Director of Inventus Capital Partners Rutvik Doshi On The Growth of EdTech in India
The surge of funding in edtech startups in 2016 started transforming many conventional mindsets about the delivery of education. From career consultation, connection with professionals to building online classrooms, the opportunity burgeoning in this market have started to get the confidence of both inventors and investors.
In the exclusive BW Disrupt series of VC Talks, we spoke to Rutvik Doshi from Inventus Capital Partners on the increase of edtech consumers in India, why investors are inclining to invest in this market and focus of expense on education.
In 2016, edtech startups received the highest amount of investments. Do you think investors are finding reasons beyond just philanthropic values for investing in education technology? If so, can you tell us why?
Education is a very large market in India and underdeveloped compared to several other countries. Also, culturally every Indian parent wants to provide the best in education for their child – as a percentage of household income, the spends on education are either 2nd or 3rd highest just after food & housing. This provides an opportunity to create a large company which can also make an impact. Thus, we see both philanthropic and for profit investors investing in education in India.
What are the surging edtech models which are working in the Indian economy?
Pedagogical methods which leverages technology to deliver and assess education content will work best in India. The physical infrastructure is poor and will require a lot of time and money to scale. However, we have a significant penetration of mobile and internet ( and it is bound to grow even more). Companies which can leverage this to deliver content and even assess will do well in India.
Is e-learning able to induce traditional parents and students from remote areas of the country?
e-Learning is still in its early days but I am confident that it will pick up. Today most people in remote areas are using internet/mobile for communication and entertainment. They will soon discover that mobile can also be used for effective learning.
What are your predictions for edtech companies in 2017? Do you think India requires more edtech accelerators to nurtures startups in this sector?
I am not a big believer in the accelerator model. However, the sector is underserved and their a huge opportunity for companies which can combine technology and insights into education, pedagogy, etc .
According to you, which is the hottest edtech startup in India at present?
It appears that BYJU’s has scaled the most amongst all edtech startups in India.
Besides edtech is an emerging sector, what sectors do you lookout for in the India domain?
In addition to edtech, I believe that enterprise software, IOT and consumer technology sectors will do very well in India in the next few years.
