What Pakistan can learn from India’s EdTech startup that recently raised $50 million

The Bangalore based startup manages an online platform of learning targeting towards students competing for entrance exams to get into universities. The company has managed to amass $50 million in investments to further expand its platform.

Comparatively, getting into a good university in India is much harder than here in Pakistan. In India, to get into a good university it almost a requirement to spend at least one year to prepare for the entrance exams. This is where Unacademy is trying to prepare its students. The platform also focuses on students looking for graduation-level courses.

What makes Unacademy special is that it lets students watch live classes and later participate in a follow-up help session to discuss the topics more comprehensively. This lets students interact and clear questions. Presently, the online platform has 10,000 registered teachers and 13 million students. Unacademy’s CEO Munjal told TechCrunch that the new funding will be used to get even more teachers on board and expand the courses offered.

“We are seeing unprecedented growth and engagement from learners in smaller towns and cities, and are also very humbled to see that top-quality educators are choosing Unacademy as their primary platform to reach out to students. In the last few months, we have taken bigger strides toward achieving this mission. We have more than 400 top educators from across the country taking live classes every day on Unacademy Plus. This is available to every student, irrespective of their location,” said Munjal.

Unacademy has been around for four years and has its roots on YouTube. The channel started in 2010, gained a steady following. Today, it has grown to become the largest education channel in India with 3.3 million subscribers. It primarily earns through its premium subscription service called Unacademy Plus which has 50,000 users.

What can Pakistan learn from Unacademy?

Online education is experiencing massive growth. In fact, according to research, it may reach $325 billion by 2025. In the Information Technology field, the workplace is becoming so competitive that to keep a job you might be required to be continuously learning new things. While India has Unacademy as a good source for e-learning, a similar and effective platform seems to be missing in Pakistan.

We need a startup that learns from Unacademy, their model and their success to set up an e-learning platform in Pakistan. Coursera could serve as an example, their platform is very helpful for learners. In fact, I was taking a course and during their videos, they ask you to solve simple questions. It is seamless, the video pauses until you have completed.

While there are some new initiatives like DigiSkills and PIAIC, they have room for improvement. Pakistani startups also should learn how to raise money for their projects. This will bring foreign investment in Pakistan’s education sector.