Amritanshu Kumar and Kapish Saraf Nurturing Holistic Development in Kids through KidEx

Amidst the pandemic’s challenges, two friends from IIT Kharagpur, Amritanshu Kumar and Kapish Saraf, set out to revolutionize children’s education and development through their edtech start up, KidEx. Launched in March 2020, KidEx has quickly become a data-driven digital platform that offers a wide range of classes and competitions to enhance children’s holistic development.

Unlocking Children’s Potential

KidEx was born out of the founders’ desire to provide children with opportunities to explore various aspects of their talents and abilities. They recognized the growing emphasis on academic competition and believed that children should be exposed to extracurricular activities, life skills, and more from an early age.

Amritanshu Kumar highlights that KidEx’s impact is already significant, with over 1,000 schools and 50,000 children joining the platform to date. The startup is on an impressive growth trajectory, boasting a year-on-year growth rate of 200 percent.

Challenging the Status Quo:

Both co-founders, who were classmates at IIT Kharagpur and later at IIM Calcutta, noticed the intense academic competition that often overshadows other aspects of a child’s development. They saw an opportunity to change this narrative and decided to take the plunge into the edtech space.

Leveraging their experiences at esteemed organizations like BCG and BlackRock, they gained the initial support of colleagues and supervisors. KidEx has since expanded into a 100-member organization, with full-time employees and freelancers working across various departments such as pedagogy, assessments, marketing, engineering, and analytics.

Empowering Parents and Children:

KidEx offers parents the opportunity to register their children for co-curricular classes or participate in the National All Rounder Championship. Parents receive recommendations from the KidEx team on introducing new activities every three to six months, aligning with the child’s holistic development needs.

The platform caters to various aspects of a child’s development, including creating stop-motion videos, learning sign language, practicing karate, improving vocabulary, and enhancing Body Mass Index (BMI). Classes are conducted in customized group sizes, and the startup employs gamified tools to teach relevant skills.

Adapting to the Pandemic:

Given the limitations posed by the pandemic, KidEx has devised innovative activities to promote the development of underlying skills. The start up has also formed partnerships with schools, effectively becoming their virtual extracurricular department. Through this initiative, KidEx has created a network of over 1,000 schools across India, organizing intra-school tournaments and delivering online classes for children aged six and above.

According to Kapish Saraf, KidEx aligns with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020’s goal of enabling holistic child development. The start-up has maintained an impressive Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 85 percent, highlighting its commitment to a positive customer experience.

KidEx’s main challenge has been capturing the attention of parents in an edtech market saturated with options. Kapish notes that parents have been inundated with marketing efforts from various edtech companies, creating cognitive overload. KidEx had to find innovative ways to engage parents and showcase the uniqueness of its offerings.

Despite these challenges, KidEx has achieved remarkable growth, maintaining an annualized GMV of $2.5-3 million. This translates to an annualized learning time of 25 million minutes for students on the platform.

A Growing Market:

The online K-12 education sector in India is expected to grow by 6.3 percent, reaching a market worth $1.7 billion by 2022, as predicted by RedSeer. Globally, the e-learning market is set to surge from $101 billion in 2019 to over $370 billion by 2026, according to Statista.

KidEx’s unique focus on extracurricular activities aligns with the increasing demand for such platforms in India. Other startups, like Kyt and Crejo.Fun, are also targeting this segment.

Diverse Revenue Streams:

KidEx employs various revenue models, with its primary source of income coming from fees for classes and competitions. Prices range from Rs 300 to Rs 3,000 per month, catering to parents from diverse income levels. Over half of KidEx’s customer base hails from Tier II and III cities, underlining its pan-India appeal.

As KidEx moves forward, its founders plan to enhance the end-to-end customer experience. They aim to expand their network to over one lakh schools in India, connecting with more than 10 million children within the next 12 to 18 months while maintaining their impressive customer NPS of 85 percent.

Amritanshu Kumar and Kapish Saraf’s journey with KidEx exemplifies their dedication to nurturing holistic child development, even in challenging times. Their innovative approach to edtech is making a profound impact on India’s young learners.