American education companies such as Chegg are eyeing growth in Asia at the same time as Indian startups like Byju's are seeking growth in the U.S. (Source photos by AP, screenshot from Chegg's YouTube page and Kosaku Mimura)

Indian and U.S. edtech companies battle for global dominance

Grab for market share takes on extra urgency as valuation woes and job cuts bite

AKITO TANAKA, Nikkei Asia chief business news correspondent, and SAYAN CHAKRABORTY, staff writer

July 15, 2022 06:00 JST

SINGAPORE/BENGALURU -- A foray into the U.S. has started to pay off for Bengaluru-based online education startup Scaler Academy, perhaps sooner than Chief Executive Officer Abhimanyu Saxena anticipated. Saxena, visibly happy at the turn of events, is gushing wisecracks. "In my opinion, it is easier to earn a dollar than a rupee," he said.

The Sequoia Capital-backed startup, which was valued at about $700 million in February, trains technology professionals in software development and data analytics. It sold courses worth $1 million in the U.S. in April, barely a month after it launched there. It made $5 million that month in India, where it started in 2019.