India’s edtech market is poised to grow at a compound annual rate of 25.8% to $29 billion by 2030 from $7.5 billion in 2024, according to a report released last month by the Internet Mobile Association of India and Grant Thornton Bharat.

The sector, which saw demand surge during covid as classes moved online, has been thriving despite a post-covid hiccup, primarily due to a lack of motivation among students.

Mint reported last week that PhysicsWallah is poised to become India’s most valuable edtech firm with a $25 million WestBridge Capital-led funding round boosting its valuation to $3.7 billion.

The sector has seen the spawning of some potential unicorns, following in the footsteps of PhysicsWallah, Eruditus, upGrad and Vedantu, as they tap newer technologies such as AI, virtual reality, and gamification.

At look at startups that are striving to make learning more engaging:

Capsule Labs

Founder: Atanu Roy Chowdhury

Capsule Labs, based in Kolkata, West Bengal, specializes in higher-order knowledge creation and delivery for Indian higher education institutions (HEIs). Through its Centers of Excellence (CoE), Capsule Labs simplifies complex technical concepts for advanced students, doctoral candidates, and faculty. The startup disseminates knowledge through speaking engagements and interactive workshops, specializing in large-format interactive workshops via its online engagement platform, SHOTS. Capsule Labs provides an HEI Portal that allows institutions to track the quantitative impact of engagements using its Live Reports analytics service. GAPCRUD Private Limited operates under the brand Capsule Labs and is an ISO 9001:2015-certified educational technology and services organization. CapsuleLabs empowers HEIs and Technology Business Incubators to navigate challenges and create an impact among their students.

Cuvette

Founders: Atul Singhal, Sudhanshu Singh

Cuvette (pronounced Q-vet), based in Bengaluru, Karnataka, connects graduates and students with reputable companies for IT jobs in software development, data science, and more. The platform has over 600,000 candidates and more than 7,000 partner companies. Cuvette offers its hiring services free of charge to both companies and candidates. Cuvette helps college students and early graduates find internships and jobs. They also provide opportunities to learn from community events and mentorship.

The Alt School

Founder: Deepa Aathreya

The Alt School in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, offers an experiential homeschooling environment that challenges traditional schooling norms. Founded by Deepa Aathreya, a Harvard-certified educator, The Alt School aims to help children discover their potential.  The school provides a world-class experiential curriculum at an affordable cost, customized learning plans, and a young, passionate faculty. The Alt School focuses on training for faculty and parents and prepares children for global forums to create socially responsible citizens. Deepa Aathreya has worked with over 300,000 students across 2,500 schools in Tamil Nadu and founded the “Be The Change” movement, where students work to improve the planet.

The Innovation Story

Founder: Meenal Majumder

Mumbai-based The Innovation Story (TIS) uses a comprehensive strategy to cultivate STEM innovators through workshops, speaker series, and hands-on projects. Students tackle real-world challenges using AI and robotics-based solutions. TIS emphasizes hands-on, experiential learning to encourage student engagement. Its curriculum is designed by educators from universities like Stanford, MIT, and IITs, as well as subject matter experts in the tech industry. TIS’s project-based STEM courses cover coding, robotics, web development, AI/ML, and 3D CAD3. Meenal Majumder, an ex-banker, founded TIS in 2021 to offer project-based STEM education to children, especially those from underserved communities. TIS has impacted over 10,500 students and aims to guide one million children by 2030. TIS has centers in Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Noida.

The Learn Through Stories

Founder: Gayathri Thakoor

The Learn Through Stories (LeTS) Foundation is a not-for-profit educational venture disseminating the “Learn English Through Stories” model, an IIT Bombay solution. This model empowers students to learn by creating their content. LeTS conducts content-creation workshops, collects contextual stories from both rural and urban schools in India, and teaches children book design and production. The foundation then publishes these books and distributes them to students and teachers. LeTS collaborates with design professionals and students from across India. Their work includes a curated process to produce physical storybooks and digital versions of animation films and interactive applications. The LeTS Foundation enables students to learn through content they have helped make.  Students bring stories, and LeTS teaches them storyboarding, illustration, and book design in multi-day workshops.

