Todd Sumamno
Today’s economy requires us to learn much faster than before. The digital transformation, competition for jobs, and cuts in social guarantees are forcing people to learn and try new professions. The most important skill for a career is the ability to learn. This sphere does not hype like Blockchain or AI, however, it’s still quite comparable with these niches in power, using which, it will change the world for the better.
The main task of Edtech is to improve the quality and speed of learning in all possible ways, provided by the digital environment. Gamification helps to keep a busy audience focused. Virtual reality explains complex things better than the most talented teachers. Artificial Intelligence, based on student success data, will provide tasks of optimal complexity, materials to repeat, and predict how long it will take a particular person to master a certain subject. So that’s all for the future, but advanced projects are already approaching it.
Top 10 Best Edtech Companies
The following edtech companies influence students’ lives in one way or another. They can get full access to the most advanced technologies and learning techniques while having fun and entertain themselves as they learn, achieve results, and build their careers.
BlackBoard
Blackboard Learn is an app for interactive teaching, learning, community building, and knowledge sharing. The Blackboard learning system is a virtual learning environment developed by Blackboard Inc. The history of this system began on January 21, 1997, when Stephen Gilfus and Daniel Cane started a company called Course Info LLC. They decided to develop a software product that would manage online education and be scalable for wider institutional application.
The Blackboard training system is an online platform based on server software. Characteristic features of this program are convenient management, customizable dashboard, and extensible design that allows combining all student information systems and protocol authentication. This program can be installed on local servers or as a host of Blackboard ASP Solutions. Its main tasks are to add online elements to courses that are usually only met at lectures, as well as to develop fully interactive courses with a small number of meetings.
Blackboard takes care of its students and supports employees at all educational institutions, from K-12 high schools and universities to adult courses and on-the-job training. Working with Blackboard Learn, people note that interactive teaching is much like working in a traditional classroom.
Intellipaat
Intellipaat is an e-learning platform aiming to teach new and trending technologies to graduates and professionals who wish to upskill themselves and boost their careers in the IT domain. Intellipaat was founded in 2011 by a couple, Diwakar Chittora and Shilpi Jain, who had a point in their life when they wanted to upskill themselves in Hadoop. A decade later, this online institute offers 150+ courses on Big Data course, Artificial Intelligence course, Azure Course, Data Science, and more. It has more than 600,000 learners learning from its platform from 53+ countries.
The organization has shown immense growth even during the harsh times like the COVID-19 pandemic.It works with multiple corporates in India, The United States, Canada, The United Kingdom, etc. to help their learners upskill on new technologies. The headquarters of Intellipaat is located in Jaipur, India with offices in Bengaluru in India, Harrow in England, and Foster City, CA in the US.
Currently, Intellipaat offers free as well as paid courses. In 2021, the e-learning platform launched India’s First Pay After Placement Program in Data Science too.
Byju’s
Byju’s (Bengaluru, India) was founded in 2011, the application service was released in late 2015. In 2016 the company attracted investments from the Mark Zuckerberg Foundation, Sequoia Capital, and other investors. In total, since its inception, the project has attracted about 1.4 billion dollars.
The Bengaluru startup provides students with the opportunity to study maths and science through short videos in the app or on the website. It’s one of the most successful startups and an authentic source of e-learning, full of gamification and fun. The project never stops getting better and providing new entertaining ways for students to study.
The startup offers courses that are designed for students from 6K to students that prepare for postgraduate studies on a competitive basis. Byju Raveendran, the founder and CEO of the eponymous startup, said the new investment demonstrates “the growing recognition of our training programs in smaller cities across the country.”
Raveendran, a former teacher, founded Byju’s when only a few million people in India owned smartphones, and prices for mobile services were too high for most. However, thanks to the spread of inexpensive Android phones in India and the declining prices for Internet services, hundreds of millions of people in the country over the past decade began to use online technology.
Sometimes, Bujy used innovative methods to explain complex scientific concepts. His application has more than 42 million registered users, 3 million of which are paid subscribers. To date, Byju’s has raised about $10.5 billion. In addition, among its investors are Tencent and Naspers. The Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, owned by Mark Zuckerberg, was also an early investor.
Teachers Pay Teachers
Teachers Pay Teachers is the world’s largest open online platform for educators to share their experiences, where each of them can share their ideas or developments and earn a certain amount of money.
