ Exposure: “I want to explore / learn / discover”
◆ Network: “I want to build a good foundational network”
➔ 3rd/ 4th year Learners/ parents/ working professionals:
◆ “The placement rates of this program are very high”
◆ “EMIs / ISA options allow me to focus on learning”
◆ “There is a potential salary upgrade via this program”
➔ Employers:
◆ Type of hiring: mass market vs high-quality hiring
◆ Conversion rates and retention rates
◆ Time spent on hiring process
◆ Driving employer branding

Company Business
Leap Club is an exclusive community and networking program for mid to senior level women
professionals across sectors.
Skip The Line provides cohort based courses and a curated community for young professionals to
build and scale tech led side projects.
Papertown enables social discovery of creators and communities speciﬁc to learning & career. It allows
for a vertical social network around learning and career.
Peerlist is a professional network that allows users to build and publish work proﬁles, connect with
peers and mentors, and refer peers for jobs.
GrowthX provides cohort based programs in ‘Growth Leadership’ to help professionals learn how to
grow digital businesses and build growth teams.

But, we are also seeing several exciting companies
emerge across the overall edtech landscape…

And, here are some interesting companies we’ve met < $100M
Core Learning
Curricular learning
Test prep .
Getting a job
Supplemental
Learning
Catalysts
Daycare, health, and safety P2P learning / Counselling
/ Teacher tools
Admissions → Communication →
Placements
Hiring
Financing Financing
Ofﬂine models

Finally, here are some exciting new themes we’re seeing globally
… and look forward to seeing in India soon!
Core Learning
Getting a job
Supplemental
Learning
Catalysts
Placements
Hiring
Financing Financing
MICRO-DAYCARES, VIRTUAL SCHOOLS & HOME SCHOOLING
EARLY DETECTION & SUPPORT FOR SPECIAL NEEDS
PRODUCTIVITY & LIFE IMPROVEMENT CBCs
TEACHER DISCOVERY & TRAINING TOOLS
INTERACTIVE CONTENT
GRADING & COLLABORATION TOOLS

For questions or feedback please contact:
Radhika Agarwal | radhika@blume.vc
Amal Vats | amal@blume.vc
Thank you
Thanks to Karthik Reddy and Sajith Pai for sharing with us their learnings
around edtech from a decade of investing in the space, and for their predictions
around what we might see in edtech in 2023. And to Jhanvi Khosla for her help
and efforts in drafting the report. And to all the inspiring edtech founders in our
portfolio who further our strong conviction in Indian edtech.

Blume Edtech Report 2022.pdf

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