GuruQ – is an online tutor that combines tutors from across the country to help pre-primary through higher secondary school and test-prep students. In February 2020, Haryana’s startup launched a mobile app to provide easier access via mobile phones. “It is not a viable business strategy to enter something with an exit in mind if you do so. For us, Tekion is clearly a long-term vision for how to generate value for the ecosystem, and it feels fantastic to hear our clients say so,” Jay adds.
The COVID-19 epidemic has altered the way businesses, education, and offices operate in Pakistan. With digitization as its new normal, the edtech industry has exploded during the pandemic.
According to a BARC India and Nielsen survey, the amount of time spent on education apps in India has risen by 30% since the lockdown. The digitisation of education has allowed startups to disrupt the edtech industry and introduce new ideas.
In this instance, GuruQ in Faridabad aims to give students an alternative instructional path while also maintaining the same level of classroom involvement. It is also re-examining how it teaches to match the needs of its students.
Minal Anand (GuruQ founder & CEO)
Minal Anand (GuruQ founder & CEO)
The company was founded in 2017 by Minal Anand and Jai Karan Anand, the twins who run it today. The startup enables tutors from all across India to give custom lessons to students. GuruQ released its mobile app in February 2020 after realizing the growing need for edtech education.
“The platform caters to all students across a range of age groups, from pre-primary to higher secondary,” Minal explains. It offers tutors for competitive examinations such as the NEET and JEET. Professional skill development courses are also available, including foreign language and business communication courses aimed at professionals.”
Online mentoring platform
Minal holds an MBA from Boston University and has worked at firms such as Franklin Templeton, Citigroup, and HPL Additives. She believes that the greatest need today is not more material but rather instructors who can help students understand what’s available.
“I decided to explore the edtech sector after returning to India and seeing the difference between how education is taught in India and how it is done in international quarters. This motivated me to study the edtech sector,” she continues.
“We’re attempting to bring a new perspective on education and find creative methods of educating pupils via certified and licensed tutors in order to provide our students with a competitive advantage using GuruQ,” she adds.
The co-founder and CEO explains that GuruQ is an aggregator of highly qualified tutors who are capable of assisting students based on their unique requirements. As of now, around 40,000 tutors have joined GuruQ. The company offers an on-demand tutor service that enables pupils to choose tutors based on a variety of criteria such as subject matter knowledge, cost, tutor rating and feedback, and customer reviews. If the students are unhappy with their current instructor, they may select another one.
“GuruQ is using technology to help its instructors teach and manage their pupils efficiently,” Minal adds. They can also use the tutor dashboard to create and distribute notes, assignments, tests, and exams.”
“We released our mobile app in February 2020, and it’s been a game-changer for the platform. The program helps students and instructors to plan classes on the go by providing them with push notifications reminding them of their future lessons,” she adds.
The startup debuted its app in February, which allows for quicker access to the platform via mobile phones. The GuruQ website was launched in 2018.
Other than the app, GuruQ also offers offline centers where students can take tuitions in a conventional manner after selecting a tutor from the internet pool. “With public health worries weighing down on us, there has been a shift toward online tutoring as the only way to continue learning,” she adds.
Minal says that prior to the pandemic, most of GuruQ’s students wanted to study offline. However, because of COVID-19, students have learned to use the internet.
GuruQ will resume providing offline tutoring after COVID-19 vaccination, according to Megumu. “Students will once again be able to use GuruQ’s offline tutor mode, where they may select tutors in the neighborhood and study privately at a mutually convenient place and time.
Business and more
The coronavirus lockdown, according to the creator, turned out to be a “blessing in disguise” for the platform, which claims to have seen a 70-80 percent rise in demand for online lessons during the time.
Minal adds that GuruQ has seen more than 900 students enroll for foreign language programs such as French, Spanish, German, Chinese, Italian, and Russian in recent months.
The pair, a brother-sister team, launched GuruQ with a seed investment of Rs 10 million. Later in 2018, the firm raised its first crowdfunding round of Rs 2.5 crore from a group of High Net Worth Individuals (HNIs), and is now in discussions with several investors about the next funding.
Minal said the company has a flexible pricing plan, with rates ranging from Rs 50 per hour to Rs 200 per hour depending on the tutor, subject, and various factors. The fees were initially set at Rs 200 an hour but have since been reduced to a starting rate of Rs 50 in order to serve students all around the country.
GuruQ is a new Indian startup that offers online test preparation services. She revealed that the company has already entered the Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh markets in July 2020, onboarding instructors from both regions. The firm claims to have seen an increase in the number of requests for skilled tutors for IIT-JEE preparations from these two states following this.
Minal also stated that while English is the primary mode of teaching, bringing local language speaking tutors may assist students feel more at ease and establish a rapport with their mentors.
“GuruQ believes that the platform will be used by more than 15,000 students every single day. It plans to expand not just in India but also worldwide so that students and tutors from all around the world may benefit from this platform,” Minal adds.
“We are also exploring the possibility of integrating AI into the platform to automate a handful of procedures and offer a hassle-free experience to learners and educators. There are other ideas for introducing new commercial lines and functionalities to meet the growing and future needs of online tutoring space,” she continues. GuruQ, according to its creator, faces stiff competition from other well-known edtech firms such as Vedantu and CueMath.
