Businessworld has a profile of online tutoring firm, TutorVista, which has quickly attracted $12 million in two rounds of venture funding.
Also, see my earlier reference to a related February 2005 article in Businessworld about similar efforts by other companies like Educomp Datamatics and Career Launcher.
Arun Natarajan is the Founder of Venture Intelligence, the leading provider of information and networking services to the private equity and venture capital ecosystem in India. View free samples of Venture Intelligence newsletters and reports.
Tutor Vista now has around 2,200 students, most of whom are in the US. It has around 90 students in the UK, and a few scattered in countries including Finland, Turkey, Japan, South Korea, Australia and Canada. Tutor Vista has over 200 tutors as well, largely living in India. Almost all the teachers work from home. Tutor Vista’s office in Electronic City now has 60 people; this team will expand to 100 by the end of the month. It is the equivalent of air traffic control. They work round the clock and monitor the teaching sessions, help in scheduling a session with a teacher, organise standby teachers in case one drops out at the last minute, and also make sure the information technology infrastructure is ready and running all the time.
Ganesh has kept the costs of tuition ridiculously low $100 a month to learn as many subjects as the student wants (Obviously, like eating in a buffet, there is only so much one can learn). In the US, private tuition can cost as much as $40 to $60 an hour. The teacher in India earns Rs 14,000 a month if working full time.
Also, see my earlier reference to a related February 2005 article in Businessworld about similar efforts by other companies like Educomp Datamatics and Career Launcher.
Arun Natarajan is the Founder of Venture Intelligence, the leading provider of information and networking services to the private equity and venture capital ecosystem in India. View free samples of Venture Intelligence newsletters and reports.