Indonesian Education Technology Startup Notes in 2016

Many problems in the field of education are currently trying to be accelerated with technology. Starting from the problems that exist in schools (class limitations, teaching resources), in educators (competence, distribution), to those in students (increasing interest in learning, ensuring graduate competence). Product education technology (edtech) that exist today and have great implementation opportunities generally refer to solving these problems.

There are several reasons why an educational technology approach is the right move. The massive spread of internet connectivity and penetration of smart devices brings a new paradigm digital societyy. Supported by large numbers in the number of schools, the distribution of students to the annual budget for the education sector. It is a crucial problem, because various parties (including the government) are beginning to understand that optimizing education will bring the nation to a more advanced level.

The potential of edtech to engage in the transformation of modern education

In Indonesia, we haven't found any comprehensive research, but in the United States it has been there is data (WCET Distance Education Enrollment Report of 2016) in 2016 as many as 28% of students have used online learning at least once during their study period. Several institutions have begun to legalize and establish a virtual class scheme that can be followed without place restrictions.

Specific to edtech itself, it is estimated that in 2020 the value is reached $252 billion globaly. It is evident that in the last three years investment in the edtech sector has reached $55 billion, with the involvement of more than 450 startups worldwide. When talking about the general education budget, for example in the 2016 Indonesian State Budget, the education funds disbursed reached IDR 419,2 trillion.

However, the services or products offered by edtech also need to consider the basic problems that exist in the field. In Indonesia itself in different places will face different problems. However, in general, edtech will get support, the following points can be summarized in its vision:

• Facilitating the community in the social dynamics that occur due to the impact of the internet
• Able to synergize with business, government and academic environment
• Provide efficiency in access and teaching resources
• Bringing the educational component to a modern way of delivering material
• And provide impetus for change in schools

To what extent is edtech present and maneuvering in Indonesia?

Category edtech startup (from Global Edtech Startups) consists of 5 parts, namely curriculum products, class needs, school operations, campus needs and other educational products. In Indonesia, all of these categories have been filled by domestic startups, some of which are:

• Curriculum Products: Bahaso, CodeSaya, Educa Studio, KelasKita, MejaKita, Coding School, Zenius.
• Class Requirements: Cozora, HomeWork Hero, UtakAtikBak.
• School Operations: 7am, AIMSIS, Kelase, PesonaEdu, Quintal.
• Campus and Outside Class Needs: Asdos, HarukaEdu, All Guru, SquLine, Sukawu.
• Other Educational Products: BangsaCerdas, BulletinBoard, LeanSkill, GuruKite, RuangGuru.

[See also:List of Indonesian Startups in Education]

The category, seen from the business process, is also still divided into two groups, namely Business-to-Business (B2B) and Business-to-Consumer (B2C). In short, B2B tries to meet various needs that reach educational institutions, while B2C deals directly with students in cyberspace. Design of gamification model teaching needs, personalized learning, and skills training become the most sought after by users. Meanwhile, education management & administration services and analysis are the most favorite among institutions.

Talking about how far, we will try to see what Indonesian edtech startups have succeeded in achieving. Starting from the social media-based education service provider Kelase, the latest data shows the total users exceed 102 thousand with the involvement of 3 thousand classes in it. Previously, this startup fronted by Winatswan Gora et al has also received funding support from Microsoft in the form of the Affordable Access Initiative.

Other startups are also starting to gain more trust, both from users and investors. This year Squline announced Pre-Series A funding from Prasetia Dwidharma, which will be dedicated to feature expansion and product marketing. Old player RuangGuru also introduced a new application for parents of students. Until BangsaCerdas is preparing an Online-to-Offline (O2O) scheme for product marketing in the coming year. Many things have been done as a step to expand and deepen the technology market in Indonesia.

The opportunity for the growth of edtech in Indonesia in the coming year

From the description above, it can be concluded that next year edtech will still have a very bright position, with a very large market share. However, the challenge is how to create synergies with various other education components, and make the services or products that are served effective for the Indonesian market share.

We try to summarize some of the notes above in the following infographic: