Teacher’s Day is a special occasion dedicated to honoring teachers and recognizing their contributions to education. The day is celebrated in various countries on different dates, but it generally emphasizes the important role that educators play in shaping students’ lives and the future of society.
Explore the list of Top EdTech Startups in India.
Meet teachers who became successful entrepreneurs
Byju Raveendran, Byju’s, Founder
Raveendran and Shobhanavalli, physics and mathematics teachers, had Byju Raveendran on January 5, 1980, in Kerala, India. A multinational shipping business hired him as a service engineer after he earned his B.Tech from the Government College of Engineering, Kannur. He quit his job two years later after helping people study for the CAT exam and getting good scores. Byju launched Byju’s Classes in 2007 and expanded to stadium-size classes. He and his wife, Divya Gokulnath, met at his exam preparation class and launched Byju’s in 2011. As smartphone screens grew, Byju introduced a learning software for students in 2015. From October 2018, the app expanded to the UK, US, and other English-speaking nations. As of July 2022, the app had been downloaded over 150 million times and was used for 71 minutes per day.
Alakh Pandey, PW, Founder
Alakh Pandey was born in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, on October 2, 1991. Alakh attended Bishop Johnson School and College in Allahabad before studying mechanical engineering at Harcourt Butler Technical University, Kanpur, in 2011. He quit university in his third year. then he founded Physics Wallah Private Limited (PW), an international educational technology company based in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. Alakh Pandey launched the company in 2016 as a YouTube channel teaching JEE physics. Pandey and his colleague Prateek Maheshwari created the Physics Wallah app in 2020 to offer NEET and JEE lessons. Following its $100 million inaugural investment round in June 2022, the company became a unicorn at $1.1 billion.
Vikas Divyakirti, Founder, Drishti IAS
In Bhiwani, Haryana, Vikas Divyakirti was born on December 26, 1973. His early Hindi education was at Saraswati Shishu Mandir. After school, he enrolled at Zakir Husain Delhi College for a Bachelor of Commerce (honors). After earning his master’s degree, he aced the UPSC Civil Services Exam in 1996 with an AIR of 384. Indian government enrolled him in the Central Secretariat Service. He was a section official at the Ministry of Home Affairs, New Delhi, Department of Official Language. His resignation after a year allowed him to teach. In 1999, he launched the Drishti IAS Coaching Institute in Mukherjee Nagar, Delhi. After starting his YouTube account in November 2022, Divyakirti has over 3.75 M subscribers. Vikas Divyakirti runs several YouTube channels, including Drishti IAS, Drishti IAS English, Drishti Judiciary, Drishti PCS, Drishti Teaching Exams, Drishti IAS Shorts, Drishti CUET Hindi, Drishti CUET English, and Drishti Welfare Foundation. Divyakirti played himself in Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s 2023 biographical drama 12th Fail. He co-wrote this picture.
Siddhant Agnihotri, Founder, Study Glows
Siddhant Agnihotri was born in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakshnau in 1993. He had a terrible financial crisis early on. He earned a history degree from Lucknow Christian Degree College in 2014. In 2016, Baba Saheb Bhimrao earned his Master’s in History from Ambedkar Central University, Lucknow. After that, he studied for the UPSC Civil Service Exam for a year. During UPSC preparation, he found that he preferred teaching to the exam.
So he applied to teach at a UPSC coaching center in Delhi and joined on December 22, 2017, as a senior faculty member due to his teaching style and students’ interest.
He founded “study Glows.com” after three years of teaching at UPSC Preparation Coaching Center. His YouTube channel features UPSC Civil Service Exam information.
Gaurav Garg, StudyIQ, Founder
StudyIQ Education is Pvt Ltd Education Company Dedicated to providing online education to students who are willing to or already participated in Indian government job exams either in English or Hindi medium through pre-recorded videos, so that the student can learn and achieve his/her dream government job by study smart and by comfort of home. They are a team that is dedicated to their work and motive to provide the best and time efficient study tutorials/video classes without the use of internet connection from any part state district of India.
Their mission is to provide every student with a complete education and study material for the exam he/she appearing or is willing to participate.
Edtech Market Growth
India’s education technology (ed-tech) market is growing rapidly and is expected to reach $29 billion by 2030, with over 100 million paid users. In 2023, the market was valued at $5.13 billion and is expected to grow at a CAGR of more than 19% from 2023–2028. The sector has been revolutionizing traditional learning methods by making education more accessible, engaging, and effective.
