With the ever-growing ed-tech scene in India and the need for better and rather easy access to at least primary education, there has been a surge in the money being put in online education sector. Joining that line, ConveGenius, an ed-tech startup focused towards primary school children, has announced that it has raised $900,000 from Michael and Susan Dell Foundation.
With new funding coming to the company, it will now further empower company’s agenda of taking engaging, impactful education to millions of children by 2020 and nearly 90,000 children by the end of 2016.
Commenting about this, Prachi Windlass, Director for Michael & Susan Dell Foundation’s India Education portfolio, said,
Unlike most education tech companies that are spending all their time and resources on creating more content, ConveGenius has taken a bold approach: to be a platform leveraging already available content in order to focus its energies on effective delivery and impact.
Jairaj Bhattacharya, founder, ConveGenius said,
We are excited to be backed by the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation in our endeavors to reach three million children across India and other emerging markets by 2020 as we strive to bridge the gap between the availability and accessibility of good quality educational content. With the current investment, we seek to scale our operations, build on our existing archive of educational content and further strengthen our technology for self-learning by building in intelligence and Adaptivity on the CG Slate platform.
ConveGenius, based out of India and Singapore, was founded in 2013 by IIIT Hyderabad alumni Jairaj Bhattacharya and Shashank Pandey. It is an ed-tech platform that offers learning programs that enhance grade-level competencies for primary school children.
The company’s flagship product, CG Slate is a tablet-based solution that offers curated, age-appropriate content in an engaging format which results in helping children and enjoy learning sessions.
The platform is ‘mobile-only’, and offers products focused on education and skill development via smartphones by using gamification, adaptive analytics and intelligent content aggregation. It curates content from several companies such as Mexus Education (Iken), StoryWeaver from Pratham Books and Chipper Sage.
It uses assessments and data analytics tools to track the progress by students in real time. It also provides them with personalised learning paths and tailor-made content to suit their individual needs. Its product — CG Slate is available to NGOs and state governments at a price of about Rs. 4500 per year, and is expected to reach nearly 90,000 children across the country by the end of this year.
The company has raised about $300,000 in its seed round in November 2015. Earlier this week, ConveGenius committed to enhance the quality of education in India, and has partnered with Save the Children India and Thane Government to digitize the municipal schools.
Since 2006, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation has invested more than $147 million in non-profit and social enterprises in India. In May 2016, the foundation allocated around $50 million to invest in Indian startups in education, skills and financial segments, over the next three years.
