Classplus
The economy is gaining back its momentum, it is trying to recover from the negative effects of COVID 19 lockdown. The economy has suffered a lot because of the pandemic, it actually went three to four times behind in time. The businesses suffered a lot and many were shut down because there were no operations, no customers were there in the market to buy the product or avail of any service. The pandemic changed the face of how business was conducted and how people used to shop.
If we look at the current status, it is safe to say that gone are the days when people use to go brick and mortar shops to buy a product. With the incoming technology and the pandemic, people have become comfortable of shopping by looking at their mobile screens and clicking there in case of approval. The pandemic even changed how students used to study.
Teachers and students have now become comfortable sitting in front of their laptop screens and talking to each other from there. We do not know when will the world come to normal, so the businesses have decided to take on their operations and introduce any new segment keeping in mind the current scenario. Many startups are being introduced that have the business idea which is compatible to the so-called “new world”.
One such startup is Classplus.
Founded in 2018 by Mukul Rustagi and Bhaswat Agarwal, Classplus is engaged in bringing teachers to online mode. The startup is aimed at changing the way education and teaching take place in the country. A Noida-based startup is on a mission to digitize education in India.
The startup aims to empower educationalists with digital tools and resources and make them ready for the future, little knowing that the future which the company thought of has come. The high-tech technology used by the company allows the educators to establish their brand on the online medium. One of the interesting features provided by the company is that the teachers can not only earn by providing classes but can also sell their content on the application.
The educators are not of any particular city but are from the whole country. There are no such limitations based on the city, and a student from a particular city can take classes from the teacher who might be sitting in the other corner of the country.
The startup has the features of the store where a teacher can sell his study material and courses to the students present all over the country, online assessments where teachers can take online tests of their students thus ensuring they have proper learning, live classes where teachers can take unlimited live classes with automatic recordings and a large number of students, a stat dashboard where with the help of AI, it can be seen how much engagement is there from a particular student, thus helping in the marketing part.
It provides a highly secured SSL AEL 256-bit encryption which ensures the data of the educators is highly secured. It has a team of 300+ experienced professionals and over 1 lakh educators have already established their businesses on this platform and over 7 million students from 1100+ cities across India are using this platform. The startup has some big names as its investors like SURGE, RTP Global, Blume Ventures, Spiral Ventures, and STRIVE.
The startup has come into the talks now, as it was amidst its rounds of funding. The startup has received funding of USD 65 million as announced on June 24, 2021. This round of funding was the Series C Round and was led by Tiger Global. The other participants of the round were GSV Ventures which is a fund focused on edtech, and the existing investors RTP Global, Alpha Wave Incubation (AWI), and Blume Ventures. This round of funding is the fourth in number in the last 15 months.
The startup aims to use the funding received to build a first-class which is the best in producing products for the educators, build engineering teams that are best in its work, and grow itself in different locations. The startup is actively hiring in engineering, products, and business roles. The startup has a majority of the userbase from the Tier-II cities of the country and it is claimed by the startup that within six months of joining the platform, the overall profitability of the educators increased by 2-3 times.
According to the founder, Mukul Rustagi, the startup has provided the educators a platform to build and expand themselves in the online world and gain monetary benefits from the content without major investment and efforts.
The managing partner of GSV Ventures, Deborah Quazzo said that with the onset of lockdown in India, the platform of Classplus came out as an important one to the USD 30 billion offline tutoring industry which exists in India. The platform has increased to 10 times in the past 12 months and GSV sees it as a “Weapon of Mass Instruction”. The founders of the startup are engaged in giving power to tutors in India to go online and give them the opportunity to build and expand bigger and also expanding the accessibility to the localized education.
The startup is engaged in doing what is needed the most in today’s India. It is providing its services keeping in mind the needs of both the teachers and the students. We can wait and watch and see what new wonders this potential startup brings in the country.
