The Fate of Startups When Schools in Jakarta Learn Face-to-Face

The central government plans to implement limited face-to-face learning starting in July. In DKI Jakarta, 85 schools have even tested it since yesterday (7/4). This policy is considered to be a challenge for educational startups such as Ruangguru, Zenius, and Quipper.

Edward Ismawan Chamdani, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Ideosource and Gayo Capital, said that the policy did not really affect educational startups. Platforms such as Google Classroom and Zoom are the ones that have been greatly affected.

However, this is certainly a challenge for educational startups in attracting users and increasing transactions. “With this new habit, it becomes a challenge and a strategy for how the patterns that have been formed during the pandemic can be combined with the new norms,” ​​said Edward, yesterday (7/4).

He assessed that educational startups need to target more segments, including school managers. “So it is not just educational technology, but also a school provider,” he said.

Several start-up companies in this sector are also preparing strategies to deal with face-to-face learning. Zenius, for example, plans to launch new products and features in the next few months.

“What is certain is that in the next few months, we will offer something exciting to students in Indonesia,” said CEO Zenius Rohan Monga, Wednesday (7/4). He is optimistic that educational startups like Zenius will continue to grow even though schools have studied face-to-face.

Zenius Services were in High Demand during the Pandemic

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Zenius services were indeed in demand. Income also grew by 70% on an annual basis (year on year / yoy) more during the second half of last year. The number of users also grew more than 10 times during March to December 2020.

User retention reached more than 90%. Zenius said that almost 50% of its revenue comes from the live class segment. Meanwhile, the attendance of users in each class is an average of 400 students.

In 2020, Zenius will also make most of the content on the platform free. The startup has also adopted a freemium business model after updating its application and re-branding in June last year.

Edtech is also collaborating with cellular operators such as Telkomsel to create the Ilmupedia program which offers a 30 GB learning quota to students. There is also the Zenius Telkomsel Scholarship Test, which guides more than 15 thousand high school students from Banda Aceh to Timika.

The startup also launched a free Learning Management System for teachers. With this program, Zenius has established a strategic partnership with local governments and the application is used by more than 6,000 teachers in Indonesia.

Quipper and Ruangguru Provide Services to Support SFH

Meanwhile, Quipper focuses on providing products and services that support online learning even though face-to-face learning is being tested. The reason is, this learning method is considered to be still in demand during the adaptation period for new habits (new normal).

“Quipper is committed to continuing to provide support to students, teachers and schools during the learning period at home and new normal,” said Quipper Indonesia’s Business Development Manager Ruth Ayu Hapsari, last year (11/8/2020).

Another startup, Ruangguru, began targeting consumers in remote areas this year. “Students and teachers in disadvantaged, frontier and outermost (3T) areas have difficulty accessing online learning services. This is because there is no signal,” said Belva during a virtual press conference “Ruangguru Impact Report in 2020”, last February (3/2).

You do this by inserting all learning materials into a USB, so that they can be accessed even without or with a minimum internet signal. “The content will be connected even if you don’t use the internet. The material can still be accessed,” he said.

Ruangguru also optimizes bandwidth capacity so that the platform can be accessed even though the internet signal is weak. The company also plans to partner with more local governments in 3T areas. Last year, Ruangguru recorded an increase in users of 46% to 22 million accounts.