Covid effect: Ed-tech firms corner $1.95 bn funds so far this year

Accelerated adoption of technology products in the education sector and a robust demand scenario due to the pandemic has led to the “ed-tech” segment in India – mainly controllesd by startups like Byju’s, Unacademy, Vedantu, Toppr etc – raising a record $1.95 billion from private equity and venture capitalist (PE/VC) funds this year. The amount, raised since the beginning of the year till date, is 31 per cent higher than the combined funding of $1.48 billion collected in the preceding five years.

Those tracking the sector said investor interest in ed-tech companies has been mainly due to Covid-19, which forced schools and colleges to shut down and prompted people to upgrade their skills for a shrinking job market.