It’s hard to recall a time when Byju’s wasn’t towering over the Indian edtech scene. You have to rewind some seven or so years to 2015, when it launched its game-changing ‘Byju’s: The Learning App’. Back then, edtech was more about digitising content rather than the live-learning, doubt-solving, test-prep mammoth it is today.
While Byju was still building his eponymous app, a plucky engineer duo launched a little app called Wizen World—a game app that was aimed at making math more fun for students. Wizen World didn’t really work out, but out of its ashes grew Quizizz, a two-year-old quizzing platform aimed at teachers. It has garnered 75 million users globally—the US is its largest market.
To put that feat into perspective, the Byju’s constellation of apps and businesses took 11 years to amass 80 million registered users.
And Quizizz did it all by spending almost nothing on advertising, relying on word-of-mouth instead. While other edtechs were spending their time on live classes or doubt-solving products, Quizizz’s teams spent hours on Zoom calls with teachers in the US, trying to understand their pain points.
And so, one teacher bought ten, and then ten brought entire schools and school districts onto the platform, eventually hitting 75 million users. All in two years. A dizzying climb if there ever was.
Having conquered the US market - Quizizz even beat out more established competitors such as Quizlet and Kahoot - the company is turning its focus towards its home market—India. The country, which already accounts for a “few million” users, is Quizizz's next biggest market alongside Indonesia, say its founders.
Normally, this would be reason to celebrate. A small, frugal company - Quizizz crossed 70 million users with just a team of 20 - taking on edtech's heavyweights, what’s not to like?
But the very reasons Quizizz took off in such a big way in the US may prove to be roadblocks in its India journey. The two countries' approaches to education, not to mention the resources available to teachers, are as different as chalk and cheese. Quizizz won’t easily replicate its US success back home..