Competition
Byju’s in Talks with B Capital, Others to raise $500-600 medit
Live Mint – Online Web
Byju’s is in talks with a group of investors to raise around $500-600 million in a new financing round that could propel its valuation to as much as $14-15 billion, according to three people in the know of the development, as the edtech major prepares for another round of bigticket acquisitions amid a rush of risk capital for Indian internet startups.
Industry
Let’s flip the coin – focus on higher education outlook first, employability will naturally follow!edit
The Times Of India – Online Web
To that end, entities such as EdTech companies can bring in value by helping in the mass facilitation of enhanced employability-centric curriculum. A few new-age EduTech enterprises are already achieving milestones in designing industry-centric curriculum for universities and have integrated courses on modern technologies that include the likes of AI, Blockchain, Data Science, Cybersecurity, IoT, thereby designing a model of thinking in an interdisciplinary manner. Considering the partnerships between higher education institutions and Ed-Tech companies with their industry-led.
Handa’s new Funda: From Academy to Unacademyedit
Forbes India – Online Web
The first thing that strikes you about Ravi Handa is his brutal honesty. A teacher, after all, needs to be upfront. The IITian starts the conversation by making two candid confessions. First, he reveals his weak spot: Computer science. “I was bad at it, and I mean really bad,” smiles the 37-year-old edtech founder of online CAT (common admission test) and MBA coaching venture Handa ka Funda. An IIT-Kharagpur alumnus, Handa has dual degree (BTech and MTech) in computer science and engineering. Earlier this week, Handa ka Funda was acquired by edtech major Unacademy for an undisclosed amount.
VC firm Sequoia Capital closes second seed fund at $195 million to back startups in India, Southeast Asiaedit
The Financial Express – Online Web
Through the Surge programme, startups are able to raise $12 million and access mentoring from Byju Raveendran, Creds Kunal Shah, Freshworks Girish Mathrubootham, GOJEKs Nadiem Makarim, Googles Rajan Ananadan, OYOs Ritesh Agarwal, Zomatos Deepinder Goyal, etc. Each cohort has a size of 10-20 startups.
Entrepreneurs must use data, facts, not personal biases’edit
The Times of India – Delhi
Entrepreneurs must use data and facts to take decisions in every transaction said Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy during a panel discussion at EY Entrepreneur of the Year Awards 2020. Murthy also emphasised that the interest of the company must always come ahead of the interest of the individual and that, when in doubt, disclose it. These are some principles the IT services major has been following right from inception.
Discovery Kids rides high on the viewership as the channel records 18-20% rise in Q1 2021edit
The Financial Express – Online Web
It has been almost a year with children attending online classes and being at home. Being homebound children have spent more than watching television. As a result, kids channels witnessed a 27% rise in viewership — which secured a seven percent share in the TV viewing genre, according to Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India data. Discovery India’s kids television channel Discovery Kids also claims to have benefited from the same. “We saw a high viewership last year primarily due to covid but also because of the robust pipeline of content we had. Viewership has been constantly increasing with the channel recording a 18-20% rise in the first quarter of 2021 ...