The investment will support the K12’s mission of providing high-quality education and technology services to students and to schools in India by leveraging technology.

Additionally, this investment will facilitate a partial exit for Peak XV Partners (formerly known as Sequoia Capital India).

K12 Techno providing a comprehensive range of education, content, and technology services to over 900 educational institutions throughout India. The company’s brand, content and technology are used by over 300,000 students in the K-12 space in India. The company has grown at a revenue CAGR of ~40% over last 5 years.

Kedaara will work closely with the Company’s professional management team led by its CEO, Mr. Jai Decosta, and other existing shareholders, namely, Peak XV Partners, Navneet Education Limited and Sofina Ventures, to augment its tech-enabled offering oriented towards world-class holistic education services.

Jai Decosta, CEO, K12 Techno Services said, “We are delighted to welcome Kedaara as a valued partner for the next phase of our growth, as it symbolizes a convergence of values and aspirations, and will help us continue to deliver on our mission to make an impact in the K-12 space in India. Our philosophy is to help nurture not just scholars, but also compassionate and capable individuals ready to shape a better world. We believe the congruence of technology with learning models built for India will help scale both holistic learning as well as improve outcomes.”

Sunish Sharma, Founder and Managing Partner and Anant Gupta, Managing Director of Kedaara Capital, said, “Education is the cornerstone of any society’s progress. India has over 260 million students enrolled in the K-12 segment, that aspire for accessible, high-quality holistic education. K12 Techno has done tremendous work to help schools bridge this gap by leveraging technology and process orientation. We are excited to partner with Jai and the K12 Techno team to help them accelerate their growth and further their goal of providing world-class holistic education services across India at affordable price points.”

GV Ravishankar, MD, Peak XV, said, “As long-term shareholders and partners to Jai and team, we’ve had a ring side view of K12 Techno’s journey. Over the last 10 years, they have built a strong platform and tech stack to deliver high quality services to schools and students across the country. With Kedaara coming in, we believe the company will be well-funded and strengthened in its mission to build an enduring business.”

Sunil Gala, Managing Director of Navneet Education said, “Our partnership with K12 Techno has been based on a shared commitment towards promulgating knowledge and high-quality education in India. We have had a fantastic experience working with Jai and team over the last 10+ years. We are delighted to welcome Kedaara as a partner towards realizing this vision and are confident that K12 Techno will continue to create significant value for all the stakeholders in the coming years.”

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Existing investors We Founder Circle and Ah Ventures also participated. This brings Geekster’s total funding raised to date to $1.5 million.

The fund raised will be primarily utilized for team expansion. A part of the money will be used to expand the portfolio of offerings, add new programs, and build scalable learning and hiring platforms.

Geekster is an upskilling platform focusing on developing programming skills in students and making them work-ready for aspirational tech jobs. The startup does not charge any fee from the student until they land a well-paying job.

 Ankur Mittal, Co-Founder, Inflection Point Ventures, commented: “Gone are the days when a graduate certificate would be more than enough to secure a job in your respective field. With the growing competition, job seekers are expected to be more skilled to be a cut above the rest. Geekster has successfully designed a tech education platform with its unique skilling model, allowing tech graduates to hone their skills at zero cost until they get a paying job. And at the same time, it engages industry professionals as educators on the platform keeping the content relevant and practical.”

 Ankit Maggu, Co-Founder of Geekster, added: “We are on a mission to democratize quality education and career opportunities; aiming to make a million graduates work ready in next few years. Our offering has witnessed great response from the students and employer partners alike, and we shall be working aggressively to scale our operations in the next few months.”

With a larger emphasis on the holistic development of the students, the company also aims to focus on fundamentals, specialized and advanced curriculum, and soft skill training. Geekster is helping 300+ companies hire the right tech talent for their teams including some top product-based companies, MNCs, and well-funded startups. The platform claims to have achieved 10x growth in the last eight months.

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Simplilearn, the world’s #1 Online Bootcamp and a leader in the EdTech domain, announced a Post Graduate Program in Design Thinking and Innovation in collaboration with Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst and EY Learning Solutions. The program will enable the learners to master design thinking as a strategic business transformation tool. Participants will also learn to create disruptive solutions that integrate customer desirability, business viability, and technological feasibility. The Isenberg School of Management will contribute the UMass Amherst Post Graduate Program certificate, alumni membership, monthly masterclass, and 3 credits towards the UMass Amherst Isenberg Online MBA. As the knowledge partner for the program, EY Learning Solutions will provide over 50% of the Live class delivery, including capstone and masterclasses.

The duration of the course will be four months. Key features include Live Interactive classes and the Capstone project delivered by EY Industry experts; Masterclasses by top faculty at Isenberg School of Management; 25+ practical templates of innovation to implement at work and solve business problems faster; interactive peer learning via Harvard Business Publishing case studies; LevelUp sessions from Sara Blakely and Tim Brown; and real-life projects.

Upon finishing the program, learners will receive a Joint UMass Amherst-Simplilearn Certificate of completion and alumni membership from UMass Amherst’s Isenberg School of Management. The program has been designed for an array of senior professionals, including Product/Growth/Marketing Managers, Product Heads, Consultants, and Executive Officers (CXOs) who drive strategy or lead teams in an organization.

Speaking about the program, Mr. Anand Narayanan, Chief Product Officer, Simplilearn, said, “As problem-solving and providing exceptional customer experience becomes increasingly important, Design Thinking has come to be an essential factor for organizations. Its emphasis on creative and analytical thinking allows the organization of information and ideas into the basis for making decisions. It’s a mindset focused on solutions rather than problems. The Post Graduate Program in Design Thinking and Innovation is designed to equip learners with the right set of relevant skills. Thus, we are excited to work with our renowned partners Isenberg School of Management and EY to provide the same to professionals, educators, designers who wish to excel in their respective careers.”

Anne P. Massey, PhD, Dean and Thomas O’Brien Endowed Chair, Isenberg School of Management said, “As the market increasingly demands a problem-solving approach, we are pleased to partner with Simplilearn to launch the Design Thinking and Innovation course to equip professionals with a better understanding of the subject and industry-ready skills that will help them in their future endeavors.”

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According to several recent studies, a huge spike in the number of obese individuals has been reported during the lockdown due to decreased levels of physical activities and poor eating habits. To help fight against this adversity, Ucanji, in conjunction with NEP 2020 (National Education Policy), stresses upon integrating physical fitness activities via online classes in the daily lives of all from home.

Commenting on achieving the set target, Divanshi Gupta, Ucanji, Founder, said, “It feels nice to fill in this gap especially in Tier 2/3/4 towns in these testing times as it has allowed us to encourage and engage people of all age groups to practice physical activities in the comfort and safety of their home. We have come a long way to create what we have with Ucanji, and, we will continue to strive to reach out to audiences who are in the need for the best-in-class and latest learning lessons from top professionals in the industry.”

Committed to leading the way to the future of physical and mental growth, and enriching lives by putting learners at the centre of the universe, Ucanji is set to make its mark in the world with its Dance & Fitness courses by enabling users to pursue what their heart wants, because they Can Ji.

Key Highlights:

• Reckoning with the NEP 2020, Ucanji offers carefully curated fun, vibrant courses for skill enhancement and improving overall physical and mental health.
• The EdTech platform is equipped with unique features such as Mirror Screen, See Yourself, Ask an Expert, and more, to uplift the experience.

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Abhay Gupta, Co-Founder, Board infinity says, “The corporates appreciate and are eager to employ job seekers who possess not only knowledge but also skills, comprising communication, critical thinking, problem-solving, etc. Our platform helps strengthen skills in and build confidence among them.”

The students will be taught by the industry experts who will learn about Grammar, Reading and Listening Comprehension, Interpersonal Communication, Formal Communication, Public Speaking, Vocabulary, Group Interaction Activities, Presentation Skills, Accent Modulation, Resume Building, LinkedIn & Social Media Profile Building. The highlight of the program is soft skills such as Positive Body language, Professional etiquette, Telephonic etiquette, Negotiation Skills, Persuasion, and Conflict Management. These soft skills are essential to improve lives and enrich relationships

The coaches for this program are Industry expert Trainers, Teachers, Soft Skills trainers, Content Writers who have had a strong career journey working in educational institutions & the corporate world. The Coaches include Mellita Fernandes, Urmi Dutta, Jairam Kshirasagar, Rashmeet Kaur, Aswathy Padmannabhan, Sabah Banau Farooqi, and Kadhiravan Jayachandiran.

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Career building focuses on gaining hard and soft skills. The need of the hour is to focus on ‘hard’ skills and new age disciplines such as Data Science, Digital Marketing, Full Stack Development, etc. Along with that, soft skills such as preparing for interviews, ability to present yourself and communicate within teams matter a lot. Some of the products that could help achieve the same are Mock Interview Preparation, Career Advice Sessions, Resume Review.

Educating in a group setting and through pre-recorded lectures limits the learner’s ability to grasp concepts efficiently. Through live 1-on-1 coaching, the aim is that every learner gets personalized learning, leading to higher concentration levels and better learning results.

The top coaches on the platform have a strong career journey and are IIM, MDI, ISB, SPJIMR alumni. Additionally, Coaches like Punita Parekh, Virali Modi, Sampark Sachdeva, Kamalika Poddar, Anshul Sharma are facilitated as Quora top writers, Tedx Speakers, Linkedin influencers & top voices.

Abhay Gupta, Co-Founder & COO, Board Infinity says, “Coming from a Tier-2 city, I have always felt the need of having a coach in my career but did not have access to the right set of people who could guide me well. This is a universal problem that many students from Tier-2/Tier-3 cities face. Keeping that in mind, we are addressing this issue through our new product – a 1:1 Coaching platform”.

With 1400+ top industry experts as coaches on the platform, Board Infinity has hosted over 3000+ sessions and guided learners to succeed in their career

“I’m a final year college student who was confused about my career choices for months, I’m really happy that I opted for Board Infinity and got connected to a coach who solved all my problems,” said Akaash, one of the initial learners.

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The Ed Tech platform’s three-layer structure includes a) an Android- and iOS-compatible mobile app which has all the bells & whistles of a Learning Management System  b) a web-based portal to enable the management of content and subscribers, access video analytics and c) Advanced technology for enhancing video quality, compressing, transcoding & Live Streaming.  Quizzy’s years of experience in creating educational content provides the schools the added advantage of content management on platform.

Commenting on this initiative, Hiran Banerjee, Founder – Quizzy says, “At this time when the ecosystem is trying to move away from schools, we must innovate learning in the fundamental pillar of the education system. Youth needs it to keep up with the rapidly changing world”.  He added that there are no set metric for identifying the best teachers in India. The concept of this platform is to empower school teachers which will add to their expertise combined with technology.

Commenting on this initiative, Vikrant Khanna, CEO & Co Founder – Mogi said “The global pandemic has forced the entire world to lock themselves and their loved ones inside the house. Parents are afraid to send their kids to schools. However, this has provided an opportunity to revolutionize education in school as it had to move online to impart education.”

He further added that today there is an added pressure on teachers to create training videos and also stream live classes. This leads to hampering their efficiency.  This new Ed Tech solution not only empowers schools to conduct live classes but also auto record them, while Quizzy’s content team fine-tunes these videos & releases them for the school’s library.

With the help of this Ed Tech platform, teachers can a) create new lessons; b) evaluate their content; c) analyze the connection of ideas; d) apply information in new situations; e) explain concepts for better understanding, and f) help remember and recall basic concepts. From explanatory videos to assignments and evaluation – everything will be made available to students easily, while teachers can concentrate on what they do best – provide lessons to and hone the skills of students. 

The platform is developed with Mogi’s patented AI technology that enhances video quality, compresses, transcodes & then delivers buffer free streaming. Moreover, To protect the content IP for schools the platform is equipped to provide protection against piracy, while real time content level analytics will provide deep insights into how students are learning & grasping the content. 

About Quizzy

Quizzy is a content services start up platform built for the Ed tech industry. The company has created content at scale for some of the top-notch Ed tech platforms globally. Quizzy aims to build a positive impact in the education space and Quizzy schools is an initiative towards reaching that goal

About Mogi

Mogi’s Patent Pending AI technology provides digital content delivery, online video delivery, transcoding, video player & advanced video analytics. Mogi’s Video delivery SaaS includes a globally distributed, high-performance network, intelligent software, and support services. Mogi enables Video platforms to optimize and deliver digital content to a wide variety of digital devices in a highly scalable way in real time. Mogi services are targeted towards on-demand video publishing, online gaming, content distribution to any device, and website and web application

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The webinar was organised by Pearson’s Teacher Education and Leadership Academy and Access-School, an ed-tech start-up launching India’s 1st Hybrid-Flexible Learning Ecosystem and was divided into a 2-part online event series from September 28 to October 2.

Dr G. Balasubramanian, former Director (Academics), CBSE, said: “Education in India has been waiting for disruption for a long time. While the industrial revolution scaled to 4.0 generation, the education sector largely remained at 2.0. This long-overdue disruption received impetus from the new NEP 2020; naysayers have accepted the reality and value of technology in education during the COVID-19 pandemic.” 

He went on to say that “The very definition of schools is likely to change. Access-School is a kind of school which I am looking forward to in the future”. 

Ms Seshni Naicker, Director, Teacher Education and Learning Academy, emphasized that irrespective of technology and acquisition of digital skills, teachers would always be the heart and soul of teaching. These essentials skills of empathy, cooperation, confidence, growth which are the skills of the future would come from the teachers as models.

Teachers would need to provide literacy and numeracy curriculum knowledge on the one hand and develop skills, attitudes and values on the other hand, to enable students to become global citizens, she said.

Ms Manju Gupta, Principal, Kothari International School said, “A change in mindset and attitude of a teacher is a must, and a necessity in order to stay relevant to the needs of the students. Human education must be more emphasised in today’s schools. We need to remember that education is for the growth and development of a learner, not for competition. I look forward to a tomorrow where the teacher connects with the child and not the book.”

