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“Online learning is not the next big thing, it is the now big thing.”
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Good evening. A few months ago we revamped the Dialogue Room newsletter, what we give you, a breakdown of the top business and startup stories across the world, and the 7 things you just have to know this week. ⬇️

We can't hear you,
your mic is on mute, has become a more common saying than, let's meet for coffee, the covid world is crazy. With Indian ed-tech companies like Byjus, Vedantu and Unacademy getting huge amounts of venture funding, it would seem that ed-tech is the flavour of the season for investors. However, are the copious investments being put in this space likely to give funds a great exit or is this just another bubble

1. India has the world’s largest population of under 25-year-olds, around 600 Million, which represent an even larger demand for education.
2. Indian parents prioritise their children's education.  
3. India offers among the lowest cost handsets and data prices in the world with almost 80% of its population online, however, less than 15% of rural Indian households have Internet (as opposed to 42% urban Indian households).

Although we feel, this abrupt transition to online hardly compensates for the absence of the classroom experience, what do you think? Indian ed-tech,
hope or hype?
In other news, here are 7 things you need to know this week, happy reading. 
7 things you need to know...
1. Karan Bajaj, WhiteHar Jr. Founder, has filed a USD 2.6 Million defamation suit against Pradeep Poonia, an engineer who has publicly criticized the firm for its marketing tactics, the quality of the courses on the platform, and aggressive takedowns of such feedback. A partial gag order has been granted to WhiteHat Jr, “who is stopping you from a healthy discussion? They have a registered trademark. You are saying that their teachers are housewives, are you saying they are uneducated persons? How can you be so derogatory towards them? Of course, this is defamation,” the Delhi High Court said today. Read more here

2. Facebook’s public policy head is perhaps the least appealing job opening in India right now. On October 27, Facebook’s India public policy head Ankhi Das stepped down following allegations that she had asked staff members to 
not apply hate speech rules to posts of certain politicians of the BJP. From the beef-ban to the Kashmir issuehate is incited on Facebook around myriad issues with little repercussion. WhatsApp’s public policy director Shivnath Thukral is reportedly filling in Das’s place on an interim basis, but he might not be the ideal candidate for the role either. Read more here

3. Ed-tech platform Udemy on Thursday said it has raised USD 50 Million (about INR 371.2 crore) from global ed-tech and growth funds, including Learn Capital. The company's value stands at USD 3.25 Billion pre-money.
Pre-money valuation refers to the value of a company without including external funding or the latest round of funding


4. Amazon has opened up its online pharmacy and has started accepting orders for both over-the-counter and prescription-based medicines. In India, the new service is piloted from Bengaluru as of now. Amazon has a history of disrupting industries, beginning with the retail book market in the 90s which led to the demise of bookstore chains (like 'Borders’ in the USA), to groceries, digital payments systems and even insurance. We may see a repeat of this in the Pharma industry, shares of CVS and Walgreens have gone down. Smaller chemist shops will get affected the most, as they do not have the buying power of Amazon, and the customer base.
5. Dialogue Now, our podcast channel, has completed 30 episodes. Episode 1, Season 2 focused on the ed-tech, Harappa Education, which enables professionals to learn life skills at scale, leveraging digital learning technologies and online pedagogical tools. The startup offers a curriculum of ‘5 Habits’ and ‘25 Skills’, which is delivered through an online-first approach. It recently completed a round of funding from James Murdoch-led Lupa Systems. Hear now

6. The 6 Ways to Grow a Company: The first step to generating real growth is to understand where it comes from. It can be boiled down to six simple categories: new processes, new experiences, new features, new customers, new offerings, and new models. Deciding which ways to grow needs to be intentional — not driven by luck. Read this piece by the 'HBR' to understand better the growth strategy of your company. 

7. Ed-tech major BYJU's is raising about USD 200 Million (about INR 1,483 crore) in fresh funding from investors, including BlackRock and T Rowe Price, BYJU's has already raised significant capital this year.
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This newsletter was edited by Divya Gupta.
Want to keep dialoguing? Hear the ‘Dialogue Now’ podcast on Spotify, AppleJio Saavn & Google
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