Eupheus Learning, Business-to-business (B2B) EdTech firm, operated by Proficiency Learning Solutions, has acquired software-as-a-service (SaaS)-based platform SchoolMitra, for an undisclosed amount.
This acquisition will make SchoolMitra’s 21st century school OS accessible to 20,000+ schools of Eupheus Learning, simplifying the lives of all the stakeholders, including parents, teachers, students and the school administration.
Started in 2013 by Abhishek Kumar, Vivek Kumar and Gurpreet Singh Narula, SchoolMitra is a cloud-based product that helps a school integrate its management system. It’s services provide teachers to take a live class with embedded content, while administrative works such as attendance, report cards get automated. The SchoolMitra team provides training to school authorities to use the product. It also offers extensive online and offline support to ensure a smooth running of the software.
The company also claims to help its users pay fees online and track their child’s safe school entry and exit.
Speaking about the acquisition, Co-Founder and Director of Eupheus Learning, Amit Kapoor, said,
“We initially partnered with SchoolMitra with a shared vision to enable as many schools as possible with 21st century OS. During our collaboration, we have received an overwhelming response from over 500 schools, which made us cement our relationship with this acquisition.’
Kapoor further, added:
“With the combined entity of Eupheus Learning and SchoolMitra, we are taking another step towards integrating the (classic) model of education with the technology of the 21st century, enabling the students, teachers, and the school principals to benefit alike. Furthering to our mission, the acquisition will be instrumental in transforming schools into 21st Century Schools.”
Eupheus Learning, co-founded by Sarvesh Shrivastava, Ved Prakash Khatri, and Amit Kapoor, is a school-focused distribution platform aimed at curriculum approach. The courses are offered for subjects like English, mathematics, EVS etc. With its large catalogue of curricular and supplemental offerings, the company works with more than 5,500 schools in India and the Middle East.
Co-founder and CEO of SchoolMitra, Abhishek Kumar, said,
“We are excited to take our relationship with Eupheus Learning a step ahead and to permanently join India’s largest schools distribution platform in the K-12 space. Since our inception, we have been working to revolutionize the Indian education system by introducing modern technologies into this segment. With Eupheus Learning’s strength and reach, we can help a wide range of schools in different parts of the country ease their workload with our single sign-on comprehensive platform with CMS, LMS and ERP. Together we will create a new class of education platform that sets the bar for the entire industry.”
Last year in September, Eupheus Learning had acquired student personalisation startup ClassKlap in an all-stock deal at a valuation of $19 million (approximately INR 140 crore).
In 2021, the company had raised $4.1 million in Series B funding led by Kuwait-based United Education Company and Al Rayan Holding Company for domestic and international expansion. It also raised $10 million (Rs 73.7 crore) in Series C funding from private equity firm Lightrock India in the same year.
About the Author
Author: Shalini Pathak
Shalini Pathak is a Staff Writer at EdTechReview (ETR) – India’s leading edtech media & community. She has over four years of experience in media, covering different beats. Like all writers she’s an enthusiastic reader first with a passion to create out of the box content, and an ability to write about any topic. As a part of the ETR team, she will cover the latest in the edtech industry with a focus on edtech startup stories and their funding.
Sharpist, a Berlin-based online coaching provider, announced that it has raised $23 million as a part of its Series A funding round co-led by Endeit Capital and Capnamic with participation from selected business angels, including the former VP of Workplace at Meta Julien Codorniou, French venture studio Founders Future, and Porsche Ventures, the venture capital unit of Sharpist’s customer Porsche AG, and existing investors Vorwerk Ventures and btov Partners.
.With the new financing, the startup plans to fuel its mission to drive the growth of organisations and their people through digital coaching and personalised learning journeys. It will accelerate growth across Europe and product development with a focus on product experience.
Founded in 2018 by Hendrik Schriefer and Fabian Niedballa, Sharpist is a people development solution focusing on 1:1 digital coaching sessions. The platform provides companies with personal business coaches from an international network of certified coaches via its mobile and web app, supplemented with personalised learning content. As such, it also delivers measurable business outcomes for the global enterprise clients through a digital people development platform.
Commenting on the funding, Co-founder and CEO of Sharpist, Hendrik Schriefer, said, “The fresh capital allows us to further invest in our industry-defining product experience and gradually position Sharpist as the market leader for digital coaching in Europe. We plan to bring our leading coaching and people development experience to other promising regions, starting with the UK and Ireland. We are excited to partner with our new investors Endeit Capital, Capnamic, and Porsche Ventures on our mission to become the leading platform for career and people development – we will substantially benefit from their vast experience in building strong, multi-national leaders.”