Day 1 commenced with a webinar and panel discussion on the topic ‘Expanding the Teacher’s horizon: The Future for Educators’. Days 2 and 3 focussed on developing teachers’ skills in teaching online through two professional teacher training sessions with an international trainer. More than 200 school educators, leaders, teachers and trainers took part in the event.

The webinar delved in detail on the present challenges and opportunities for educators as well as on future skills required to stay relevant; trends and changes that are taking place globally in the education industry; and the new landscape for schools and teachers. 

Amit Mathur Co-Founder, Access-School set the tone for the future with these insights. “Basis the pan India survey we conducted last year, three critical areas in the Indian Education System that require focus are Accessibility, Adaptability and Flexibility. We at Access-School leverage technology to cater to these 3 areas and create a HyFlex school which offers blended learning opportunities for students,” she said. 

At the end of 1st part of the online event series, an open panel session was held, moderated by Ms Ruvneet Bains, Chief Learning Officer, Access-School These panellists included Mrs Kaadambari Muttoo – Ex-teacher The British School, Ex-Director Academics for GEMS India, Author; Mrs Neerja Bhasin – Innovative Science Teacher, Ex-Systems & Design Analyst and Mrs Shoma Lahiri – English Teacher and Cambridge Coordinator, Ex-The Shri Ram School. 

The event series ended on October 2 with online teaching pedagogy training sessions for teachers by Sarah White, International Teacher Trainer with Pearson Teacher Education and Leadership Academy (TELA).

While, the Teacher Education and Leadership Academy develops Pearson’s professional learning courses and resources for teachers, Access-School is an ed-tech start-up providing India’s 1st Hybrid-Flexible Learning Ecosystem. 

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The launch comes at a time when there is uncertainty about job opportunities and disruption due to Covid-19. This has led students to a stressful job search.

Nikhil Chainani, Founder, Perspectico said: “With our research & development we have seen that college graduates when looking for a job become very confused as most of the job platforms are scattered.  Keeping this in mind, we built this common tech platform that will help not only have all the details on job opening but it will also prepare them to find their right job thus providing the right direction and guidance.”

According to the startup, the job preparation platform is India’s first relevant and guided job preparation tool. This will help the students with all the recommendations and evaluation which is required to get fully prepared for the job market.

The highlight of AI-based the platform is that it provides a marketplace for job openings across India to the college graduates on a real-time basis. In case a student’s profile is not suitable, the AI Engine will recommend the online course to improve their areas that need attention. A student can also undertake a self-evaluation test to measure competencies.  These tests include subjective, MCQ & Situational tests.

In addition, students are provided with Preparation materials, in-house courses, mentorship and interview guidance.

Established in November 2017, Perspectico (DU backed & uincept accelerator) is an AI-Tech startup which is working towards creating a positive job ecosystem.  Using its in-house Data Intelligence and Psychology, the company develops tech solutions for the hiring industry as per the job aspirant mindset and scalability thus providing competitive advantage.

In the last 3 years, Perspectico has grown manifold from being typical traditional to becoming fully digitized adopting new-age technologies like AI. It is also now building technology products suitable for the hiring and job ecosystem in India.

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Online learning platform Byju’s has raised $122 million or Rs 908.9 crores from DST Global in its ongoing Series F round. The investment fund floated by Russian billionaire Yuri Milner and Byju’s was founded by Byju Raveendran.

This was first reported by Entrackr. Edtech companies like Byju’s, Unacademy, Vedantu, Toppr, and Class Plus nearly effortlessly acquiring users and raising funds amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and lockdown.

According to some reports Byju’s was in talks with the Hongkong-headquartered VC firm to raise around $400 million.

The company is allotting 42,666 Series F preference shares at an issue price of Rs 213,042.13 per share for this deal and shows regulatory filings. Post allotment, DST will command a 1.2% stake in the ed-tech startup.

With this, Byju’s has raised $545 million across four tranches in Series F round in 2020 including a $200 million each from Tiger Global and General Atlantic.

As of now, the firm has raised over $1.3 billion from the likes of Tencent, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Sofina, and Lightspeed. Since March, it has raised $145 million across two tranches.

The promoters group at Byju’s that includes its founder Byju Raveendran, his wife Divya Gokulnath, and brother Riju Raveendran, retain close to 33.1% stake in the company worth nearly $3.3 billion. Prior to the latest capital infusion, the promoters owned a 33.45% stake in the ed-tech company.

Earlier this month it was reported that DST Global is close to investing as $400 million in Byju’s. The round appears to be an ongoing one and DST may invest more money in the ed-tech startup.

It has raised $400 million earlier this year was last funded by Bond Capital co-founded by Silicon Valley investment guru, Mary Meeker, formerly of Kleiner Perkins. Its rivals such as Unacademy, Vedantu, Toppr, and others are also fast-tracking their investments.

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