The education technology startup Mindler has already ventured into 5 countries including Singapore and Russia and is in the process of expanding into more markets abroad.
Three years into his business, Prateek Bhargava, founder of education technology startup Mindler, has ventured into five countries, including Russia and Singapore, and is evaluating a few more markets abroad.
According to the firm that helps students in career assessment and counseling and planning, technology adoption in education delivery and assessment is growing as a sector, and it is better to venture out for a bigger market pie. “It’s no more about saturating in India before going global…if your product is good then why not,” said Prateek Bhargava, founder of Mindler
Other Players
Mindler is not the only one. There are several other education technology firms that have ventured across the globe or are in the process.
Education technology firm Aspiring Minds have ventured into countries such as the US and China. Xseed Education has its presence in countries, including The Philippines, Singapore, and Middle-east Asia. Mobile application-based firm Byju’s (Think and Learn Pvt. Ltd) has already announced its venturing across other countries soon.
Reasons for Global Movement
While its beneficial for the companies, on the larger scale these moves are beneficial for India’s development in the huge education sector.
There are primarily 4 reasons why these companies intend ongoing global
1. International recognition of what they are doing
2. Possible access to capital
3. Easy acceptance of their technology
4. Improved business proposition back home
Brand Speak
“If you have a globally completive product and a company with ambition, then it is wiser to go overseas,” according to Varun Aggarwal, co-founder of Aspiring Minds that specializes in education and talent assessment for both institutions and corporate houses. “We believe what we were doing in India can be replicated anywhere in the world. We are now in China, the US, The Philippines and parts of Africa. When you talk about global — for an Indian company like us it means two key markets, China and the US. Other markets are small in comparison to India, China, and the American market.”
At present, Aspiring Minds’ international business was contributing between 25% and 30% of the total revenue and had the potential to grow faster than the domestic market, Aggarwal said. In fact, one of his co-founders shifted to the US to expand markets there.
“Education technology space was layered, with some focusing on the business to business market and some dealing with consumers directly”, said Ashish Rajpal, founder of Xseed Education. “Diversification was one of the key reasons for venturing into other markets”, he added.
Bhargava of Mindler agreed. “In some of the international markets there is less competition, so you have an advantage. Besides, once you have done well abroad, your acceptance level back home goes up. Investors also look at startups more favorably if the product is diversified and well tested in different markets than just one.”
With the overall way, these education technology startups are growing, India definitely has a brighter education future.
