Karadi Path Education Company, an offshoot of Karadi Tales, whose programme is running in 1,800 schools to ‘re-imagine the English classroom’, is planning to enter the B2C segment.
“It is under research, and we are working on a pilot for entering the segment in the next six months,” said the company’s founder and CEO, C P Viswanath, adding, “We are a pedagogy company that uses technology, and not the other way around. In the current Karadi programme, we have a lot of peer exchange happening. We will work on how to substitute that experience of one-on-one in the B2C segment.”
Started in 2011, Karadi Path relies on visuals and music to make non-native speakers pick up the language. The company has its presence in 10 states, including Delhi, Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana, where it is expanding its business. “The 1,800 schools include all three categories – premium, affordable private schools and government schools. Cumulatively, there are 7,000 trained teachers who are part of schools, and building capacity inside the school,” he said.
Close to four lakh students have benefited in this academic year. “In Karnataka, we are in 50-60 schools. We are working on a project in Dakshina Kannada with 30 government schools, and in the next academic year, we are looking to scale up,” he said.
Karadi Path will double its reach to 3,000 schools in the next academic year. “Our revenue in the last fiscal year was Rs 10 crore, and we want to double it in this fiscal year. Once we are in 3,000 schools, we will possibly look at 5x or 6x growth,” he said.
Talking about the programme in schools, he said, “We work on discovering language rather than learning language. There is always pressure of learning language and urgency to learn, all these have an impact. How do I replace this urgency? By making it enjoyable. Students across two to four years will go through 96 hours or 192 hours of Karadi Path. With 96 hours of Karadi Path in a public school, the child will reach functional proficiency of the language,” he said.
“Karadi Path does not map to the curriculum because that doesn’t work, the school has to take a leap of faith and create time for Karadi Path within the school time,” he said. The company raised $2.3 million in a Series A round from Pearson Affordable Learning Fund, and existing VC investor Aavishkaar, last year.
Talking about monetisation, he said it's possible even in government schools. “If I have 100 to 200 schools in a particular area, my programme can cost Rs 200 per child, and we have already achieved this. Premium schools pay fair price and with government schools, I am able to bring the cost down, thus achieving a balance across the three types of schools.”