Education of a child starts right after birth. While whether children will turn out good or bad or will be successful or not in future is shaped mostly during the formative years or while in school, the real hassles, for any student and parent as well for that matter, in education world is when students are to enter college/universities.
From deciding what course to take to finding the perfect college to writing entrance exams to getting the admission done, it’s never a hassle-free one, isn’t it? Well, all those real problems have become much easier, thanks to CollegeDekho for their innovative solutions in addressing them using technology. Now, with CollegeDekho, choosing the course, finding the right college, appearing entrance exams, and getting the admission done have never been that easy and convenient. Well, here’s what the Gurugram-based startup is doing exactly in transforming the education system in India.
So what CollegeDekho is all about?
Founded in 2015 by Ruchir Arora, Saurabh Jain, Rohit Saha, and Rajiv Singh under the aegis of Girnarsoft Education Services Pvt. Ltd., CollegeDekho is a technology-based education startup offering both B2B and B2C solutions. It aims and strives to bridge the gap between students and their dream of pursuing colleges and careers thereafter. CollegeDekho is the first technology driven education startup of India providing end-to-end solution for students higher education needs.
With over 36,000+ colleges in its database, CollegeDekho was one of the most promising startups in India in 2015. In the first year of operations itself, the startup became the fastest growing education services provider in the edtech sector in India, with exceptional traffic growth touching over 1.3 million visits in a span of less than 8 months.
What CollegeDekho exactly does and provides for students higher education needs
CollegeDekho is a unique universities discovery platform, which connects education seekers with education providers, at the same time offering reliable information about colleges, courses, entrance exam details, admission notifications, changes in exam pattern, scholarships and all related topics. It also offers support to students to settle the relevant career study option based on their strengths and guides them through the admission process.
The company uses advanced products like step by step college selection, practice tests and psychometric tests to scientifically support the higher education selection decision. Through its unique profile-based college recommendations engine, the startup helps students find the best fit information for thousands of colleges available on its website. CollegeDekho’s platform not only has a huge database of colleges and connects students with colleges, it also has a chatbot which helps students crowdsource opinions based on former and present students.
CollegeDekho also has a student outreach program called School Connect, through which they reach out to students in Tier II and III cities offline and have counselling sessions in their schools.
The idea that strikes founders to start CollegeDekho
In an interview with Techpluto, CollegeDekho’s Co-founder and CEO Ruchir Arora said that he and his co-founders saw a gap between job seekers and providers in the education industry. He said that while the current market is full of new opportunities, and jobs are created every day according to the market demands, there is still a huge information gap. This profound realization led to the launch of CollegeDekho.
The founders started the company with an objective to institutionalize students’ counseling in India and to bridge the gap between students and colleges by using technology and product to make information on courses and careers easily available. They believe that this value-added service should be readily available irrespective of a student’s background or geography to help them achieve their ideal career.
Investors and funding
CollegeDekho has quite a number of investors and funding in its kitty. In 2016, the company raised $2 million in a Pre-Series A funding round, and in May 2019, it raised another $8 million in Series B round led by its existing investors Girnarsoft, London-based Man Capital and others.
In 2015, CollegeDekho had only 10 clients, today they have more than 500 clients onboard with more than 450 education counselors. The startup has also partnered with institutes like Lovely Professional University, AIT (Bangalore), Ajeenkya D Y Patil College (Pune), JECRC University (Jaipur), Jagran Lake University (Bhopal), etc. to provide expertise and guidance to students.
CollegeDekho has also expanded to cities like Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Patna, Ranchi, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Jaipur and Guwahati.
