Social media has become an important part of our daily lives. Through Facebook, Twitter and other similar services, we are updated on what is going on in our immediate circle and generally overall in the world. The social media wave has also changed how people communicate at their workplaces.
One thing which has remained unaffected during all this technological transformation is education. Today, parents and teachers still communicate through homework diaries or monthly parent-teacher meetings. In short, the communication is not quick and instantaneous. However, that could soon change. A Pakistani startup Edjunction, through its collaborative social media platform, is hoping to change how parent, teachers, and academia in general communicate with each other.
In Pakistan, there are 180,000 schools, out of these, 80,000 schools are private hosting about 25 million children. Edjunction is specifically targeting this segment.
Mobile-first platform Edjunction gives power to teachers by allowing them to communicate with parents through its application. Parents can communicate with the teachers and school administration. In addition, through the data analytics, parents can keep an eye on their child’s progress. Furthermore, with a single tap of a button, the school administration can share an update with the whole school. In short, Edjunction is a complete platform that can solve communication and information issues between parents, teachers, and all key stake holders. And, with a powerful reserve of data from numerous schools, Edjunction is rightly positioned to turn it into useful information which could be indispensable for the academia and education sector in Pakistan.
Founded by three siblings, Waqar, Ehtesham and Arusha, in 2014, Edjunction was born as a result of a heated discussion. The argument was that through social media we are aware of what is going on in the world but we are clueless of what our kids are doing at school. In order to solve this issue, the trio decided to take problem head on. Arusha Imtiaz left her full-time job to head the operations of the product while her two brothers added value in part-time capacity.
Now the COO of Edjunction, Arusha Imtiaz has partnered with several local and international organizations to take the solution to every school in Pakistan. The team has active collaborations with Microsoft, Telenor, Samsung, and various government organization to run pilots in different district schools.
Edjunction has previously raised 2 million dollars in seed funding and are hoping to go for another investment round soon.
In Pakistan, there are 180,000 schools, out of these, 80,000 schools are private hosting about 25 million children. Edjunction is specifically targeting this segment. The product, already launched in Dubai, has an addressable market of almost 500 schools with 200,000 admitted students.
Earlier this year, the startup was part of the first cohort of Velocity, Telenor’s go-to market accelerator for Pakistan, where it spun off another version of the same product with the name Telenor E-cademics. Currently, the product is being marketed to Telenor’s user base of over 36 million subscribers.
“The response has been very positive. No matter which school we go, the teachers and parents are excited to see the solution. Our solution has been embraced with open arms.”, says Arusha.
The startup has previously raised seed fund at a valuation of 2 million dollars. Now they are hoping to go for another investment round. In that respect, Velocity’s upcoming demo day for investors holds an important position. Edjunction currently stands at a crucial point where the right amount of funding could help them expand and scale operations across the country and in the Middle East.