The platform was created by Paul Edelman in 2010. He is a teacher at one of the world’s largest online educational institutions in New York. Edelman decided to simplify the life of teachers by bringing together on one platform those who want to sell their curriculum, tests, dictations, interactive workshops, and those who want to buy them to revive the learning process in their own classroom.
The main content buyers are regular school teachers and primary school teachers, as well as schools that buy the curriculum in bulk. Teachers Pay Teachers is an amazing service that allows teachers to receive fair compensation for their hard work hours. This is where they can share their experience with a larger audience of educators and students + get a salary comparable to the amount of time spent on creating products. They can also quickly purchase and sell quality content, lesson plans, and other additional materials. This is a huge advantage that saves many hours of work that can be spent on communicating with their students or families.
Presented materials are divided into 3 categories:
- Free materials (over 30,000 different files for all levels of school, preschool, and university education);
- Standard and professional packages with customized pricing, based on school size;
- “Discount Materials” that are distributed at reduced prices.
The materials are also divided into subjects (the most popular are English, maths, and natural sciences).
DreamBox
In 2006, DreamBox Learning (Bellevue, Washington) was founded by Lou Gray, CEO and serial entrepreneur, and Benjamin Slivka, former Microsoft employee. In 2010, DreamBox Learning was acquired by the Charter School Development Foundation.
DreamBox Learning Math is an interactive, customized self-study program that offers students exciting classes to learn and practice their skills in maths with the ability to track the progress. It is available for both web and iPad platforms via the free app.
The DreamBox offers more than 1800 lessons in the form of animated adventures, games, and tasks. Teachers and parents create accounts for individual students and then choose a child’s learning level. From there, the DreamBox automatically chooses a series of lessons and activities for the student. Teachers can also assign certain concepts to students and mix them with the lessons. This can be useful if the teachers want their students to practice their recently learned skills.
Parents start with DreamBox Learning by creating a parent account. They use this account to support subscriptions, track their children, and test the game on their own. Each child has their own sub-account under a shared parent account. Children develop their own avatar (character) for use when navigating the game.
One of the first tasks in DreamBox Learning is mouse usage practice. Kids must perform these basic mouse tasks (e.g., specify and click) before moving on to the rest of the game.
DreamBox Learning K-2 Math is a great way to strengthen concepts, learn new skills, and help keep learning during the summer break. While it may not be as appealing as some virtual worlds or video games, the educational value is significant.
Coursera
Based in Mountain View, California, Coursera offers online courses in various fields, all 100% online and with certification. The platform has advanced technological capabilities that allow users to get a quality, enjoyable, and attractive experience. Students can fully immerse themselves into the content, with incentives that allow them to learn efficiently.
Coursera connects students with 150+ universities. Subject areas are diverse + students get access to different video lectures and community forums on the web.
Coursera dreams of a world where everyone can change their lives with access to the best quality education in the world. The online company confidently pursues this goal through partnerships with the world’s leading universities and renowned experts in various industries. Coursera is an intermediary between universities and students who take individual courses, obtain new specialties, and university diplomas. These opportunities are available to anyone, regardless of where they live.
Coursera promotes democratic learning. Thanks to this company, students from distant countries who do not have the means to pay for traditional education, can study remotely in elite institutions + many courses here are free.
Coursera offers complete university courses and programs that are sufficient for a master’s degree in the following areas:
- Business;
- Computer technology;
- Machine learning;
- Health care.
Upon completion of their studies and examinations, students receive official diplomas and professional certificates.
Coursera has 2.6 thousand courses, 31 million registered users, and 236 specialties to choose from. It’s one of the fastest-growing edtech companies in the world. There are many premium options, e.g. more than 20 master’s and bachelor’s online programs.
There is also a thriving segment of corporate training. Coursera has over 2,400 clients, including such large companies as Procter & Gamble, Tata Communications, and Novartis.
Instructure
Instructure is a developer of the Canvas learning management system. This service will allow universities and other e-learning providers to place their e-courses, organize registrations through a single platform. Such courses can be developed by individual educators. Finished courses can be exported to various file types and implemented in other learning management systems if necessary.
Instructure is not just a remote learning system but a system of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) – a training course with mass interactive participation, using e-learning technologies and open access via the Internet.
The American MOOC platform Canvas offers various courses. The main emphasis is on the practical application of information technology in different areas of life.
