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CRED, upGrad & Groww – top start-ups of this year

CRED, upGrad & Groww

LinkedIn, Online professional network on Wednesday released a list of the top 25 start-ups in India that have shown resilience in an uncertain market environment, and are continuing to innovate in 2022.

Unified Payments Interface CRED, topping this year’s list. Valued at USD 6.4 billion, this young start-up maintained its podium position on the LinkedIn Top Startups list, moving from the third spot in 2021 to number one in 2022.

Also read: upGrad to invest $40mn more in Harappa Education

According to a a LinkedIn statement, “Besides gaining popularity for its quirky ads in the past two years, CRED is also setting new benchmarks for employee well-being by offering benefits such as ElderCare, egg freezing, and one-on-one support for mental wellness to its employees.”

Groww is an online investment platform that provides an objective evaluation of various investment opportunities through stocks and mutual funds.

This year’s list also features new entrants including e-grocery company Zepto (4th), full-stack car buying platform Spinny (7th), and insurtech start-up Ditto Insurance (12th) – all of which are online platforms that are making financial, mobility, and essentials more accessible for consumers in India today.

In fact, 58 per cent of all jobs posted by these start-ups on LinkedIn during the period from August 1, 2021 to July 31, 2022 were based out of Bengaluru.

The Indian start-up ecosystem displays great resilience as the country continues to see a rise of new start-ups with 68 per cent of entrants on the list appearing for the first time, said Nirajita Banerjee, Managing Editor, LinkedIn News India,.

Prof. KK Pant appointed as the new Director for IIT Roorkee

Prof. KK Pant

Professor Kamal Kishore Pant appointed as new director of the Indian Institute of Technology, IIT Roorkee. President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday approved the appointment of Professor Kamal Kishore Pant as the new director of IIT Roorkee. Prof. KK Pant is the Dean Faculty at IIT Delhi and a professor for the Department of Chemical Engineering.

An alumnus of IIT Kanpur, Prof. Pant completed his B. Tech from HBTI Kanpur and his M. Tech and Ph. D are also from IIT Kanpur. He is also the Petrotech (FIPI) Chair Professor at IIT Delhi.

Over a long illustrious career spanning over 30 years, Professor Pant has established his name within industrial research and academia. As one of the leading academicians in the country, Prof. Kant is working on multiple national and international import technologies. Among them are the work on coal to methanol conversion, e-waste and plastic management, hydrogen generation, CO2 capture and conversion, biomass valorization, etc., using catalysis and reaction engineering.

He has over 220 publications with over 11746 citations and numerous patents to his credi t. He has also completed over 50 high-impact projects and consulted on projects of over Rs. 1.02 billion for private as well as Government of India.

He has many awards and accolades to his name. Among them are the prestigious Gandhian Young Technological Innovation (GYTI) award, which was conferred to him twice. He also has been awarded thrice with Dr. A V Rama Rao award for best Ph.D. supervision, Dr. S. S. Deshpande Award, Herdilia Award by the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers, and many more.

Professor Pant is also an Adjunct faculty at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, Joint Faculty at CRDT IIT Delhi and Honorary Faculty at the University of Queensland in Australia. He would be taking over from Prof. Ajit Kumar Chaturvedi.

A new digital lifestyle is taking shape in India: Dharmendra Pradhan

Dharmendra Pradhan ji

There is a new ‘digital lifestyle’ taking shape in India, said Union Minister for Education and Skill Development, Dharmendra Pradhan today.

India’s digitization is creating new opportunities with the indigenous 5G by the end of 2023 to world leadership in digital payments, upcoming digital universities, and networking all villages with high-speed internet, said education minister while addressing the inaugural session of the International Conclave on ‘Digital Transformation and Internationalization of Higher Education organized by the Deakin University, Australia.

“Our partnership in the education and skill sectors is going from strength to strength. India aspires to lead the Industrial Revolution 4.0 and the India-Australia partnership can play a major role in this journey.” India and Australia share a long relationship based on shared values, Pradhan further added.

He said that knowledge is a critical pillar of any civilization. Indian civilization is always knowledge-based and knowledge-driven. Taking this forward, India is implementing the National Education Policy 2020. “The Challenge today is educating and skilling the vast population in the 15-25 age group.”

The minister also called for new knowledge networks with international institutions setting up campuses in India and Indian institutions going global.

“India has always enriched society with wisdom. In the ever-evolving world, Indian knowledge networks will be for the benefit of humanity”, he added.

Haryana govt to recruit 18,000 school teachers soon

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar

The state government will recruit 18,000 teachers soon, said Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on 25 September.

Out of that 11,000 regular teachers will be recruited and rest 7,000 will be recruited through Haryana Kaushal Rozgar Nigam, the state CM said while addressing a programme organised at Maharshi Dayanand University in Rohtak.

He further added, “In the first phase, two blocks of each district are selected. This work is being carried out by the School Management Committees.”

During the vent, Khattar said that the Haryana government is continuously working to ensure quality school education in the state and has distributed five lakh tablets to the students of classes 10 to 12. Also, 2.5 lakh more tablets will be provided soon, he further added.

The Haryana Government is strenuously working to ensure smart classrooms, dual desks, and upgrading other infrastructure in schools, said Chief Minister.

Karnataka government deepens partnerships with UK universities

Karnataka government

The Department of Higher Education of Government of Karnataka is stepping up to deepen strategic partnerships with universities in the United Kingdom to boost higher education.

Dr CN Ashwath Narayan, Minister for Higher Education; IT and BT, Science and Technology; Skill Development, Entrepreneurship and& Livelihood, Government of Karnataka met with Professor Sir Steve Smith, UK Government International Education Champion, to strengthen relationships between universities in the UK and in Karnataka, to extend cooperation the spaces of research cooperation, joint degrees, twinning, and exchanges.

The discussion took place at the most significant educational expo and conference, the Asian Summit on Education and Skills (ASES) and DIDAC India 2022 in Bengaluru.

DIDAC India is organised by India Didactics Association (IDA), the only industry body for education and skill sector in India, and is supported by the Union Ministry of Education, the NITI Aayog, the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and the Education World Forum, hosted by the Department of Higher Education of Government of Karnataka and supported by AICTE and NCERT.

UGC, AICTE to work together on higher education policies

UGC, AICTE

During the development of the Higher Education Commission of India (HECI), a committee has been set up to prepare a roadmap for University Grants Commission (UGC) and All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) to work together as a single regulatory entity.

UGC chairperson Prof M Jagadesh Kumar set up the committee and will work with the initial vision to identify areas where the two regulators can work with a common approach towards drawing up policies and regulations. Members of the committee include vice-chairpersons of UGC and AICTE, as well as the UGC secretary and AICTE member-secretary.

The development comes at a time when the government is planning to introduce the Bill to set up HECI in the winter session of Parliament.

“The development of a joint working strategy is in many ways the harbinger of the proposed Higher Education Commission of India (HECI). After all, regulations on higher education affect students pursuing general as well as technical degrees or courses,” Prof Kumar.

The HECI is the most significant regulatory reform proposed in the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020. The government had attempted to merge the two prime regulatory agencies even before NEP’s launch but the decision could not be finalised.

Prof Kumar said, “The committee has been entrusted with identifying areas where the two regulators can work together.” A separate set of sub-committees, comprising officials of the two regulators, will work on those areas. The idea is to prepare the system to adapt to a situation where HECI will be the overarching body of higher education. Incidentally, Kumar was given additional charge of AICTE after the retirement of Prof Anil Sahasrabudhe, who has been made the first chief of National Educational Technology Forum (NETF). The Centre is envisioning NETF as a one-stop platform to roll out technological interventions in school and higher education.

upGrad to invest $40mn more in Harappa Education

upGrad Harappa Education

Edtech unicorn upGrad has committed to investing an additional Rs 320 crore (nearly $40 million) in the platform to create Harappa Global School of Leadership. upGrad had announced the acquisition with the platform for leadership and communication skills program Harappa Education earlier this year.

Harappa Education’s shareholders, including Bodhi Tree Systems, joined upGrad’s cap table as part of the deal. The latest announcement will help upGrad strengthen its soft-skill and leadership offering for working professionals.

The capital will be utilised by Harappa Education to develop a suite of leadership programmes catering to different sectors and leadership levels, according to a statement by the company. The company also plans to hire people for designing the program, planning and developing pedagogy and content for the programme and for marketing it.

Ronnie Screwvala, Chairperson and Co-founder, upGrad said, “Initially it will be open for individuals to sign up in a business-to-consumer (B2C) model in India. We plan on launching the Leadership School globally with a focus on the mature and paying market in the US, in six months’ time. We will take a business-to-business (B2B) approach for the US market.”

Starting with the Accelerated Management Program, the Leadership School will offer live-only programmes targeted at mid-career professionals. Other courses to follow suit as part of the Leadership School include the Design Leadership program and the Women’s Leadership Program.

Pramath Raj Sinha said, “Just as HR and marketing became a part of core MBA programme over time, our course on Accelerated Management Program includes data, product marketing, and leadership as part of its core offerings.”

He added that the digital model for offering the courses also offered flexibility to cater to a particular cohort as part of its B2B offerings targeted at a company and to offer high-quality accessible modules as part of the Leadership School.

Pramath Raj Sinha founded Harappa Education with co-founder Shreyasi Singh in 2018. The platform offered self-paced courses to address problems of poor employability and inadequate leadership.

