Funding of Oliveboard: We have seen many startups coming up recently in the edtech sector. This sector has been able to prove its potential in the pandemic period when the whole country was under lockdown, and all the schools and colleges were closed. The education sector during this period has changed its picture with how the education industry worked. The technology involved in this sector made sure that the students are not left out because of the COVID 19 pandemic.
It ensured that the admissions in schools and colleges are taken, students are graduated with online convocation, to students are recruited by the companies through interviews taken online. The education sector proved itself but the main drawback of this was that only a handful of the population was able to make use of this facility. This raised an alarm that the country lacks infrastructure, the majority population is unable to access this facility. The condition of the country, its schools, the students, the teachers, the areas where they are living has no access to the internet, laptops, to smartphones.
Many startups keeping in mind the needs of the teachers and the students have been formed. Byju’s, one of the biggest and a famous name in the Indian edtech startup, has become the most startup of highest valuation in the country with a value of more than USD 16.4 billion. Another edtech startup has come into the news and is in the eyes of the people. Investors have started gaining interest in this sector after seeing its performance in the pandemic.
According to the report made and published by the Indian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association and PGA Labs Data, the startups in this sector have received a funding of USD 2.22 billion in 2020. The report even showed that a total of 92 edtech startups have received funding, and out of these 92, 61 startups have received seed funding. The online sector is expected to grow from USD 247 million in 2017 to USD 1.96 billion in 2021.
Startup of Oliveboard
The startup Oliveboard as announced on July 12, 2021, has received a funding of Rs 23 crore. This round of funding was the pre-Series A round of funding and was led by IAN Fund. The participants of the round were Education Catalyst Fund(ECF) and Yukti Securities. The funding received will be required by the startup to expand its offering, as it will add more national-level of courses and will also broaden its offerings by adding state-level courses. The startup also has the plan to make investments in technology in order to have data-driven results. These results will help the startup in making products keeping in mind what their customers want.
The startup was founded in 2015 by Abhishek Patil and V Satish Kumar. The Bengaluru-based startup is engaged in offering course material and online practice for government competitive and banking examinations. The features provided by the startup are the live classes, practice tests, live practice sessions, other valuable material, and interactive content for the users. The startup was founded when the founders realized there was a huge gap in the coaching quality and test preparation for government jobs in Tier II and Tier III cities. Today, the startup has more than 8 million users in more than 2500 cities and towns in India.
The co-founder of Oliveboard Abhishek Patil said that there is not one single approach. He said that the startup follows a personalized approach to learning that is convenient and flexible and for students who are preparing for the exams. The focus of the company is to provide coaching based on the data collected. The startup has well-positioned itself in the Banking & Insurance examination category and is ready to expand its offerings to new and less served categories of exams. The startup is thankful for the help of the IAF Fund, ECF, and Yukti Securities.
Sudipta Gautam of IAF Fund said that the size of the market focusing on job preparation of government exams is around INR 400 billion. Before 2020, a large portion of the market was of offline coaching and pandemic has bought in online coaching. The investment fund he said was happy to see how the startup is growing and helping thousands of aspirants for these exams.
We know the craze behind government jobs in the country, and this startup is doing its bit to achieve that. We wish nothing but luck to the startup.
Edited by Tanish Sachdev
