Gradeup, an online competitive examination preparation platform has reached 13 million users in India. Shobhit Bhatnagar, Co-Founder, and CEO of Gradeup talks about the growth of the platform, online learning, and future plans. 

What have been the key elements and offerings that led to the growth of candidates on the platform?

Gradeup has 13 million registered users on its platform which is 1 percent of India’s population. We are a three-year-old enterprise and have invested in scaling up, enhancing content & maximizing user value. And we are happy that aspirants across the country have trusted us for their exam preparation. We are determined to become the most effective & comprehensive go-to platform for competitive exams.

To achieve this feat, we have tried to constantly add more exam categories on our platform so that we grow by reaching out to more and more aspirants across categories. Today we cater to a variety of exam categories ranging from government jobs to higher education to PSU jobs.

Overall, our test series and integrated program using teaching techniques like live classes have been accepted very well by our community of students & they have responded positively by putting their faith in these services.

What is the idea behind community-based learning model? How has it contributed to the success rate of students on your platform?

We believe that people prepare better when they prepare together; by questioning, helping and challenging each other. The presence of an active, thriving community is unique to Gradeup, and it allows aspirants to have discussions, ask questions, post quizzes, solve doubts and foster peer-to-peer learning.

Our community keeps users engaged which makes them come back to the platform in case they have a doubt or want to discuss a topic. The community creates a network of students who have the same goals, hence gives aspirants confidence while preparing with their peers.

The value that they derive from community transcends to good faith & confidence towards Gradeup, which makes it easier for us to start discussing premium products & services with them, which can help their preparation further. This trust encourages them to try new offerings & purchase them too.

How does online learning augur for the education system in India?

Teachers now prefer to teach online and the overall demand for such content is rapidly increasing in the education industry.

Online preparation and learning is the way forward, providing access to good quality content and learning from expert faculty. Hence, there is a huge market- especially in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities- where the availability of offline coaching is not prevalent, leading to an increased demand for online sources. Online preparation is improving students’ experiences with proper monitoring and student engagement. The government is focusing on increasing enrollments in schools and colleges, however, there is a need to focus on engagement as well, which is possible via online learning.

Currently, in India, 200 million students are estimated to be either in school or preparing for exams. We have currently reached 13 million subscribers and have a scope and objective to reach the entire 200 million. The increase in mobile penetration and the growing demand for online education is a positive trend and completely supports our goal.

What are your future plans and vision for the upcoming financial year?

We know that people preparing for competitive exam actively use Gradeup. This year we are focusing on building deeper services which add value to the students.

The most recent one is 'Classroom' - A comprehensive planned approach towards exam preparation. It includes live classes by expert faculty, live quiz discussions, mock tests with live analysis & 24x7 mentor support.

Our second focus area is intelligence practice and adaptive assessment system. Both these will lead to targeted improvements in aspirants' performance. We will also keep adding new exam categories to reach to different segments of our audience & becoming a comprehensive source of exam preparation.

The core value & vision remains the same, we are driven to make the preparation journey much more effective for as many aspirants as possible. We believe the above steps will take us close to our vision.