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In India, the teaching process and offline education system have largely remained traditional, stagnate, and plagued with multiple inefficiencies. The need to reimagine and evolve the way teaching is imparted motivated Pulkit Jain, Vamsi Krishna, and Anand Prakash to create Vedantu.

“The whole system, culturally, socially, and economically, is not designed in such a way that the best of the society aspires to become teachers … [So] we thought if we could create an ecosystem where the best of the society thinks of becoming teachers, you have a solution because these will be the individuals who are motivated and are doing it out of choice,” says Vamsi Krishna, Co-founder and CEO, Vedantu.

Vamsi, Pulkit, and Anand are among the entrepreneurs whose stories are captured in Omidyar Network India’s newly launched video series titled ‘The Bold Ones – Innovating for the Next Half Billion’. A compilation of 11 short videos, the series captures power-packed stories of entrepreneurs who are building for the 500 million-plus Indians that are coming online for the first time via their mobile phones — a segment often referred to as the ‘Next Half Billion’ or NHB.

Vedantu works like a knowledge network where any student can ‘tap’ into a teacher directly and learning can happen in a personalised way, anytime-anywhere.

Revolutionising the landscape of learning

Credited with the title of category creator, Vedantu challenged the status quo in India’s K-12 tutoring space and was the first edtech platform to offer live online classes in 2014.

The platform offers live sessions for students from Class 6 to 12, preparing them for board and competitive exams such as IIT-JEE, NEET, Commerce, CBSE, ICSE, and state exams such as Maharashtra boards.

Each month, over 35 million users access Vedantu through its app and web for free. Its YouTube channel gets 65 million views, the highest in the K-12 segment for any educational company in India.

“It’s not the subject that we are delivering to these kids, it’s the interaction with a great individual. The power of interaction is too far-reaching as compared to the subject itself. We tell our teachers that you don’t just have to teach, you have to give a bigger picture of life through these subjects. That’s the power of technology. It’s enabling both sides,” says Anand, Co-founder and Head – Academics, Vedantu in the video.

The Bengaluru-based online tutoring startup is reaching students in over 50 countries. Each child studies for 50 hours on the platform every month with an average attendance of 80 percent. Till today, Vedantu has delivered over 24 million hours of live learning sessions by teachers with an average rating of 4.8/5.

Building for the underpenetrated markets

“Our strong belief, sense of purpose, and a deep association that we are trying to solve have kept us going,” says Pulkit, Co-founder and Head – Product, Vedantu, talking about their commitment to bridge the gap between a student and a teacher.

The edtech unicorn is gunning for an IPO over the next two to two-and-a-half years, however, the founders are focused on building a long-term sustainable company that continues to centre on innovation and impact.

“Massive technology innovation which can enable disruption of price points and explosion of accessibility [is needed] so that [the next] half a billion have access to the same if not better quality of teaching at a price point which they can afford. We are confident that initiatives taken by us and other companies like Vedantu will transcend into the formal education system. I personally believe that India can become a global teaching powerhouse,” adds Vamsi.

Vedantu’s after-school solution impacts over 40 million students every month across their digital platforms.

You can hear Vamsi, Pulkit, and Anand talk about the challenges they experienced while building their startup and what it takes to be successful here.

The 11-part series is live on theboldones.in. Additionally, the series is also available on Omidyar Network India’s YouTube channel and social media handles.