Professor Rajat Moona appointed as the new director of IIT Gandhinagar

Professor Rajat Moona

Professor Rajat Moona has been appointed as the director of IIT Gandhinagar. The President of India approves the appointment. He is likely to join IIT Gandhinagar in a couple of weeks.

Professor Moona has been heading IIT Bhilai as Director for more than five years. Earlier to joining IIT Bhilai, he served as Director General of the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC). He is also a faculty of Computer Science and Engineering at IIT Kanpur since 1991.

“I am excited to join IIT Gandhinagar, which has been charting new benchmarks in multiple spheres for over a decade”, Prof Rajat Moona said, sharing his thoughts.

“I am thankful to the President of India and the ministry of education for reposing faith in me. Together with the able team of my colleagues at IIT Gandhinagar, we will script a new growth journey for the institute,” he further added.

Achievements of Professor Rajat Moona

Professor Moona holds a BTech in Electrical Engineering from IIT Kanpur (1981-1985) and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore (1985-1989).

He is the recipient of several awards and recognitions, including Indo-US Science and Technology Fellowship, Poonam and Prabhu Goel Chair Professorship, VASVIK Award 2010, IESA Techno-visionary Award 2014, National Award of Election Commission of India 2016 for best electoral practices, and most recently, a Special Award for IT Initiatives by the Election Commission of India in 2022.

Besides being an exceptional academician and administrator, Professor Moona has played an instrumental role in defining some of the key applications for the country, such as smart card driving license, vehicle registration, e-passport, electronic toll collection, EVMs, and VVPAT, among others.

Edtech Startup Bhanzu Raises $15 Mn in Series A funding

Edtech Startup Bhanzu

Edtech platform Bhanzu has raised $15 Mn in a Series A funding round led by global investment firm Eight Roads Ventures on 21 September. B Capital also invested in the round from its Ascent Fund.

The global math learning startup plans to utilise the fresh funds to expand its business globally across multiple geographies, enhance its tech infrastructure, increase its workforce, and strengthen its curriculum with more interesting and outcome-focused content.

With its expansion plans across geographies, Bhanzu aims to eradicate global “math phobia” among students, helping them learn and love mathematics.

Founded in 2020 by Bhanu, Bhanzu claims to have a meticulously designed curriculum that helps students become 4X quicker and better at math. The curriculum is personally curated by Bhanu with over four years of data collection and research.

Bhanzu, CEO, Neelakantha Bhanu, who is also known as the world’s fastest human calculator, said, “With this new development, we envision becoming the world’s largest and most impactful math education entity in the next few years.”

“We are big believers in the potential of Indian education companies to solve global learning challenges over the next decade. Low math proficiency is a deep problem driven by lack of skilled teachers, poor engagement and math anxiety in students,” said Aditya Systla, partner at Eight Roads Ventures.

MPOWER Financing and ApplyBoard Inc. join hands to enhance students’ access to higher education abroad

MPOWER Financing and ApplyBoard Inc.

MPOWER Financing and ApplyBoard Inc. (“ApplyBoard”) announced a strategic partnership to provide financing for students pursuing higher education abroad. MPOWER Financing is a mission-driven fintech firm and the leading provider of scholarships and education loans to promising international students. ApplyBoard is an online platform that empowers students around the world to access top-quality education.

The partnership between the two organizations will ensure that prospective students planning their journey through ApplyBoard can have the opportunity to benefit from MPOWER’s available funding options.

Ashwini Kumar, Vice President and General Manager (India) of MPOWER Financing said, “The journey for international students can be complex and time-consuming, especially when it comes to seeking loans to finance their studies.”

“Our seamless service and loan solution, now available for ApplyBoard and its partners, will help to make that journey a little easier with faster decision speeds, and no requirements for co-signers or collateral. Together with ApplyBoard, we are building trust and value for students and recruitment partners”, he added further.

The co-founders of MPOWER Financing and ApplyBoard were international students prior to starting their respective companies; given their first-hand experience, they are familiar with and have faced their own struggles throughout their international education. They have made it their mission to improve and simplify the path for future international students.

“Financial access continues to be the biggest hurdle for students looking to start their international education journey,” said Karunn Kandoi, Head of Business Operations, India at ApplyBoard India Private Limited. “ApplyBoard is excited to partner with MPOWER Financing to help empower students to access the financial resources they need to continue their education, build prosperity, and make our society a better place.”

Both firms leverage technology to break down barriers around access to education. MPOWER Financing offers scholarships and no-cosigner loans to students from 200+ countries pursuing an education at 400+ universities across Canada and the United States. ApplyBoard simplifies the study abroad process by connecting students, recruitment partners, and partner schools on a single platform.

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