The idea of Speakx is sprouting from the yellow class, which offers children in the college an after-school activity that was studied at home during the Covid-19-19 pandemic. Yellow classes must close stores in 2023 when kids return to school campuses. But its English modules are so popular that Mittal decided to build a new business around these modules.
Speakx, charge users ₹At 300 a month, fluent Hindi English is taught, and many of its users are from Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The company realized that while many of its users were able to read and write in English, communication posed a major obstacle – bringing prospects to high-paying jobs.
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Government think tank Niti Aayog pointed out the issue in a December report. It noted that the talent and resources used in several states were initially from other parts of India, and “an important factor in this trend is the inadequate English proficiency of local youth”.
The pursuit of Indians’ average fluency in learning English is reflected in Speakx’s user base, from September to 10,000 to 108,000. “We have a 30% retention rate, adding nearly 20% of new users per month,” Mittal said.
The company plans to expand its services to other regional languages, starting with Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada.
SpeakX Generation ₹Monthly revenue and profits of 30 million ₹According to Mittal, 7.5 million a month, he previously established the property search platform Roofpik and Edtech startups.
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An aspiring language
Another Edtech startup that saw a surge in user base for modules in small-town Indians is Planetspark, backed by Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal.
The company offers many courses from public speaking to debate, with revenues of about 44% in 2 cities in India and beyond. Most gurugram-based companies generate revenue from southern states in India, followed by the northern, western and eastern markets.
“In the past five years, the user base of the second-tier town has increased by 65-70% year-on-year,” said Kunal Malik, co-founder and CEO.
Planetspark noted that while children from small towns were compared with their big city peers on the topic of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) lag behind in English fluent ways. “Unfortunately, this is associated with intelligence. So parents really want to invest in these skills because they know there is an upward mobility connection with them,” Malik said.
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In 2023-24, Planetspark reduced its losses by 64%, while increasing its revenue by about 50%. “This momentum continues and we’ve improved significantly in FY25. At some point in FY26, we’ll also test ebitda positive,” Malik said.
Planetspark plans to be publicly available within two years, and set two goals during this period: full-year profitability and $50 million in annual recurring revenue.
Quest, a UK-based startup that generates about 75% of revenue from India, sees demand for its services from low-cost private schools.
The company mainly works with schools in satellite towns and cities near metropolitan cities such as Mumbai and Hyderabad to provide school teachers with teacher lesson plans that include students’ pronunciation guides and workbooks.
“Parents are putting pressure on schools to seek fluency in English, so schools are buying our products,” said Jamie Martin, co-founder and CEO.
Zamit is a London-based startup that works with schools in 2 cities in the national capital region, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Nepal to provide teachers with development, especially for English language proficiency, and also sees a huge demand for students.
“They are the biggest part we’ve seen, and it’s very aspiring and hope to improve their lives,” said Zamit Resident Director Alka Verma.
Zamit and English Quest are expected to be profitable by the end of 2025.
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Global Opportunities in Regional Drama
Experts say Edtech startups such as Speakx and Zamit have strong regional operations in the country and the company will benefit from the ongoing wave of multinational companies opening global capability centers (GCCs) in small towns in India.
The Global Capacity Center is a maritime unit that handles various remote functions, including software development and maintenance. Although the GCC offers opportunities for hundreds of thousands of Indians beyond software and startup giants, proficiency in English provides a faster route to the hierarchy.
“The reason companies entered Level 2 and Level 3 cities is because they want to be at a lower cost. English is the most important element for local residents to get these GCCs,” said Amarjeet Singh Makhija, partner and start-up leader at PWC India PWC India.
According to consulting firm EY, India’s GCC market has grown at a CAGR of 11% between 2015 and 2021, and the company expects over 500 GCCs to enter the country by 2026.
This, in turn, hopes to stimulate demand for English skills among employers and potential employees. “Anyone who can provide this service at a lower cost, which is more attractive to children or adult learners, will succeed. There will definitely be a game there,” Makhija said.
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But scaling up may prove the challenge for small Edtech startups, as the expansion nationwide will require more capital acquisition. Furthermore, several investors remain alert to the Edtech industry due to the collapse of BYJU, the most valuable startup in India not long ago.
Speakx earned $6 million in revenue in the Series A fundraising round in 2021. English missions don’t want to expand now, and Zamit’s focus this year is only on building a Punjab business.
So where do these companies go from here?
One option is to put it into the public market in which Planetspark intends to do so. Another option is to get it. “I’m going to say that these smaller players can be targeted by large companies at some point because they are more agile in the region,” Makhija said. “It would be much more expensive to create such footprints by national players.”
