Village Capital And Omidyar Network Back Edtech Startups Logic Roots, Project Mudra

Logic Roots is a platform which is reinventing the way how K5 kids study math through its interactive and fun learning games. The startup is currently based in Jaipur and the founders  Kunal Gandhi and Gunjan Agarwal, both happen to be graduates of IIT Bombay. Project Mudra, on the other hand, is engaged in building connected hardware that enables visually impaired students to read, write, and type Braille with minimal teacher intervention. It was founded by four BITS Pilani alumni namely Aman Srivastava, Sanskriti Dawle, Shaikh Saif and Dilip Ramesh.

Logic Roots and Project Mudra will receive investment of $50K each from Village Capital. They were selected as the ventures with the highest potential to scale in accordance with Village Capital’s ‘peer selection’ model. Entrepreneurs in each Village Capital program evaluate each other across eight indicators of investment readiness to select two among them for investment at the end of the program.

Village Capital Education India 2017: An Overview

Village Capital is a global venture capital firm that finds, trains and invests in entrepreneurs solving real-world problems. On the other hand, Omidyar Network is an investment firm that helps scale innovative organisations to catalyse economic and social change. The programme was completely funded by the latter.

The overall motive behind the initiative is to help the startups solving the problems in Indian K-12 Education. India has the largest K-12 student population in the world, with over 260 Mn children enrolled in schools across the country. While access has improved over time, educational outcomes remain poor for a majority of these students, ultimately affecting their earning capabilities and long-term well-being.

Deepak Menon, Village Capital’s Regional Manager in Asia said, “The entrepreneurs participating in this program share a common vision – improving learning outcomes for students in India. Education is one of our investment themes globally and we’re excited about Omidyar Network’s support to help these ventures achieve business growth and scale.”

Further, Roopa Kudva, Partner and Managing Director of India at Omidyar Network also added, “Improving education quality is an important area of focus for Omidyar Network. We are supporting the entrepreneurial ecosystem through our partnership with Village Capital and others to accelerate the performance of high potential education startups that are developing innovative and scalable solutions.”

More than 120 startups had registered for the programme, and the 13 shortlisted startups further went through a rigorous curriculum and met with stakeholders, investors, and customers to help them build deeper networks in the education and investment communities and receive feedback to improve their investment readiness.

The other 11 Startups In The Cohort were:-

• 23.4 Degrees: It creates curriculum, assessments, and self-learning products for CBSE and ICSE schools.
• Callido Learning: The startup develops critical thinking and problem-solving skills in children through its evidence-based curriculum and innovative digital learning tools.
• Doubtnut: It is an on-demand math doubt-clearing app.
• Fundamentor: It is an online cognitive aptitude and life skill development program using gamification, technology, and analytics.
• Mindchamp: It  develops logical thinking in children through coding education.
• MyPeegu: It is a platform that connects parents, teachers, and psychologists to monitor and improve the aptitude, attitude, and general well-being of children.
• Stones2Milestones: It develops the will and skill to read in English for young children through scientifically designed and intuitive reading programs.
• Suraasa: It is redesigning teacher training through a mobile app and skilling program.
• The Climber: The platform helps students make more informed career choices by connecting them with young achievers from across the globe.
• Whiz Juniors: It is a gamified online tech learning platform that enables students to learn, practice, and get certified in multiple skills.
• XPrep: It provides a mobile-first platform for tutors to engage students and parents, manage post-classroom activities, and order educational content.

With approximately 28.1% of India’s population in the age group of 0-14 years, as of 2015, educational industry in India provides great growth opportunity. According to a report, the education market in India is currently valued at $100 Bn and is expected to nearly double to $180 Bn by 2020. However, despite the bigger market size and plethora of opportunities available, the mushrooming of several ‘me-too’ startups is slowly pushing the Indian edtech industry towards saturation. With the recent backing from investors such as Village Capital and Omidyar Network, both Logic Roots and Project Mudra will have to carefully watch their steps and build  a sustainable as well as an innovative business model.

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