Edtech in 2020: Led by Byju’s, Unacademy, investments jump 300%; this many startups raised capital

Investments in the Indian edtech market led by the likes of Byju’s, Unacademy, Toppr, etc., was up 300 per cent in 2020, thanks to the pandemic and the following lockdown that gave the opening edtech market has been looking for to break out in terms of investors’ attention. The segment managed to win $2.22 billion funding in 2020 up from just $553 million in 2019, according to a market report. Importantly, not just the edtech market, the hallowed unicorn tally of over $1 billion valuation private internet entities in India is also led by Byju’s, following Paytm, valued at $12 billion. More than a dozen startups were able to benefit from the Covid tailwinds to secure investments and even more had cropped up across sub-segments to ride the digital education wave this year.

The education market, as a whole, was worth $117 billion in India with around 360 million ‘learners’ with primary education comprising 66 per cent of the spend followed by 27 per cent coming from secondary education, the report from the Indian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association and PGA Labs, the market intelligence vertical of Praxis Global Alliance said. The edtech segment in India is divided into Pre-K, K-12 and test preparation, higher education, continued learning, and B2B edtech areas. 92 edtech startups had mopped up investors’ money in 2020, out of which 61 businesses got seed amount. Over the past five years, Byju’s and Unacademy have been on top of the table having raised $2.32 billion and $354 million respectively.

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“With an increase in focus on self-paced learning, an informed selection of tools/aids on top of better awareness & accessibility, and the idea of continuous learning beyond schools & colleges via professional education courses is driving innovations in the way learning content is being a consumer and delivered in India,” said Madhur Singhal, Practice Leader, Education, Employment and Entrepreneurship, Praxis Global Alliance. The growth in investments in edtech has also come amid the government’s attention to the education sector that saw budgetary allocation increasing from $ 11.3 billion in 2018-19 to $ 13.2 billion in 2020-21 and the launch of the National Education Policy this year, according to the report. The growth in the edtech segment also coincided with the deepening internet penetration in India especially Tier-III and IV cities and towns. Segments such as online tutoring and competitive exam preparation have seen a jump in investments by private equity and venture funds in the past few years.