Knewton
Knewton is known for being one of the first companies to actively use data analysis technologies in education. This resulted in the creation of an adaptive educational platform that can be connected to any modern Learning Management System (LMS).
The founder of Knewton, Jose Ferreira, has been involved in educational technologies all his life. Jose was ahead of his time, and when in 2008, technologies reached the right level of development, he founded Knewton.
The Knewton algorithm collects data on how thousands of students learn. For instance, it compares the progress of users who study the same topics with different tasks. This helps him to constantly evolve – with each new student, platform tips become more effective and accurate. The creators compare this approach with atom-level analysis.
The huge advantage of the platform is that it can adapt a variety of content in any subject area for each individual student. There’s no surprise that Knewton’s algorithms are used by such major institutions as the Universities of Arizona, Alabama, and Nevada. After the adaptation of Knewton, the number of those who have successfully completed the courses in the mentioned universities has increased by an average of 17%. The University of Arizona has halved the number of students who dropped out, while those who graduated earlier were 45%.
Knewton-based courses have other useful features like an ongoing assessment of a student’s overall progress and a list of recent achievements/assignments. In some ways, it even looks like a social network – the system can recommend a partner for training, focusing on the area of interest and level.
Knewton is supposed to show educators how to understand their students better. Teachers can adapt their offline courses by tailoring assignments to each student – more precisely, the algorithm will do this. Knewton knows how to create groups with those who have similar difficulties and benefit from teamwork, finds unnoticed abilities, and does not let you get bored at all. Your colleagues will share their lesson plans and other details right there on the platform.
With a total of 9 funding rounds, Knewton raised a total of $182.3 Million investment.
Chegg
Chegg is an online learning platform, founded by Iowa State University in 2005. The company initially had one goal to save some money by creating a nationwide coursebook rental warehouse. Then they have also recognized that students need help with writing and math, thus Chegg developed various tools and products to fix the issue.
Chegg is different from companies like Varsity Tutors and Course Hero in that it has everything on its platform: educators, expert tutorials, textbooks, digital notes for students, and much more. For example, students can get help with checking their documents for grammar mistakes or plagiarism and use various Chegg writing tools like EasyBib, BibMe, CitationMachine.
Moreover, Chegg students can choose online tutoring on the edtech platform. The company’s revenue in recent years is growing and its losses are decreasing. With Chegg, students become more independent as they get help with their homework and self-education, no matter how complex their tasks are. Plus, they can also buy and sell their coursebooks on the platform. Chegg provides great opportunities for U.S. students so they can get the best education experience possible.
DonorsChoose
DonorsChoose is a crowdfunding education platform. Their mission is the democratization of education. They come to every class and provide every nation with the tools and experience necessary for quality education.
DonorsChoose raises money for projects that are implemented by educators themselves. For example, a teacher may need a musical instrument for school lessons or seek funds for an educational trip.
To assess the value of the project, you can simply look at the numbers. The DonorsChoose platform was created in 2000 and since then has raised more than $800 million to finance 1 million 395 thousand projects – more than 33.5 million students from 81 thousand schools received help.
Simplilearn
Simplilearn is all about professional courses and training. They work with companies and students to meet their unique needs. Simplilearn trains and provides coaching to help professionals achieve their career goals and obtain the necessary certificates. Their “menu” offers various online training courses on cybersecurity, cloud computing, project management, digital marketing, data science, and more.
As everyone knows, technology and best practices are changing rapidly, and demand for qualified candidates far exceeds supply.
Based in San Francisco, California, and Bangalore, India, Simplilearn has helped more than one million professionals and companies in more than 150 countries to learn, get their certificates, and improve the skills of their employees.
Simplilearn training courses are designed and constantly updated by 2000+ industry experts. The Combined Training Approach includes online classes, instructor-led virtual classrooms, project work, and 24/7 training assistance.
Simplilearn is also an active community of experts and certified professionals, a powerful resource with tips, tricks, and insights. More than 40 global training organizations have recognized Simplilearn as an official provider of certified education. LinkedIn has named them the 8th most influential education brand in the world.
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These are just 10 examples. However, they are many other edtechs in the world that provide progress in education. Each of them has an ambitious mission, and all of them affect the world, improving the lives of millions of people through technology.
Top 10 Best e-Learning Startups
Of course, it’s not a complete list of notable and promising projects on the market. It was not easy to choose 10 startups all – we did it according to expert advice. Keep in mind that it’s not about ratings – the order of the startups does not mean anything. The startups we have chosen work in different niches and each one is cool in its own way.
1. Zen Educate
The technology platform was founded in 2016 in London. Zen Educate uses the edtech to connect professional UK teachers, TAs, and cover supervisors with experience. They help schools with human resources and also students to get better online education. With the help of Zen Educate, teachers can find long-term positions in local schools not only in London but also in Manchester and Birmingham (400+ schools), without the need to pay fees to recruiters. Teachers can plan their work schedules and work whenever they feel comfortable, using the convenient Zen Educate app and saving on agency costs.
Zen Business also ensures that its recruited teachers get the pay they deserve. Eventually, it’s about students who benefit from expert help and professional education. The company runs more of the process online and by phone to create the best experience for primary and secondary schools and freelance teachers. Zen Educate went through 3 funding rounds and raised $10.4 million.
2. TORSH
TORSH is an all-in-one user-friendly edtech platform that combines professional coaching and learning in one bundle. No matter where you work, you can always ensure your staff’s professional growth with this platform.
Founded in 2011, New Orleans (LA), TORSH can be effortlessly integrated into anyone’s existing routine. You can plan, implement, track, get feedback on performance, and analyze professional learning right from your PC or smartphone. It allows all kinds of educators to provide high-quality education, grow professional experience, and raise motivation in their students.
TORSH Talent offers expert training, education startups, security, and experience with their advanced next-gen solutions. With this cost-efficient online tool, you can quickly and easily learn about your improvement opportunities and enhance your team’s potential.
3. VIP Kid
VIP Kid is a widespread online education company based in Beijing, China & San Francisco, USA. It was founded in 2013, and since then has been successfully connecting knowledgeable and passionate US and Canadian teachers with students. VIP Kid provides their training program and teachers share their knowledge online according to their preferred work schedule.
VIP Kid takes virtual learning to another level, providing an exceptional and comfortable experience – native English teachers can work straight from their homes no matter where they are and share their unique experience with students all over the world, teaching them and improving their skills via one-to-one customized English language classes. This online platform provides great opportunities at affordable prices.
VIP Kid has undergone 7 funding rounds and raised $825 million.
4. Guild Education
Guild Education is a female-founded online coaching platform that offers unique programs, classes, and degrees for working adults to improve their productivity, and bring any education-related business to success. Founded by Brittany Stich and Rachel Carlson in 2015 (Denver, Colorado), the company uses the best innovative technologies to bring top-notch solutions into organizations through education. They know how to inspire and motivate people to move forward and get the best education to build their careers.
WIth Guild Education, employees get access to professional support and help on every stage of their learning process. They get this unique opportunity to discover, learn, and manage their experience all thanks to Guild Education’s tech-enabled student advising model.
The latest funding round of edtech companies has brought Guild Education $157 million, resulting in total funding of $228 million.
5. Unacademy
Unacademy is an Indian online education technology company founded by Gaurav Munjal, Roman Saini, and Hemesh Singh in 2015 in Bangalore. This rapidly growing edtech company has over 300,000 students of all ages, over 18,000 educators, and thousands of high-quality video lessons and materials on various subjects. With Unacademy, everyone has a great opportunity to get prepared for various professional and educational entrance exams.
Every Unacademy educator is handpicked by the company to share their knowledge via Live Classes and provide lessons on the platform in the most convenient way. Unacademy operates on a goal-based subscription model and offers individual lessons to students at variable pricing. As of July 2020, Unacademy was valued at 1.45 billion US dollars.
6. A Cloud Guru
A Cloud Guru is a cloud learning leader and a unique online platform that offers flexible class hours, professional teachers, great communication, affordable pricing, innovative culture, and a positive atmosphere during hands-on training. This company was designed to change the teaching industry and improve it by providing proper cloud skills and knowledge on various subjects. They have helped 2,000,000+ students and 4,000+ businesses.
Founded in 2015 by brothers Sam and Ryan Kroonenburg (Melbourne, Australia), A Cloud Guru is known for its perfect leadership, a user-friendly team that is always ready for a challenge, and explosive benefits. The company effectively helps students to prepare for certification exams by providing access to their Hands-on Labs. That’s where you can build skills on-demand with more than 1,500 guided labs.