Since its launch, Sharpist has had an exciting journey and already clients such as STRABAG, Franke, and Otto Group are using the platform to retain and grow talent. At the end of 2021, Zalando, Metro, and BASF joined the impressive customer roster.
Co-Owner and Partner of Endeit Capital, Martijn Hamann, added, “By supporting Sharpist, we are further executing our belief in intelligent empowerment. The startup is a prime example as it connects the next generation workforce with selected and certified coaches through their data-driven platform.”
Sharpist coaches are certified by highly reputable organizations, have extensive management and executive experience, and have over 10 years of coaching practice. Upholding the inclusion and diversity principles, the global community of coaches possess a variety of personal and professional backgrounds and offer coaching sessions in over 30 languages.
Taking the journey forward, Sharpist plans to double the size of its 100-people strong team in 2022, cementing its position as a leader in the digital coaching market. Additionally, the company also plans to expand to new markets, including the UK and Ireland, opening a branch in London in the coming months.
In February 2020, Sharpist had raised €4.6 million in seed funding round led by Vorwerk Ventures. The round also saw participation from co-investors btov Partners and APX.
About the Author
Author: Shalini Pathak
Shalini Pathak is a Staff Writer at EdTechReview (ETR) – India’s leading edtech media & community. She has over four years of experience in media, covering different beats. Like all writers she’s an enthusiastic reader first with a passion to create out of the box content, and an ability to write about any topic. As a part of the ETR team, she will cover the latest in the edtech industry with a focus on edtech startup stories and their funding.
As remote and digital learning becomes an intrinsic part of the university experience, institutions must improve their online offering for better learning outcomes and make students highly- employable.
Focusing on the same, EdTechReview organized a webinar based on the theme – Enhancing student employability and modernizing curriculum, in association with Coursera for Campus.
This webinar showcased how digital and hybrid learning approaches can prepare students for jobs in this digital age and how higher education leaders and administrators can support the faculty in providing an exceptional digital learning experience.
Experts from leading universities & institutions also discussed how modernizing the curriculum can improve student employment.
Speakers:
Dr. Vishal Talwar, Director, IMT Ghaziabad
Dr. Himadri Das, Director-General, International Management Institute (IMI)
Dr. Phalguni Gupta, Vice-Chancellor, GLA University
Dr. Suresh R M, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, BIHER, Bharath University
Dr. S. Sriman Narayanan, Vice-Chancellor, VELS University
Mr. Raghav Gupta, Managing Director, India & APAC, Coursera
Mr. Utkarsh Lokesh, CEO and Editor, EdTechReviewMr. Utkarsh Lokesh, CEO and Editor, EdTechReview (moderator), began the webinar began with a question for Dr. Vishal, IMT: As per modern employers’ demands from business-student graduates, what steps to modernize the curriculum and facilitate multidisciplinary learning are you taking at IMT?
Stating that management education is continuously evolving, he mentioned, “We see a lot more influence of technology-related education and learning that needs to be built into the DNA of the program, and that’s what we try and do at IMT. However, strangely enough, at the same time, while we are trying to build in much technology, we also need to build in a lot of liberal orientations. So, when you have managers, you try to develop for the long term or leaders you are trying to develop for the longer term, all of them would have to work not only with people but also with machines.”
Explaining how it helps, he pointed out three significant pillars of management education:
What educationists have always been doing from a domain perspective.
Infusion of tech, not limited to a couple of courses but mainly integrating it much more into the curriculum.
And, the liberal subjects. They are also fundamentally important.
In this discussion, he also emphasized the need to build tech-related courses meant for everyone so that there is a certain semblance of technology orientation, comfort, and capability built-in through the courses.Moving on, Dr. Himadari Das, Director General, International Management Institute, responded to how IMI supports their students’ learning needs. How does he see players like Coursera helping prepare students for better outcomes such as job-ready skills, internships or placements?
Affirming that ‘Coursera is a means to an end’, Dr. Himadari says, “the learning outcomes of our students are perfectly aligned with what the industry wants now in a Business School. Talking about the Indian context, despite there being doctoral and graduate degrees, it is primarily an MBA driven nation; students go to Business School to enhance their career prospects, and that is possible only when the learning outcomes that you give to your students perfectly align with the industry’s just like we have been talking for many years about technological obsolescence. There is curriculum obsolescence because technology is driving the industry in multiple ways. Therefore, the curriculum has to stay abreast. So, we have to be very nimble on curriculum and accept that curriculum obsolescence is a reality facing us. Also, we need to observe the shift in focus from what the students know to what the students can do.”
Elucidating the aim and role of hiring companies, he stated, “When you try to make students do problem sets, role plays, case studies or use different pedagogical tools, that’s where Coursera fits in. It has high-quality content that imparts knowledge from the best professors from the best schools worldwide.”
