Why Dell Foundation is backing this edtech platform for K-12 kids

Photo credit: Patrick Savalle.

The Michael and Susan Dell Foundation (MSDF) today announced an investment of US$900,000 in Indian edtech startup ConveGenius, which provides mobile learning solutions to K-12 students. Lack of access to good quality educational materials for schools across vast areas of India is a huge problem.

ConveGenius curates content from multiple producers of educational content and leverages the rapid spread of affordable smartphones to deliver it across the country. It uses tech for continuous assessments and analytics to provide personalized learning paths and relevant content.

“Unlike most educational tech companies that are spending all their time and resources on creating more content, ConveGenius has taken a bold approach: to be a platform leveraging already available content and focus its energies on effective delivery,” says Prachi Windlass, director for Dell Foundation’s India education portfolio.

Affordability and access

Gamification to improve learning outcomes and multi-lingual content are thrust areas following the funding.

“We are excited to be backed by the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation in our endeavors to reach three million children across India and other emerging markets by 2020, thus working towards bridging the gap between the availability and accessibility of good quality educational content,” says Jairaj Bhattacharya, co-founder and CEO of ConveGenius.

Its affordable price point of US$67 per year has made it reach 90,000 children in India as of June this year, as well as learning centers in Singapore. The three-year-old startup had earlier got seed funding from Ashish Gupta, founder and trustee of Ashoka University, and other angels from Singapore, Malaysia and Australia.

See: Why edtech is getting so little love from VCs in India