ACG offers everyone to get their hands “clouded”, advance their career in the cloud faster, i.e. reach their goals within 6 months for AWS (Amazon Web Services), Azure, Linux, or Google Cloud. You can master your modern tech skills in DevOps, ARchitect, or Security specialties and get certified (they offer more than 100 certification courses). Plus, A Cloud Guru always keeps you engaged with instructors and allows you to build the right skills using the largest hands-on cloud learning library with multi-cloud courses and labs. They can also help identify your skill gaps in different competencies, thus you (or your team) know exactly where to start.
7. 4.0 Schools
4.0 Schools helps young businessmen and entrepreneurs to grow and bring their unique ideas to life. If you have equitable education-related propositions and want others to know about them, this company is ready to help you with that. They offer leadership-developing coaching techniques that improve self-awareness and center on the most important values.
This company has managed to raise $15 million in one venture round and impacted the lives of 1,000,000+ US students. They offer fellowships, community support, and various important skills to help students and entrepreneurs train and improve their leadership experience. All those who plan to become CEOs and online leaders can benefit from this e-learning company with exceptionally innovative concepts.
When it comes to nurturing leadership skills within the realm of entrepreneurship and equitable education, drawing insights from Christianity’s servant leadership principles can be profoundly impactful. A Christian servant leadership expert, such as Kurt Uhlir, embodies the core tenets of humility, compassion, and stewardship in guiding aspiring businessmen and entrepreneurs on their journey. Through coaching techniques centered on self-awareness and values-based leadership, they cultivate a new generation of leaders who are driven not only by profit but by a genuine desire to make a positive impact on society.
8. Applyboard
Here’s another edtech unicorn on our list. The online platform that helps international students get an education in the U.S, ApplyBoard was founded in 2015 in Waterloo, Ontario (Canada). With the help of this platform, both students and recruiters can easily find and apply to over 1,200 institutions and colleges and 30,000 programs in one place. More than 100,000 students from 110 countries have already used ApplyBoard to study internationally.
Have you ever heard of the Common App used to apply to schools? ApplyBoard uses the same tactics for students from around the world. The project was designed to become a free marketplace that provides valuable opportunities for those who want to learn, connect, and improve their skills via online e-learning courses but cannot physically get education overseas. Secondly, recruiting partners can get an outstanding experience, improve efficiency, and reduce their costs with convenient tools, programs, rewards, and support.
9. Sparx
Exeter-based Sparx has been providing innovative solutions and new ways to teach maths in schools for more than a decade. Founded by Dr. Mark Dixon, who was seriously concerned about low levels of maths education in social and commercial terms, Sparx offers a way to make a difference and reimagines teaching ways for proper math education.
Sparx offers support for secondary school teachers and motivation for students that learn maths. Individual learning for every student, unique bookwork check features, reliable content (38,000+ questions, 9,000+ videos), real-time insights into class and student progress – all this is available with Sparx. The Experienced educators are ready to teach students maths in virtual classes, and Sparx ensures the number of students with advanced math skills grows every day.
The project is focused solely on maths education and is designed to provide all the necessary tools to overcome any challenges in studying the subject. The latest funding round has brought Sparx $22 million, which is much more compared to similar companies on the market.
10. Amboss
And now to medical education. Amboss provides 4,800+ exam-style questions, 1,200+ clinical articles, individual/exam-focused plans, and the most up-to-date materials on medical subject matter to everyone thirsty for knowledge. This is one of the few unique projects that cover the entire medical subject matter online.
With Amboss’s apps (Knowledge and Qbank), you can use smart learning techniques and develop your doctor skills at the fastest pace. They offer on-the-go access to medical knowledge and interlinked content with the opportunity to highlight key information on all questions and articles, which are all available in their library during Qbank sessions. You can get access to quick explanations and thousands of images, as well.
Build Your Own Edtech Startup
If you are looking for a way to create your own e-learning online startup – Agente can help. Our team of skillful business analysts and elearning software developers will bring your education ideas to reality. With years of experience and insights in building various education-related online projects from scratch, we know how to meet niche requirements and provide unique solutions that really work. We believe that online learning, which was recently going to be buried, continues to grow, and occupy new niches. Educational companies are redesigning their products for learning online platforms.
We at Agente, keep social responsibility in mind and help solve the problems of people who want their ideas to see the world. We can help you become one of the fastest-growing companies in the edtech industry. If you think that your idea is innovative and deserves worldwide attention, this is your chance to bring it to life. Contact Agente today, and let’s cooperate on making this world a better place!