While sharing Coursera’s experience working with companies in India and across the globe, Mr. Raghav shared his views on how industry requirements for job-ready skills have changed dramatically over time, how should higher education institutions prepare for this, and what role does Coursera play in this space. He said, “As of now, we are working with nearly 3000 companies worldwide, of which hundreds are in India. And throughout the pandemic, especially the last two years, we have seen 90% + of companies doubling down on digital transformation. As a result, many companies have started focusing on reskilling and upskilling their employees. We have seen this happening in broadly three domains—the areas of technology, digital skills, and remote work or work from home. It is here to stay.”
He also highlighted how companies are building new virtual human skills and how larger tech companies like Accenture, TCS, and Infosys are growing in India.
Mr. Raghav also pointed out the loophole that although students are getting better employment options, companies are not finding enough talent to fill in the significant demand. “This,” he said, “is being fueled by digital transformation, both globally and in India. And we are providing solutions for the same.”
Answering the question, how do you see curriculum evolving in a hybrid delivery model and his vision to be a multidisciplinary learning institution, Dr. Sriman, VELS, said that modernizing or revising the curriculum is an integral part of his institution. He advised working on a curriculum to meet the industry’s demand and give the right chances and choices to make a suitable career.
“Whether it is from AICTE or UGC,” Dr. Sriman said, “with each update, we incorporate new practices and introduce them in the curriculum so that the students are exposed to new things right away. This helps us to enable our students to learn job-ready skills.”
Dr. Sriman also reflected upon the paradigm shift in the industrial outlook or the institutions’ expectations today.
When asked how digital and data-driven skills are becoming increasingly crucial for jobs across industries and how GLA is enabling students to acquire these job-ready skills, Dr. Phalguni said, “We are governed by two components, AICTE & UGC, the regulators of the curriculum. However, in private universities, the quality or background of the students are often below the threshold value. Thus, it creates an extra load on faculty members to develop a level that supports each student’s learning. However, when it comes to student employability, the institution’s primary role is to introduce & disseminate the knowledge among students. It is a must for students to know how to use this knowledge and make themselves employable.”
Furthermore, he shed some light on short- and long-term employability opportunities and the importance of understanding where a student fits in the best rather than choosing a full-fledged course by getting influenced by ongoing trends. He also highlighted the importance of maintaining an outstanding balance of hands-on experience and theory for better learning outcomes.
Dr. Suresh from Bharath University also highlighted two components for the employability challenge. According to him, one is the students who come and join engineering, following the legacy careers, alienating the difficulties they might encounter during the course. Another component is the lack of knowledge apart from a student’s education. That’s where offerings like Coursera come into the picture as value additions. He also suggested that government bodies like UGC or NAAC insist that the students undergo MOOC (massive open online courses) or SWAYAM courses. “With the variety and volume of useful courses on platforms like Coursera,” Dr. Suresh said, “it is needed that we integrate such platforms into the curriculum for the well-being of students and their careers.”
The experts also answered several other exciting questions put forward by the moderator and the audience.
About Coursera:
In partnership with more than 200 leading universities and companies, Coursera aims to bring flexible, affordable, job-relevant online learning to individuals and organizations worldwide. The platform offers a range of learning opportunities—from hands-on projects and courses to job-ready certificates and degree programs.
Watch the webinar to understand the role of modern curriculum in education and how to enhance students’ employability.
If you would like to host a webinar with EdTechReview, please get in touch with us on sales[at]EdTech review[dot]in
About the Author
EdTechReview (ETR) is a premier media platform and community for educational stakeholders to connect and find useful news, information and resources on educational technology having a niche subscriber base of 120K+ and an annual readership of 3M+ from over 220 countries and territories across the globe. For more latest updates, You can join us on Twitter, Linkedin
CareerLabs, an EdTech platform that helps young professionals and college graduates build a concrete road map for their careers, and SkillAssure, a division of Pratian Learning & Consulting, has announced that it will facilitate over 10,000 engineering graduates and students with the opportunity to land a high-paying tech job at Fortune 500 companies, global IT juggernauts, and fast-growing startups.
According to a press statement, the partnership programme, over the next three months, aims to fulfil the exigent hiring requirements of more than 1,200 positions at Zensar, Eurofins, Valgenesis, Bristlecone, InfoVision, Tech Mahindra, 1Pharmacy, Ernst and Young, ATMECS, Tata ELXSI, Virtusa among other renowned industry players.
With this partnership programme, CareerLabs and SkillAssure’s will provide students with industry-relevant technical training and prepare them for their foray into the IT-sphere. Candidates can choose from over 36 job roles in the IT industry, ranging from High-Code Engineering to No-Code Engineering, a press statement further said.
The programme developed by CareerLabs in collaboration with SkillAssure will be available to those candidates who clear a preliminary screening based on industry-recommended parameters. These selected candidates start with an LOI or a conditional offer letter from selected organisations before the training. Candidates will undergo 160 to 300 hours of skill-based training before appearing for final interviews, following which they can be immediately deployed into various projects with minimal hand-holding.
Commenting on the latest development, Spokesperson of SkillAssure, Subramanian S, CEO, Pratian, said, “CL and SA’s collaborative endeavour aims to equip young engineers with in-demand digital skills and provide them with access to top employers within the Indian IT landscape. This partnership will offer training as well as on-campus and off-campus placement opportunities for engineers, subsequent to equipping candidates with in-demand technical skills.”
Trainees, via an exclusive Digital Platform, can access resources on Structured Learning, Collaborative Learning, Mock Interviews, Presentation Sessions, Assessments, ‘Mentor Connect’, Virtual Instructor Sessions, DevOps Engineering, Live Projects, as well as sessions conducted by industry experts. Behavioural and professional competencies including communication skills, interpersonal skills, etc., are critical to the growth of a student into a professional, and will also be nurtured within the CL-SA ecosystem.
Co-founded by Santhosh P. N and Krithika Srinivasan in 2019, Bangalore-based CareerLabs is India’s first Profile-Building Platform to help students prepare for their professional life beyond college. The startup has conducted more than 150 Recruitment drives and partnered with various other industry leaders like DR. Reddy’s, HelloIntern for exclusive programs that bring students closer to the industry and provide direct Job Opportunities.
CareerLabs is on a mission to enable 1 million students to learn and earn better with the necessary guidance. Most students in college aspire to land their dream job, but due to the lack of industry-relevant skills, they end up in the wrong placements.
Speaking about the partnership with SkillAssure, Co-founder and CEO of CareerLabs, Santhosh P. N, said, “At the heart of this CL-SA synergetic ecosystem is the Talent Acceleration Model that identifies where the student’s talents and interests lie. It then recommends the skill sets that should be cultivated to maximise their chances of landing their dream job at leading tech companies, and provides training for achieving the same. One of the greatest challenges in creating an industry-ready workforce is mapping the right talent to the right job role, and this collaboration aims to tackle this challenge head-on.”
At CareerLabs, the team offers students more than six courses that fit their interests and strengths with its career recommendations track. It is a year-long journey that students take up with CareerLabs and with real-time projects and hands-on experience at the end of the courses. These projects and experiences help students kick start their careers.
Over the last decade, SkillAssure has successfully placed over 50,000 engineers across its globally recognised partner organisations through its upskilling programmes. CareerLabs, another frontrunner in the upskilling niche, has built a talent pool of 1.5 lakh engineering students and has been empowering them with relevant job opportunities in renowned IT companies.
With CareerLabs’ and SkillAssure’s track record of transforming thousands of recently graduated engineers into project-ready professionals, this pilot collaboration promises to open up a multitude of avenues for learning and upskilling in the students’ pursuit for professional success.
About the Author
Author: Shalini Pathak
Shalini Pathak is a Staff Writer at EdTechReview (ETR) – India’s leading edtech media & community. She has over four years of experience in media, covering different beats. Like all writers she’s an enthusiastic reader first with a passion to create out of the box content, and an ability to write about any topic. As a part of the ETR team, she will cover the latest in the edtech industry with a focus on edtech startup stories and their funding.
Workforce transformation pioneer marks the third anniversary with new investment partner bringing total investment to date hitting $38.5m
A new round of growth funding sets up Esme’s AI platform for further global expansion
On the third anniversary of the founding of the company, AI-enabled workforce transformation pioneer, Esme Learning Solutions has announced $15 million of venture finance from Hercules Capital (NYSE: HGTC). This new investment brings their total investment since incorporating on Valentine’s Day 2019 to $38.5 million from Hercules, Adit Ventures and ThriveDx.
Esme partners with top tier global education leaders to offer an array of technology and digital transformation classes online including MIT, Sȁid Business School, University of Oxford, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, and Imperial College Business School.
Esme co-founders David Shrier and Beth Porter are edtech veterans who respectively created the four most profitable online classes in history for MIT and Oxford, and launched open edX, the largest global open source edtech community with 55 million students. Esme was founded at the request of the #1 and #2 universities in the world in order to drive innovation and improve outcomes for students.
“I am proud Hercules has recognized our leadership in transforming careers, organizations and eco systems, enabled by our revolutionary AI coaching platform and online classes,” said Esme CEO David Shrier.
“Esme demonstrates the kind of entrepreneurial spirit married to strong fundamentals that we look for in our portfolio. It is ideally positioned to grow its footprint in the online Higher Education market, which has grown exponentially from $100 billion in 2009 and is expected to reach over $370 billion by 2026.” added Hercules Managing Director Roy Liu.
Since 2019, the company has grown from 2 to over 160 people, struck contracts with four of the world’s top ten universities, and served learners in over 100 countries. Esme has seen revenue grow 500% year over year, and expects to reach an annualized revenue run rate of more than $80 million by Q4 2022. Management anticipates raising Series B financing later in 2022.
Esme’s adult learners are guided by AI-enabled coaches that provide personalized feedback and insights into their progress. Courses emphasize experiential engagement to apply knowledge through live simulations and group exercises that simulate real work scenarios.
The company has more than 100 full-time employees and over 60 contractors and has a novel benefits plan that includes unlimited paid time off, generous employer health insurance subsidy, a fully remote work environment with an in-office option, and an education credit that enables its employees a $3,500 annual allowance to take any kind of class or classes they choose – even those unrelated to their daily work.
About the Author
EdTechReview (ETR) is a premier media platform and community for educational stakeholders to connect and find useful news, information and resources on educational technology having a niche subscriber base of 120K+ and an annual readership of 3M+ from over 220 countries and territories across the globe. For more latest updates, You can join us on Twitter, Linkedin
This short article encourages the reader to consider how using the quiz platform ‘Kahoot!’ can help to engage learners (of any age!) either while physically present in the classroom, or set as a remote task via a link on the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).
Kahoot! is a popular, game-based, quiz-style learning platform that is useful to help learners self-assess their knowledge as part of the formative assessment journey (Wang and Tahir, 2020). Self-assessment is a fundamental part of the learning process as it allows learners to be aware of their ipsative progress. Recognising our strengths and weakness can encourage us to be better learners. Kahoot! offers the opportunity for the reinforcement of knowledge in a ‘fun, engaging, motivating and interesting way’ (Martins et al., 2019:1), which promotes progress through self-assessment.
Using quiz tools such as ‘Kahoot’ allows for formative feedback on a student’s understanding, but also encourages a sense of community and excitement through the competition (Boud and Cohen, 2014).
Kahoot also works well in Unified Active Learning (UAL) sessions, where some learners are joining remotely from home due to the pandemic.
Plump and LaRosa (2017) highlight that Kahoot! offers real-time feedback, both for learners and teachers, yet also offers the option for anonymity if students do not wish to use their real name. I often tell students they are welcome to use nicknames, but I always count how many students are in the room/online and ensure the total of players matches, so that everyone is taking part. I think some students prefer to be anonymous, so they do not feel judged if they get some answers wrong during the quiz.
Thinking critically, are they engaged just because it’s a competitive game, or is it reaching a deeper level of motivation for students?
Research into the use of Kahoot! indicates that this platform keeps learners engaged (Bawa, 2019), which may be to its colourful and game-based design. If students are to meet their Learning Outcomes, they must be engaged with their learning (Biggs, 2001). Using quiz tools such as ‘Kahoot!’ allows for formative feedback on a student’s understanding, but also encourages a sense of community and excitement through the competition (Boud and Cohen, 2014). If students answer the most answers correctly and in the quickest time, they get onto the leader board, and the top three results are awarded a bronze, silver and gold ‘medal’ on the digital podium at the end of the quiz. This is a lovely opportunity for us to applaud the students who make it onto the podium, and their pride is always palpable in the room. If students score lower on the leader board, it is effective as it can highlight to students where they need to go back to previous reading and recap key concepts.
Kahoot! quizzes can also be ‘assigned’ as a remote task, with the tutor setting a deadline for the quiz to close. I often use this with my remote students, emailing them the Kahoot! link and set a weekly deadline. After the deadline passes, I screenshot the results and share it on our VLE to encourage a community of celebrating and pride.
Boud, D. and Cohen, R., 2014. Peer learning in higher education: Learning from and with each other. Routledge.
Martins, E.R., Geraldes, W.B., Afonseca, U.R. and Gouveia, L.M.B., 2019. Using Kahoot as a learning tool. In Information Systems for Industry 4.0 (pp. 161-169). Springer, Cham. Available at https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-14850-8_11 [Accessed 1st November 2021]
Plump, C.M. and LaRosa, J., 2017. Using Kahoot! in the classroom to create engagement and active learning: A game-based technology solution for eLearning novices. Management Teaching Review, 2(2), pp.151-158. Available at https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2379298116689783 [Accessed 12th October 2021]
A Senior Lecturer in Education, and Course Lead of a blended accelerated degree in Primary Education Studies. Interested in edtech and ways to inspire and engage our learners.
