The COVID -19 pandemic has set out a new kind of normal in different sectors, education being one of them. Online learning has become more prominent so as to not interrupt students from attaining education. The result is thriving edtech companies that have been continuously churning out different apps that aid learning.
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Edtech industry has seen a steady growth since the pandemic. According to statistics, the global education technology market size was estimated at $237.6 billion in 2021, and it is expected to hit $998.4 billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 17.3%. This explains the springing up of lots of new edtech startups. (Source: https://catamarcanews.com/education-technology-market-is-expected-to-reach-998-4-billion-by-2030-says-ps-intelligence/)
The Top 12
There are plenty of edtech companies in the market today, combining all kinds of innovative technology with education to give the best of online learning to students, while lifting the burden off the shoulders of educators.
Here are the best 12 edtech companies that are reigning the industry at the moment.
1) Byju’s
Located in Bangalore, India, Byju’s entered the edtech industry in 2011. Byju’s started off as a simple learning platform back then. At present, the edtech startup is known to be one of the established names in the industry, still spreading its presence across the world.
As of reports of March 2022, Byju’s app has 150 million users—a sudden leap from 80 million in early 2021. The app has also reported over 2 million downloads worldwide in Google Play as of September 2020. (Source: https://mobilemarketingreads.com/byjus-revenue-and-usage-statistics-2020/)
Byju’s app provides online video lessons to students from Grades LKG to 12th through their mobile and web apps. It also provides study materials for students to prepare for common entrance exams in India.
The video lessons come with gamified representation of concepts that keep the learners engaged and make learning fun. Statistics of 2020 reveal the amount of time spent by users who used to spend 70 minutes per session on the app twice or thrice per week has increased to 100 minutes per day.
What keeps Byju’s at the top of the list of popular edtech companies is that they continuously keep innovating to create great learning experience for students.
2) Blackboard
Founded in 2011, Blackboard is a Washington- based edtech company that is one of the giants in the industry. The company aids educators in providing quality education to students through its enterprise technology and solutions for teaching, learning, and student engagement.
Blackboard is one of the biggest edtech companies with a total valuation of $700 million. Through its services, the company aims to revolutionize the way online learning works.
Blackboard has a variety of products and services that serve higher education, K-12, businesses and government. They help educational institutions succeed through their services, such as marketing and enrolment, LMS, etc. Blackboard also helps K-12 communities to teach, learn and stay connected. Their products and services are also used by businesses and government to provide skill training.
Also Read: (15 Best Educational Software Companies in India)
3) Coursera
Based in California, USA, Coursera is a well-known MOOC platform that connects learners with over 150 universities. They offer over 4000 courses across different subject areas, thus helping students acquire the best education at their own pace.
Coursera provides on-demand video lectures to learners through their mobile and web platforms. They also have community forums that learners can make use of to interact and learn.
As of the reports of early 2021, Coursera had a total of 82 million registered users. The pandemic saw a rise in Coursera users, many of whom resorted to learning online for their degrees or professional skill upgrading. As a result, the company had recorded a 40 to 50% increase in revenue over the first two financial quarters in 2020. (Source: https://www.thinkimpact.com/coursera-users/#7-impact-of-the-covid-19-pandemic )
Coursera is one of the biggest startups to provide education through eLearning. The company has raised $313 million through a total of nine funding rounds. Coursera’s total valuation stands at $7 billion.
4) Chegg
Founded in 2005, Chegg is an online learning platform that provides students a wholeseome learning experience. As of the statistics from 2021, Chegg was reported to have 7.8 million subscribers, which is expected to grow with the latest innovations introduced by the company.
Chegg mainly works in three major areas of learning. The platform provides learning resources to students. Learners can opt for online tutoring on the platform. Chegg also helps students with their homework and in self-learning. Students can also buy, rent and sell books in the platform.
Last year, Chegg had introduced Uversity, a platform that allows educators to share learning content. Using student data and AI, the platform provides relevant content to learners, be it in the form of flashcards, videos, quizzes, math, or writing support, to give them a personalized learning experience based on their needs.
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5) Teachers Pay Teachers
Teachers Pay Teachers aka TPT is an edtech company created by teachers for teachers to interact with each other, share content and tools for teaching.
At present, TPT’s community includes 7 million educators and a catalogue of over 5 million pieces of educator-created content to support students in learning as well as to learn from each other.
The company aims at creating connectivity within the teacher community. Teachers can use the platform to sell and buy worksheets, lesson plans, and additional material from their peers.
A popular online marketplace for original educational resources, Teachers Pay Teachers generates annual revenue of $25 to $50 million.
Also Read: (Top 12 Language Learning Apps for 2023)
6) Instructure
Founded in 2008, Instructure is another edtech start up that provides to the teaching community. Instructure combines LMS and MOOC to provide education to students.
Teachers get to create new courses and also allot assignments. There are also 3000 universities listed in the platform.
At present, Instructure supports over 30 million educators and learners at more than 6000 organizations globally. It also has over 6 million consistent users.
7) Knewton
Knewton is a New York-based advanced edtech company that focuses on providing a personalized learning experience to learners through adaptive technology.
Knewton encourages smart learning by allowing students to realise their strengths and weaknesses, while helping them improve in the areas they are weak at. The platform provides analytical reports regarding students’ performance to teachers.
Knewton aims at making eLearning easy. They provide personal recommendations to students with regard to what they have to study, analytics to teachers to support students in a better manner and content insights to publishers to create better learning products.
8) Dreambox Learning
Dreambox Learning is an eLearning start up based in Seattle, USA, that makes math learning exciting through adaptive learning technology.
What makes Dreambox different from other education-based companies is that while others create solutions for comprehensive learning, they help students learn math using technology. The combination of education and technology makes learning easy and fun for students.
Dreambox allows students to learn at their own pace without having to go out of their comfort zone. For that, first, they analyse the level of knowledge of the students and then, assign courses to help them in areas that need improvement.
At present, Dreambox has 3 million users and has $21.4 million revenue.
9) Simplilearn
Founded in 2010, Simplilearn is one of the few edtech companies that provide professional education. It provides professional certifications to those who complete the courses provided in the portal.
Simplilearn helps employees to learn more about the field they work in and upgrade their skills. This helps professionals to keep pace with the innovations in their field and also look for better job prospects.
At present, Simplilearn is a popular platform that actively provides professional training. It has managed to collect $31 million in funding through four funding rounds.
10) Donorschoose
Donorschoose is a non-profit edtech company that prioritises practical learning. Through Donorschoose, students get funding from donors for their projects.
The company connects donors with students and helps students to go on with their projects without worrying about financial constraints. Through this, they create a learning environment where practical application of relevant subjects happens.
Donorschoose has generated $7 million from three funding rounds.
In the years to come, we might see more edtech companies coming into existence, owing to the popularity of the edtech industry that is expected to continue in the future as well.
11) Go1
Go1 is an edtech company based in Brisbane, Australia, founded in 2015. It is a learning platform that comes with a curated learning and development library containing learning materials and tools from some of the best training providers.
The library is integrated with LMS and HRIS and serves as a one-stop solution for learning and development needs of businesses. There are over 1 50 000 pieces of content available in the library from about 1000 publishers and creators, with more content being added on a weekly basis.
At present, 3.5 million learners use Go1. The company has also integrated communication platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams with the features of Go1 platform to ensure that learners benefit the most from it. Go1 has generated $83.7 million over eight funding rounds.
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12) Udacity
Udacity is a popular MOOC platform that offers technology courses. They help professionals attain all necessary tech skills that businesses are looking for in their employees.
Udacity aims to make education accessible and affordable for everyone to achieve their career goals, be it getting the job they want or to advance in their careers. They offer different nanodegree courses and programs in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and robotics, as well as data science, autonomous systems, and cloud computing.
As of 2020, Udacity had a total of 14 million users, which is likely to have increased owing to the changes instigated due to the pandemic.
Why is Edtech Popular?
There are several reasons for the sudden boom in edtech industry.
Edtech is the new normal
When the pandemic started and changes in the education field in order to ensure uninterrupted learning had become a necessity, even educators that opposed the use of technology in education could not help, but comply.
Since then, technology has had a permanent role in education and its role has only stepped up with time. From learning management systems and similar technology for school management even before the pandemic to applications that support learning, edtech has now become main stream.
Educators are in support of edtech
Many educators, who were used to traditional learning settings, struggled with edtech in the beginning. Though some still refuse to acknowledge it, there are many who agree that edtech already had a role in learning even before the pandemic happened.
There were speculations in the beginning that edtech would replace educators. But when use of edtech became prominent, educators began to see how edtech helped them to fill the learning gaps and guide the students
Instead of taking full control of the learning process, technology has helped to reduce the burden of educators while encourage students to self-learn, while building qualities like responsibility and determination in the process.
Learning and technology innovations go hand in hand
When the field of education started adapting to the pandemic-related changes, more than going with the situation, it was an actual realisation that the field really needed a revamp. Classroom learning had its own limitations and sometimes, left a huge gap when it came to things like inclusiveness and adaptive learning.
Including technology in learning in a prominent manner has given a greater purpose to education than just learning the lessons from the textbooks. It teaches students to realise their strengths and weaknesses, get creative, to communicate and so on.
However, too much of anything is not good. So is technology. Though they struggled in the beginning, education providers and educators have managed to create a balance between learning and technology over the years. They have adopted edtech and combined it with traditional way of learning to fill in the gaps either methods have.
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In the future, things might go back to how they were before. Classroom learning might make a comeback, but, surely, it will not take the shine off edtech. Students can resort to both methods to make learning easier and comprehensive, and it can help reduce the burden for educators.
So, edtech will continue to stay as it does now, with many more companies coming up with further advanced technology backing up the education industry in the future.