Q & A

{Startup watch: ixamBee} Online exam prep for Tier 2-3 cities via EdTech

This EdTech platform is bridging the gap and taking online education to remote and impoverished regions through its tech-enabled platform.

India sees 70 million students appear for competitive exams every year. It’s often a middle-class Indian family’s dream to see a student in the family crack the likes of UPSC, CAT, or IIT JEE. Clearing one of these exams can often be life changing for students belonging to villages and small towns, where career guidance and access to quality educational material to clear these exams can be fulfilled by expensive big city coaching centers only.

The onset of COVID-19 upset this annual process, disrupting careers that students had been preparing for years. The pandemic has also led to a heightened desire for the stability of Government jobs owing to rampant job cuts in the private sector. Aspirants from small towns, who would earlier prefer going to a physical centre near their home or in a large town, are now opting for online classes.

ixamBee, an Edtech platform focuses on creating the quality learning material in text, audio, and video formats available 24X7 to aspirant students. They also provide online practice tests based on the real exam patterns. The startup has recently raised funds from Mumbai Angels Network, Narendra Shyamsukha from JITO Angel Network, existing investor Keyur Joshi (co-founder MakeMyTrip) and a few noted alumni of the ISB, Hyderabad.

The Tech Panda spoke to Chandraprakash Joshi, Co-Founder and CEO of ixamBee about how they are making online education accessible to Tier 2 and 3 cities.

Chandraprakash Joshi

While there are other players in this space, our focus is to design programs for semi-urban and rural population. Free mock tests provide an equal learning opportunity to lakhs of students irrespective of their economic status

“The online learning platform of ixamBee makes content and pedagogy accessible to students from small towns and rural areas. It is the only platform that provides 100% mock tests for free in the test prep space,” says the ex-RBI and ISB Hyderabad alumnus.

“While there are other players in this space, our focus is to design programs for semi-urban and rural population. Free mock tests provide an equal learning opportunity to lakhs of students irrespective of their economic status,” he adds.

The idea has worked well for the company. The portal currently provides learning courses for more than 15 exams and free mock tests for 60+ competitive exams. The startup has a freemium business model in which 99% of users learn for free and only a small section has paid users. ixamBee targets to reach five million users within the next one year.

The ixamBee Way

ixamBee offers video classes, online coaching, live online classes, online courses, webinars, mock tests, GA content in the form of BeePedia, Budget Highlights, Summary of Economic Survey etc. to help the aspirants of various competitive exams.

After four-five years, when the situation normalizes, we may expect a hybrid model in which both online and physical classes co-exists

The study material is designed and prepared by a team of educational experts incorporating the best in class methods, analytics, and techniques. All content is prepared in-house and aims the latest exam pattern. The content is customized to the need of every student depending on his/her requirement.

The startup takes pride in being connected to its students through social media like YouTube, Facebook, and Telegram groups. In addition, on the website, it runs dedicated sections like Ask the Expert, Blog and Tips & Trick to provide guidance, doubt clarification, and provide preparation strategy tips to the students.

Free Mock Tests

Founded by mission driven founders Joshi, Arunima Sinha (Ex-SDIBI and educator for 10 years) and Sandeep Singh (Ex-MakeMyTrip), the team is working on making the engagement grow 10 times in this year to reach five-seven million students.

Making further investment in technology and content, ixamBee is looking to make the iLX (ixamBee Learning Experience) superior for existing courses and to launch another 15 courses for government job exams. In the test-prep space, ixamBee is the only platform that provides all mock tests for free.

Experiencing quality content in free mock tests, students subscribe to our paid online learning courses. The revenue from the learning course makes the business grow

Leveraging this unique business model and the in-house technology to create questions, the company plans to provide free mock tests for 200 competitive exams.

“Experiencing quality content in free mock tests, students subscribe to our paid online learning courses. The revenue from the learning course makes the business grow,” Joshi explains.

In March ixamBee raised funds from Mumbai Angels Network, Narendra Shyamsukha from JITO Angel Network, existing investor Keyur Joshi (co-founder MakeMyTrip) and few noted alumni of the ISB, Hyderabad. Sales revenue from the online learning courses and funds raised help us to growth the business.

Growth Story

With the growth of EdTech in the last one year, to grow as ixamBee has grown, the team had to make some changes in their model. While COVID-19 made ixamBee resilient and the pandemic brought on a lifetime opportunity to pivot the business model, last year this time, COVID-19 came with two setbacks for the startup.

Firstly, the funding proposal from a VC was withdrawn, and secondly, competitive exams were postponed or cancelled.

“There were no new exam notifications for government jobs. Due to the panic created by the pandemic, students stopped their preparation. Company had hardly any cash left in the bank,” Joshi recalls.

Due to the panic created by the pandemic, students stopped their preparation. Company had hardly any cash left in the bank

Listening to the Prime Minister’s appeal of making India ‘Atmanirbhar’, ixamBee embraced the model for creating opportunity within crisis. Though the first quarter was difficult for the company, in the second quarter they managed an operational break-even. They also recorded accelerated growth during the third and fourth quarter, multiplying the engagement and revenue month on month.

ixamBee started #GharSeStudyKarona, a campaign on ‘study from home’ in which lakhs of students participated and got benefited.

“Success stories of ixamBee’s students in getting jobs in prestigious organisations such as RBI, SEBI, NABARD, EPFO, LIC, NHB, public sector banks, and other financial institutions is making the iLX popular among aspirants of government jobs,” he says proudly.

ixamBee recorded 100% revenue growth in FY21. More than 1.3 million students joined the platform for preparation of competitive exams for various government jobs. Due to job losses in the private sector, the aspiration for government jobs increased. ixamBee was also selected by the RBI for providing pre-exam training to 13,000+ students, who attended these sessions from all parts of the country.

Future of EdTech When Physical Classes are Back

So, what happens to EdTech once physical classes are back on track?

According to Joshi, physical classes will open first for schools and colleges, where attendance is mandatory. For coaching institutes, it will take two-four years, depending on the COVID situation in the future.

“In this time, people will become very concerned about the safety and much more habitual to online learning. For attending coaching classes, only few will risk going to an off-line coaching class. The flexibility of time and location in online learning and access to better quality education at lower cost will make it tough for off-line coaching institutes,” he predicts.

“After four-five years, when the situation normalizes, we may expect a hybrid model in which both online and physical classes co-exists. In small towns and villages only online will work as physical classes will be unviable to run with less number of students,” he concludes.

Navanwita Bora Sachdev

Navanwita is the editor of The Tech Panda who also frequently publishes stories in news outlets such as The Indian Express, Entrepreneur India, and The Business Standard