Schoolnet India Ltd, an EdTech firm that offers digital and digitally-led education services to schools and students, has acquired NextSteps AI, a Hyderabad-based deep-tech startup incubated at T-Hub.
With this acquisition, the team of NextSteps AI will be joining the Schoolnet’s team to enhance the latter’s deep-tech capabilities to personalize education at scale.
Founded by Gowtham Kumar and Srinivas Adepu, and mentored by Prof Shailesh Kumar, an expert on AI and Data Science, NextSteps AI is building scalable EdTech for India. The company is in the process of transforming the way learning happens at scale.
According to a press statement, NextSteps AI has been working with Schoolnet since its inception in 2016. The NextSteps team has also been integral in the development of the Geneo platform, Schoolnet’s K12 learning app-based ecosystem to enhance the learning outcomes of students in the middle and the bottom of the pyramid segment.
Commenting on the acquisition, Co-founder of NextStep AI, Gowtham Kumar R, said in a statement, “The opportunity to become part of Schoolnet India will enable us to be integrally part of the revolutionary phase that our nation is witnessing now in the education technology space. At NextSteps AI, we always believed in being a cohesive bunch of product innovators and we have been committed in building AI based solutions that are intuitively personalized for the Indian education community.”
Schoolnet India Limited is one of India’s largest education and skilling companies with two decades of rich experience. The platform offers comprehensive learning and capacity building solutions for stakeholders ranging from children in schools and in informal settings, to youth, teachers, adult learners, and professionals. It focuses on the global demographic dividend opportunity with its 3Es agenda, Education, Employability and Employment.
The Noida-based Schoolnet’s vision is to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
RCM Reddy, MD & CEO of Schoolnet, added, “As we sharpen digital transformation of our K12 business,as two primary and synchronized offerings: Geneo School (digital classroom solution for in-school learning) and Geneo (for seamless after-school learning), we have decided to integrate the Next Steps team within Schoolnet to strengthen our deep-tech capability. With this transition we would be able to work as ‘one team’ and develop a cutting edge and differentiated product of Geneo which will help in realizing our dream of building a sustainable digital business, integrating profit with purpose.”
Schoolnet, which has not raised any funds so far, claims to have about 300 employees. It has a presence in 40,000 schools, covering over 15 million learners.
The company believes that human resource is unique and most critical for the success of any venture. While encouraging each one to work towards the vision it ensures there is continuous capacity building and upscaling of skillsets. Schoolnet also believes that learning and development is a constant process.
About the Author
Author: Shalini Pathak
Shalini Pathak is a Staff Writer at EdTechReview (ETR) – India’s leading edtech media & community. She has over four years of experience in media, covering different beats. Like all writers she’s an enthusiastic reader first with a passion to create out of the box content, and an ability to write about any topic. As a part of the ETR team, she will cover the latest in the edtech industry with a focus on edtech startup stories and their funding.
India’s front-running professional education firm Imarticus Learning has acquired StratOnboard, a game-based learning platform, for an undisclosed amount.
Through the acquisition, Imarticus Learning will bring in unique differentiators in the form of epistemic games – the future of learning, according to a press statement. As its second acquisition, StratOnboard is a strategic fit to Imarticus Learning’s overall ecosystem and aligns with its multiple business segments, including Enterprise, Academic, Retail, and Consumer. The firm has more such acquisitions planned with a set amount earmarked for the same this year, the statement added.
StratOnboard’s products simulate business environments, build social and peer learning, build completive elements, and capture realistic business constraints to help learners discover, experiment, and explore business decisions. The company’s existing products range from onboarding solutions, micro simulations, game-based learning, and strong AI-driven assessments to gauge learners’ proficiencies and skills set.
With future-proof learning pedagogy, StratOnboard’s game-based learning will have wider implications, like facilitating learning at a large scale with strong retention and engagement amongst the learners. As part of the acquisition, Imarticus Learning will acquire the IP and patents of StratOnboard’s existing products and build on newer products and solutions for the industry at large. Given the platform’s larger distribution network in enterprise business, the acquisition is a great value addition to its existing portfolio from corporate training, talent solutions, e-learning content solutions, to game-based learning.
StratOnboard’s proprietary games, cutting-edge technology such as AI, branching conversational algorithms, authoring engine that has the ability to build a learning ecosystem to train on the process, functional, technical and behavioural with game mechanics as the foundation, is truly futuristic learning. The product offerings fall in line with Imarticus Learning’s international expansion plans that include the Middle East and North Africa, Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, the Americas, and Sri Lanka.
The strategic deal will add significant value to Imarticus Learning’s existing clientele, academic partners and will be a game-changer for future learning. The deal will further augment Imarticus Learning’s existing offerings, allowing the platform to offer a wide variety of learning solutions, enabling evidence-based learning and a world-class experience under a single umbrella.
Speaking on the acquisition, Nikhil Barshikar, Founder & CEO of Imarticus Learning, said:
“We are pleased to onboard the StratOnboard team. Imarticus Learning has always been committed to offering learners a holistic, engaging, and best-in-class learning experience. StratOnboard’s unique solutions will allow them to experience the future of learning through applied learning games. Besides, learners will also be able to experience real business challenges and learn to make decisions in the real world. StratOnboard will bolster our offerings and allow learners to hone their decision-making, problem-solving, and analytical skillsets, amongst others. This is a valuable move in our journey, and we look forward to working closely with the StratOnboard team to build a new pedagogical approach to learning.”
Sandeep Rambhatla, Founder of StratOnboard, also commented:
“We are thrilled to be associated with Imarticus Learning, a platform that has a proven record of offering one the world’s finest learning experiences through its all-encompassing, meticulously-designed curriculum and experienced faculty. StratOnboard has developed a one-of-a-kind solution that provides learners with technology-enabled stimulatory solutions and evidence-based assessment frameworks that construct skill profiles through analytics. When talks of the acquisition came up, we knew that this was the most logical choice – being a part of a futuristic organization to work towards a greater mission.”
Imarticus Learning offers corporates a variety of HR and L&D solutions to ensure that every solution is customised to their requirements. With 500+ trainers, 4000+ corporate training days, 2800+ e-learning hours, the company is poised to enable the corporate workforce’s transformation journey via StratOnboard’s unique game-based learning capabilities.
Founded in 2012, Imarticus Learning is famed for its industry-first approach to bridging the gap between employment and academia. Working in alliance with world-renowned organizations and industry experts, the company offers its learners professional certifications and job placement opportunities that sculpt the future workforce. Its mission is to upgrade the quality of human skill capital to meet current and emerging employment demands.
In July 2021, Imarticus Learning acquired Eckovation, a social learning platform, to augment its offerings further and collaborate with top-tier institutions such as IITs. With its vast course catalogue that encompasses meticulous training in cutting-edge subjects such as Data Science, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Business Analytics, Corporate Finance, Investment Banking, Capital Markets, Web Development, and many others, Imarticus Learning aims to mould highly skilled employees for various industries, functions, and job roles.
About the Author
Author: Stephen Soulunii
No more a student, but love to learn. Not a teacher, but care about how students are taught. Not an educator, but want everyone to be educated. Not a social worker, but desire to see change. Not a reformer, but always want to see a better world. The author believes that only sound education can bring a better future, better world and technology can help achieve a lot in this field.
Award-winning content creation, distribution and licensing studio One Animation has secured a new partnership for Oddbods with SplashLearn, a leading digital learning platform for reading and Math.
Under the deal, Oddbods digital books, including ‘The Pied Piper of Oddsville’, ‘Pogo and the Magic Lamp’, and ‘The Great Bod Bake Off’, will launch exclusively as part of SplashLearn’s reading program on 10th February 2022, per a news release.
SplashLearn, one of the fastest-growing learning programs in the USA, creates engaging learning experiences built to transform children into fearless learners. Its PreK-5 game-based learning program is curriculum-aligned and has an adaptive algorithm that offers each child a personalized learning experience that is fun and immersive. SplashLearn’s program is currently used in over 150 countries and has benefitted more than 40 million kids around the world. In 2021 alone, it added 7 million new users. The program is also used by over 750,000 teachers in around 77,000 schools. SplashLearn is free for schools and teachers, ensuring every child gets access to quality, fun education resources in their classroom.
SpashLearn’s reading program, which will feature the Oddbods books, has been designed to develop core reading skills through a sequential learning path that takes into consideration factors such as sentence predictability, word features, and story structure among several others. It’s a comprehensive and interactive program that caters to children aged 3-11 years and features a rich library of titles.
Sashim Parmanand, CEO at One Animation, said:
“A key priority for our Oddbods’ brand strategy is collaborating with companies who share our ethos of bringing joy to children’s lives and offering them valuable tools to brighten and enrich their daily routines – we’ve found exactly that through this new partnership with SplashLearn. With their commitment to making learning fun with game-based pedagogy, paired with the creative and individual spirits of the Oddbods gang, we’re confident this partnership will deliver a hugely positive learning experience for SplashLearn’s extensive user base.”
Arpit Jain, CEO, SplashLearn, said:
“This is the start of an exciting partnership with One Animation’s Oddbods. We have similar philosophies, and that is to provide children with a fun and holistic learning experience which goes beyond just academics. Along with core learning, it is also imperative that children develop social-emotional skills and celebrate differences. Having Oddbods books, with their characters and learnings integrated into the SplashLearn program takes us closer to our goal of cultivating a growth mindset and enabling every child to learn, fearlessly.”
Oddbods is a globally loved, three-time Emmy Award-nominated, a non-dialogue comedy featuring seven adorable, highly unique pals. Together, despite their differences, they survive the perils of everyday life, unintentionally turning ordinary situations into unexpected, extraordinary, and always humorous events. The quirky, but totally charming, Oddbods celebrate individuality in a funny, warm, and unexpected way.
Singapore-based One Animation is an award-winning animation studio, world-class content producer, digital influencer, and distribution company with content that is broadcast in over 180 countries worldwide. Broadcast partners include industry leaders, such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Cartoon Network, and Disney amongst others.
One Animation is officially recognized by YouTube as a digital influencer with its Oddbods series alone having a staggering 25 billion views across digital platforms, and 30 million subscribers on YouTube. The company is also home to the creator and serves as the production studio behind the hit Netflix series Sharkdog. In the last five years, One Animation has been nominated for more than 25 international awards, including three Emmy nominations for Best Kids’ Animation.
About the Author
Author: Stephen Soulunii
No more a student, but love to learn. Not a teacher, but care about how students are taught. Not an educator, but want everyone to be educated. Not a social worker, but desire to see change. Not a reformer, but always want to see a better world. The author believes that only sound education can bring a better future, better world and technology can help achieve a lot in this field.
Peakperformer, a tech-enabled coaching platform for managers that offers scalable, high impact leadership development solutions for different management level, has raised $3 million in seed funding round led by Sequoia Capital India’s Surge, alongside co-investors Antler India, Blume Founders Fund, and angel investors.
The Bengaluru-based startup plans to utilize the fresh capital for expansion into new markets, hiring vertical leaders and top talent, as well as for product and tech development.
Co-founded by Aishwarya Goel and Nilesh Agarwal in September 2020, Peakperformer enables organisations to create leaders at all career levels by coaching employees on areas like management, creative and communication skills through remote one-on-one sessions. Its curated mentoring topics include ‘Uncertainty and Decision Making’, ‘Ownership and Responsibility’ and Time Management amongst others. A full-stack solution, PeakPerformer uses 360-degree data to design a unique coaching journey for each manager, tying outcomes to both organisational and individual goals.
The digital coaching platform is currently working with a range of companies in the Internet, SaaS, pharmaceutical and financial sectors and these include notable brands like MPL, CRED, Pfizer and Societe Generale.
Talking about the company, Co-founder and CEO of Peakperformer, Aishwarya Goel, said, “Peakperformer helps companies bridge the gaps in necessary managerial skills by providing access to the right resources on-demand. We offer personalised one-on-one coaching sessions that are aligned to both the individual’s and wider company’s goals and our coaches come from a diverse array of industries.”
The startup operates on a subscription model and offers annual subscriptions starting at $99 a month. Companies can license the software for managers undergoing training and the subscription cost will be based on the person’s experience level and other factors.
It is part of Surge’s sixth cohort of 20 companies that build fresher, smarter solutions to help consumers and businesses adapt to a changing world.
Since its launch, Peakperformer has seen 175 per cent revenue growth quarter-on-quarter. The company is part of Surge’s sixth cohort of 20 companies that build fresher, smarter solutions to help consumers and businesses adapt to a changing world.
Last year in June, Peakperformer had raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding round led by global venture capital firm Antler India, with participation from Gaurav Munjal (Co-founder and CEO, Unacademy Group) and Saket Agarwal (Angel Investor and Founder, Onnivation).
About the Author
Author: Shalini Pathak
Shalini Pathak is a Staff Writer at EdTechReview (ETR) – India’s leading edtech media & community. She has over four years of experience in media, covering different beats. Like all writers she’s an enthusiastic reader first with a passion to create out of the box content, and an ability to write about any topic. As a part of the ETR team, she will cover the latest in the edtech industry with a focus on edtech startup stories and their funding.
Shalini Pathak is a Staff Writer at EdTechReview (ETR) – India’s leading edtech media & community. She has over four years of experience in media, covering different beats. Like all writers she’s an enthusiastic reader first with a passion to create out of the box content, and an ability to write about any topic. As a part of the ETR team, she will cover the latest in the edtech industry with a focus on edtech startup stories and their funding.
No more a student, but love to learn. Not a teacher, but care about how students are taught. Not an educator, but want everyone to be educated. Not a social worker, but desire to see change. Not a reformer, but always want to see a better world. The author believes that only sound education can bring a better future, better world and technology can help achieve a lot in this field.