AI is reshaping digital education as users discover and compare various courses for further refinement

Digital education is rising at a rapid pace in India. Students and professionals are enrolling in various online courses for studies, skilling and upskilling. In this perspective, most educational institutions are providing online courses to learners.

However, it is very difficult for students and professionals to discover all the courses provided in a specific domain by edtech platforms and universities. RiseUpp is trying to solve this problem of discovery, comparison, benchmarking and enrolment through its proprietary platform. In a conversation with the Bizz Buzz, RiseUpp’s CEO & Cofounder Hari Rastogi said that the company is a marketplace for online degrees, certificates and free courses.

He said that the startup has partnered with most of the reputed universities including IITs & IIMs, edtech majors and others. The company also provides mentoring services to learners for choosing the right course, taking into account his/her career aspirations.

Currently, RiseUpp is planning to raise funds from investors for fuelling its next phase of growth, Rastogi said. The startup has already achieved operationally profitable level and is looking at accelerating its growth in coming years, he added

Can you provide a brief profile of RiseUpp? Please provide some views about your operations.

We are an edtech platform where most professional courses are available under one umbrella. We have partnered with all reputed edtech firms. Students and professionals can see, compare, and enroll in those professional courses through our platform. Similarly, we have tied up with prominent universities across India, whose courses are available in our website.

Courses offered by multiple IITs and IIMs are also available in our platform. Moreover, courses and certifications offered by various councils like British Council and others are available in our platform. So, we have holistic approach towards learning and we value ourselves as a companion for life-long learners. In the current environment, everyone needs to stay updated.

For instance, after advent of generative AI (GenAI), the learning approach has changed significantly. Professionals need to reskill themselves in the latest GenAI developments. Similarly, agentic AI is another area where engineers need to be upskilled themselves.

We are supported by the top five tech companies like Google, and Microsoft. We have been awarded various forums as a promising startup (which can turn into a unicorn). So, we have a platform where a learner can come and search all the relevant courses under one umbrella.

Students or professionals can search for courses in respective edtech or education institute’s websites. Can you give us a view about your unique selling proposition? What problem statement do you solve for learners?

We are like the Amazon or Flipkart for the skilling industry. For instance, when you buy a mobile phone, do you go to individual websites of the phone makers and compare it before purchasing a phone. Consumers go to ecommerce websites, see and compare various brands available and then take a purchase decision.

Similarly, RiseUpp provides multiple courses provided by educational institutions, edtech firms and various other entities under one umbrella. Learners need not go to individual websites of these course providers and compare it, which is cumbersome.

At RiseUpp’s platform, all courses provided by different entities are available. We present these courses in a simple form for better decision-making by students and individuals. In many cases, learners may not be aware that a specific course is provided by a reputed institute.

But they are able to discover that course in our platform. It is not humanly possible for a student or professional to search for all available courses and compare it. But RiseUpp solves that problem for learners, who are able to discover, compare and enrol in their desired courses. We also make the decision-making easier for learners. Because, we provide verified reviews and ratings.

We also provide expert counselling to learners. A learner can submit his/her queries regarding a course and our expert counsellor will provide all the course details and nuances related to the aspect. We provide very neutral and unbiased opinion about the courses.

Side by side comparison is provided by us on specific courses. We also provide zero interest EMI and career support apart from giving referrals. Due to these features, our platform is very highly-rated by students and professionals.

Do you see various generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini and others as threats to your business model? What are your views in this aspect?

We don’t see these tools as threats. Because the kind of filtering that our platform can provide, will not be given by any such tools. For instance, listing of all available options with comparisons, benchmarking, and reviews will not be provided by any GenAI tools.

Comparisons specific to the customised requirement of a learner can only be done through our platform, which is not available anywhere. Rather, we see GenAI tools complementing our growth. Because we see good amount of traffic coming from ChatGPT kind of tools. In that way, it is supporting our growth. We are also planning to come up with some GenAI-powered solutions soon, which will help in further refinement in discovery and comparison.

What is the revenue model? Can you provide some views about this aspect?

We have partnered with universities, edtech platforms and others. When students or professionals enrol to their courses through our platform, there is a certain revenue that these partners give us. So, it’s a revenue-sharing model.

As far as growth opportunity is concerned, we feel that there is huge growth opportunity for our platform. Because, the overall enrolment to higher education remains low in India and this is going to improve in coming years. Moreover, there is huge emphasis on digital education. Due to this focus, platforms like us will see sound growth ahead.

Have you raised capital so far? Are you planning to raise capital in the near future? Can you provide some aspects relating to profitability?

We have raised decent amount of capital from investors. It was a seed round. For fuelling our future growth, we are planning to raise capital in the near future. We are in talks with investors for this purpose. As far as profitability is concerned, we are generating cash and operationally profitable now.

What are your growth plans going ahead? Can you throw some light in this aspect?

We are growing a sound pace. We are planning to increase our revenue by 5X in the current financial year. As far as team size is concerned, we are close to 20 people. We are constantly adding people as we grow.