The Scientific Way

Founder: Pooja Swamy

The Scientific Way, established in 2021 and based in Bengaluru, Karnataka, is a digital platform designed for science enthusiasts, educators, research scholars, and scientists.
The startup’s vision is to democratize science, making it accessible to everyone. It aims to provide engaging STEM education, robust research skills, and productivity tools that empower individuals to innovate and address real-world challenges.  The Scientific Way pursues its mission through interactive workshops, online content, and community outreach, striving to make science education enjoyable, accessible, and impactful.

The Skillians

CEO: Chaitanya Sharma

The Skillians Academy, founded in 2021 and based in Gurugram, Haryana, is an IT education institution led by Chaitanya Sharma.  The Skillians offers a “Pay After Placement” program that equips students with the skills to thrive in the tech industry. The academy has secured over 1000 graduate placements, including 270 in MAANG companies like Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google. It actively partners with IT companies to provide free talent acquisition services.  They streamline the hiring process for partner companies by providing talented individuals and reducing hiring expenses. The Skillians has strong relationships with companies like Paytm, Razorpay, PhonePe, and Fampay, providing students exclusive access to job openings.

Uncommon Advisors

Founder: Ileshaa Khatau

Uncommon Advisors, based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, is an educational consultancy offering students personalized guidance throughout the university application process. The consultancy distinguishes itself by taking a personal approach to each student’s application and providing support from brainstorming ideas to drafting applications. Uncommon Advisors offers dedicated mentorship to help students navigate the application process, from evaluating suitable institutions to editing college essays.

way2class

Founder: Kumar M.

WAY2CLASS Pvt. Ltd., founded in 2021, offers comprehensive content. It has a large in-house team of subject matter experts (SMEs), content writers, content reviewers, designers, and animators.
They provide diversified e-learning services and content development to businesses. It delivers various services, including creating text and video content, customized services for ID and LD, image descriptions, translation services, and animation projects. They also offer skill-based training programs and develop content for academic subjects and technologies.
WAY2CLASS creates custom assessments with multiple-choice, computational, short-answer, and essay-type questions. They design, develop, edit, and assess e-learning content for K-12 institutions and publishing houses and develop customized content for e-learning solution videos and 3-D videos.

Wonder Yonder Research and Design

Founder: Nikitaa Sivaakumar

Wonder Yonder Research and Design Private Limited, founded by Nikitaa Sivaakumar and based in Kotagiri, Tamil Nadu, creates accessible STEM and science-based content for schools and universities.
The company also assists scientific research institutions in communicating their findings to the general public. Wonder Yonder partners with non-profits, conservationists, and climate professionals to develop content focused on raising awareness about climate change, conservation, and health-related campaigns. It aims to make learning engaging and fun through visual narratives and storytelling and delivers content through illustrations, infographics, interactive websites, animated videos, illustrated books, and social media posts.

Xylem Systems

Founder: Hari Hara Rao

Xylem Systems, founded by Hari Hara Rao and based in Srirangam, Trichy, uses technology to enhance language skills. Since 2005, Xylem Systems has operated over 300 language labs in India and now offers a cloud-based program called Skillphones. This program, supported by Carnegie Mellon University and Carnegie AI, is designed to help learners speak English more naturally. Xylem Systems aims to improve English skills through tools that check student progress and build strong communication skills.  They offer language improvement solutions to many universities. Xylem Systems Education is a division of Xylem Corporation.

Yuno Learning

Founders: Amarjit Singh and Harmanpreet Singh

Yuno Learning Global Private Limited is an e-learning company based in Gurgaon, Haryana, founded on 8 February 2019 by Amarjit Singh and Harmanpreet Singh. Yuno Learning specializes in providing personalized live online classes delivered by experts in small groups. They offer diverse courses, including English speaking, IELTS, PTE, TOEFL, Duolingo, and French. The platform utilizes a comprehensive approach to learning, incorporating video explanations, notes, exercises, and solutions. Yuno Learning also integrates smart gamification to encourage and motivate students.

ZuAI

Founders: Anubhav Mishra and Arpit Jain

ZuAI, based in Bangalore, Karnataka, was founded by Anubhav Mishra and Arpit Jain to provide every learner with intelligent resources for mastering any concept. The startup aims to revolutionize education by offering an affordable and personalized AI tutor that is available 24/7.  ZuAI is designed for students in grades 4-10 and helps them learn from their textbooks, prepare for exams, revise concepts, and generate notes. It aligns with the Indian CBSE, ICSE, and State Board curriculum. ZuAI also offers a curriculum for the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Program, Advanced Placement (AP), and Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT).