Enguru - The Free English Learning App

13/11/2019 enguru - the free English learning app
(https://startuptalky.com)
 
enguru - The English Learning App that is Making Youth More

Employable
CHAYANIKA GOSWAMI (/AUTHOR/CHAYANIKA/) NOVEMBER 12, 2019
In today’s dynamic world, where everything and anything we want is at our ngertips,
why would one want to take special coaching classes to excel in a particular eld? It’s all
available online and one such amazing self-learning English app is “enguru.” enguru is a
mobile app that teaches English in regional languages, all the way from the basics to
more complex job-speci c functional English.
enguru Highlights
Startup Name enguru
Headquarter Bangalore
Co-founders Arshan Vakil & Udit Hinduja
Sector Ed-tech
Founded 2014
Parent Organization Kings Learning Private Limited
Website enguruapp.com
About enguru and How it Works

enguru - USPs
   
enguru - Target Market
(https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?
(https://twitter.com/share?
(https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?
(https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?
enguru - Founders and Team
How was enguru Started
u=https://startuptalky.com/enguru-
text=enguru%20-
mini=true&url=https://startuptalky.com/enguru-
url=https://startuptalky.com/enguru-
enguru - Name, Tagline english-

and Logo%20The%20English%20Learning%20App%20that%20is%20Making%20Youth%20More%20Employa
english- english-
enguru - Startup Launch
learning-app/) english- learning- learning-
enguru - Business Model and Revenue Model
learning-app/) app/&title=enguru%20-
app/&description=enguru%20-
enguru - Startup Challenges
%20The%20English%20Learning%20App%20that%20is%20Making%20Youth%20Mo
%20The%20English%20Learning%20App%20that%20is%20Making%
https://startuptalky.com/enguru-english-learning-app/ 1/12
enguru - Funding and Investors

enguru - Advisors and Mentors
enguru - Growth
enguru - Awards & Recognitions
enguru - Future Plans
About enguru and How it Works

Founded in 2014, by Arshan Vakil & Udit Hinduja, enguru English learning app is a self
learning app, that aims to solve the problem of access to a high quality of English
language training. enguru o ers industry-speci c English courses in over 12 di erent
vernacular languages & has a focus on speaking through AI-enabled stimulated
conversations.
This is also the only educational app that is available both on android and iOS and also
the JioPhone – an extremely popular smart feature phone which has sold over 70 million
devices in less than 2 years.
enguru makes learning easier as it starts teaching the users right from the basics up to
more complex conversations. Users go through a placement test when they rst use the
app, which identi es their starting point. This test includes a combination of English
pro ciency and general preference questions including reasons for learning English and
career aspirations etc.
The app course is split into 10-minute short modules. Each module consists of a lesson
and a conversation or comprehension. Lessons comprise a variety of questions including
image, text, audio and speech questions coupled with an adaptive algorithm that ensures
questions are based on a user's past performance and career preferences. Conversations
are based on workplace-speci c scenarios that force users to speak into the app and
provides feedback on their pronunciations.
   
text=enguru%20-
english- %20The%20English%20Learning%20App%20that%20is%20Making%20Youth%20More%20Employa
english- english-
enguru app screenshot
Also, there are live classes that students can take. With live classes, enguru aims to
provide their users with an even more personalized learning experience by connecting
students from across the country with Cambridge quali ed English teachers in an online
group setting. The rst live class is completely free. Students then subscribe to various
plans by using enguru coins. enguru covers one topic a day at multiple times, thereby
giving students the exibility to choose a time slot as per their schedule.
   
enguru also partners with organizations across India to upskill their sta or students.
This is done through a second app – enguru for enterprises – which is similar in most
ways to the free B2Cu=https://startuptalky.com/enguru-
enguru app.text=enguru%20-
Key di erences include dashboard access to track and
monitor user progress, customized

english- programs based english-
on organization needs, &
%20The%20English%20Learning%20App%20that%20is%20Making%20Youth%20More%20Employa
english-
operational support.
enguru - USPs
What di erentiates enguru is the focus on employability which goes beyond just
marketing collaterals as is the case with many of its competitors. Emphasizing on its USP,
enguru CEO Arshan Vakil says-
One of the most important learning was to focus on immediate bene t through
industry speci c content. Our target audience likes to learn things that are directly
related to their careers. Industry speci c courses which allow them to learn
functional vocabulary related to their jobs is critical in keeping them engaged and
potential making them pay. This is something only we o er.
   
enguru app in Hindi
enguru - Target Market

text=enguru%20-
english- english-
There are over 400 million internet users in India with 250 million non-English speaking
learning-app/)
internet users. Non-English english-
speaking learning-
internet users learning-to reach 550 million by
is expected
2021. enguru's core focus is on young adultsapp/&title=enguru%20-
learning-app/) between the ages of 15-34 which makes up
75% of internet users in India. %20The%20English%20Learning%20App%20that%20is%20Making%20Youth%20Mo

A recent report by Google & KPMG projected online education in India to grow at 52% to
reach over USD 2 billion by 2021. The report included English language learning as a key
category in online education in India.
enguru has two core target audiences within India. The primary target customers are
young adults – college students, recent high school and college graduates looking for jobs
and working professionals who are still relatively new to the workforce. More speci cally,
the focus is on young adults who are looking to enter elds like retail, automotive,
hospitality, IT, BPOs, BFSI.
The secondary target audiences are general English learners, especially women. For
housewives, English is aspirational and often also a way to create job opportunities.
enguru - Founders and Team

Arshan Vakil along with his friend Tahem Veer Verma started Kings Learning Private
Limited (enguru's parent organization) in 2014. Tahem and Arshan were roommates at
the University of Pennsylvania for 3 years and both lived in Mumbai from 2012-2014.
They moved to Bangalore to start Kings Learning in February 2014. They recruited the
head of content and programs, Laurie May from the UK and built the tech team starting
with tech lead Sanju Kurian. In 2017, Tahem left Kings Learning to pursue higher studies
and Udit Hinduja joined the team in June 2017 as COO.
Presently, Arshan Vakil is the CEO of enguru. He graduated with a dual degree, cum
laude, with a BSc in Economics from the Wharton School and BSc in System Science
Engineering from Penn Engineering. Before founding enguru, he was working as a
product manager and founding member (1st employee) at Hopscotch, an eCommerce
company in Mumbai. At this time he also founded a mentorship initiative called Project
Vahana, which helped underserved young adults get career ready. Having worked as a
Product Manager and having a degree in System Engineering, he focuses a lot of his time
on enguru's products. In addition to product management, he also leads all digital
marketing, analytics, and nance.
Udit Hinduja is the COO of enguru. He graduated with a B.A. in Economics & Politics from
New York University in 2012. He then moved to Mumbai and worked at KPMG for a year
and a half in their advisory practice. After KPMG, He worked at Micro Housing Finance
Corporation (MHFC), an urban micro nance company that provides small-sized home
loans to low-income families to help them buy houses. After 3.5 years at MHFC, he joined
Arshan - his friend from school in Mumbai - at enguru as COO, where he oversees the
entire B2B vertical - from sales to operations.
   
Arshan is tech-savvy (https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?

and has a very clear vision around (https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?
(https://twitter.com/share? the product. As an engineer, he
has a keen sense of how the app should look and feel, what features should add and
text=enguru%20-
product road map for the future. He also has a very analytical mind, so he understands
english- english-
user trends and makes data-driven decisions based on app metrics.
Udit loves delivering a premium service to clients and has a solid knowledge of what it
takes to run a sustainable business. He handled the entire business side of enguru -
client partnerships, operations, etc. His attention to detail and obsession with processes
have allowed the company to scale up its enterprise partnerships & got them to close INR
2.5 core in revenue for FY 18-19, a 100% increase in FY 17-18 gures.
Currently, enguru has a team of 50 members. The company has an open, at culture,
where employees are empowered to learn & grow. They also o er several bene ts to
sta , including ESOPs, medical insurance & training.
How was enguru Started

enguru was started with a mission to ensure that access to English language training
does not become an impediment to career opportunities. The idea is to provide
a ordable employability focused English language & communication skills training
through innovative technology products and then helping link English speaking levels to
appropriate job opportunities.
The idea of a self-learning app struck Arshan Vakil when he noticed how poor English
training hampers career growth while working as a Product Manager at an e-commerce
start-up and running a mentorship initiative for underserved youth. English was an
impediment across the board- from the kids, they mentored in the program who were
looking for basic entry-level positions in retail, hotels, etc. to Engineering graduates with
whom he worked and struggled with internal communication. enguru co-founder, Tahem
Verma, was already working in education and recognized how much students struggled
with English due to the lack of focus on English training. This was the exact moment when
they recognized there was a big opportunity here and a high latent demand for
a ordable English training. With the zeal to solve this problem, they launched enguru in
2015.
enguru is envisioned to solve the problem of access to high-quality English language

training. English is the language of the workplace in India yet most students do not
have access to good English language training, which hampers their career growth.
The majority of Indian students study in their local languages with English just being
one subject – they inevitably only learn to read and write English to pass exams and
are not able to speak well, which is what is expected in the workplace. This issue is
prevalent across various levels, right from engineering and medical students to
industries like retail and hospitality. The need for an accessible and e ective English
learning tool across the spectrum cannot be debated. Our 30 million downloads
with very little marketing are proof of this.
   
Arshan and Tahem began with an o ine English Language business. The founders
always knew that they wanted to go online (https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?
but the initial approach was to understand
the users, their needsu=https://startuptalky.com/enguru-
for English,text=enguru%20-
behavior patterns and url=https://startuptalky.com/enguru-
access to technology, etc. One of
the most important learning was%20The%20English%20Learning%20App%20that%20is%20Making%20Youth%20More%20Employa

english- to focus on immediate
english- bene t through industry-speci c
english-
content.
enguru app screenshot
enguru - Name, Tagline and Logo

enguru– or English guru – came about to create a brand that resonated with the Indian
audience. A “guru" is a revered gure in Indian culture, and they wanted to ensure that
the users felt that they were learning English in a safe environment, from their English
guru. The guru logo is inspired by a design Arshan saw on a t-shirt worn by his father.
   
text=enguru%20-
english- english-
enguru Logo
enguru - Startup Launch

When enguru was launched in 2014, they started by teaching students English o ine in
their centers.
To get students to come to the centers, we used a combination of online marketing,

SEO & leveraging interest from nearby educational institutes. Most people who
visited our o ine centers for classes were either working professionals or college
students, most of whom found us online via Google searches or student referrals -
Arshan says about the initial days of the startup
They enguru app was launched in early 2015 – rst with only general English as a course
and no regional language capability. They saw a massive increase in engagement when
they added industry-focused courses and vernacular languages to the app as part of
enguru 2.0. With enguru 3.0, they launched the popular conversation modules, which
gets users to speak out into the app and practice various industry-focused scenarios (for
eg. Greeting a customer in a retail outlet).
enguru - Business Model and Revenue Model

enguru currently has two apps - enguru spoken English app (B2C) and enguru for
enterprises (B2B).
The B2C app has close to 30 million downloads and is available for free. In August 2019,
enguru also launched live video classes on the app – this will be the primary source of
monetization from the B2C app. Currently, users can book classes by using enguru coins
earned through playing levels or by paying money. Live classes are still at a relatively
nascent stage, so prices have been heavily discounted to gain initial traction.
The B2B app is used to partner with organizations in the retail industry (like Trent, Titan,
Godrej Nature's Basket, Raymond, Manyavar, etc) to train their customer-facing sta .
enguru charges per app license and o er staggered and bulk pricing options. Almost all
of the revenue comes from these clients. Apart from retail, enguru also work with clients
in other service industries like healthcare, hospitality, skilling centers, etc. to upskill their
sta or students.
enguru is also available on the Jio Phone, the INR 1,500 feature phone launched by Jio in
2017. They are currently the only education app on the phone and have close to 22
million downloads on the device. They are not into monetizing this product at all.
Over the next 5 years, the aim is to monetize the B2C users through live classes and
   
certi cation and at the same time building brand through B2B partnerships.
enguru - Startup Challenges

text=enguru%20-
english- english-
One of the major challenges they faced and continue to face is engagement on the app.
Users download the learning-app/)
app but don’tenglish- learning-
end up spending as learning-
much time as they’d like on
completing levels. To increase thislearning-app/)
engagement, they keep reiterating the app.
app/&title=enguru%20-
enguru - Funding and Investors

enguru raised funding worth $2.5 million in September 2017.
Date Stage Amount Investors
September Pre- $2.5 Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, Village

2017 Series A million Capital, Weihua Yan
enguru - Advisors and Mentors

The Board of Directors includes Mr. Weihua Yan, a Chinese-American investor who co-
founded Diapers.com, which was acquired by Amazon.com in 2011. Mr. Rahil Rangwala, a
director at the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, also advises the enguru team on the
strategic direction.
enguru - Growth
With its head o ce in Bengaluru and o ces in Mumbai and Delhi, enguru is operating
Pan India. In FY 2018-19, the company earned a revenue of INR 2 crore. enguru has close
to 30 million users across India and is adding 1.5 million every month. Besides, enguru
has worked with over 150+ organizations across the country and have upskilled over
25,000 sta . Clients include Trent, Godrej Nature's Basket, Oberoi Hotels, Magic Bus India
Foundation, NSDC, etc.
For the android app some key metrics are: Cumulative Downloads- 6,578,942, MAUs
(Monthly Active Users)– 300,000, DAUs (Daily Active Users) – 25,000
For the JioPhone app, some key metrics are: Cumulative Downloads- 21,861,425, MAUs –
1.3 mn, DAUs –100,000
In B2B they have three primary programs – a completely app-based training program, a
blended training program, and a teacher-led training program. Currently, they have 33
ongoing contracts – 8 online, 16 blended and 9 teachers led with 5,000 MAUs. ARPU(
Average Revenue Per User) for a 3-month program is 500, 1710 and 2188 for online,
blended and teacher-led programs respectively.
enguru - Awards & Recognitions

enguru's biggest achievement to date is being the only education app available on the Jio
Phone, the INR 1,500 feature phone launched by Reliance. Over the past 2 years, the
enguru app has been downloaded organically by 22 million people across India. Other
   
major achievements include:
Village Capital: Winner of Education Cohort

text=enguru%20- 2016 for url=https://startuptalky.com/enguru-
the investment of $50,000
Reliance Jio GenNext: Selected

english-
to be part ofenglish-
the Winter english-
2016 Cohort.
%20The%20English%20Learning%20App%20that%20is%20Making%20Youth%20More%20Employa
Google Play App Excellence: Selected to be a part of the Class of 2019. The program
is for early-stage startups, who demonstrate the potential to be drivers of quality
and excellence in the apps they are building.
enguru - Future Plans

Over the next 5 years, enguru aims to monetize its B2C users through live classes and
certi cation, while at the same time building the brand through B2B partnerships.
enguru envisions to be synonymous with a ordable English learning in India. The goal is
to be the best free accessible English learning tool in India- catering to the next billion
users.
Tags bangalore startups (/tag/bangalore-startups/) enguru (/tag/enguru/) Arshan Vakil (/tag/arshan-vakil/)
Udit Hinduja (/tag/udit-hinduja/) Tahem Veer Verma (/tag/tahem-veer-verma/)
Michael and Susan Dell Foundation (/tag/michael-and-susan-dell-foundation/) Village Capital (/tag/village-capital/)
Weihua Yan (/tag/weihua-yan/)
Subscribe to StartupTalky
join 100k+ member from startup ecosystem to get latest updates to grow your startup.
username@domain.com
Subscribe
(/author/chayanika/)
About Chayanika Goswami (/author/chayanika/)
Chayanika is an MBA in Finance and a trained Digital Marketer. SEO and content writing
are her hobbies turned profession. She is a rover. In her free time, she loves traveling and
cracking jokes.
PREVIOUS POST (HTTPS://STARTUPTALKY.COM/LITTLE-APP-STORY-FOUNDER-BUSINESS-MODEL-FUNDING-TEAM-

NEWS/)
(https://startuptalky.com/little-app-story-founder-business-model-funding-team-news/)
Little App: Fetching The Best DealsFor Customers!

 (https://startuptalky.com/little-

app-story-founder-business-model-funding-team-news/)
text=enguru%20-
Shubham Kumar (/author/shubham/) November 12, 2019
english- english-

NEXT POST (HTTPS://STARTUPTALKY.COM/LAUNCH-ONLINE-COURSES/)
(https://startuptalky.com/launch-online-courses/)
This is how you can Launch your Online Course to Earn lots of Money
(https://startuptalky.com/launch-online-courses/)
Parnas Ghosh (/author/tushar/) November 12, 2019
0 Comments Sort by Oldest
Add a comment...
Facebook Comments Plugin
StartupTalky
Facebook group · 117,631 members
Join our Facebook Group
(https://www.facebook.com/plugins/group/join/popup/?group_id=1628088717410164&source=email_campaign_plugin)
RECENT POSTS
(/unbounce-guide/)
A Complete Review of Unbounce - Is it the Best Landing Page Builder? (/unbounce-guide/)
November 12, 2019 (/unbounce-guide/)
(/angel-investors-bangalore-contact-list/)
List of Angel Investors in Bangalore (/angel-investors-bangalore-contact-list/)
November 12, 2019 (/angel-investors-bangalore-contact-list/)
(/launch-online-courses/)
This is how you can Launch your Online Course to Earn lots of Money (/launch-online-courses/)
November 12, 2019 (/launch-online-courses/)
Follow Us
   
  (https://www.quora.com/topic/StartupTalky)
(https://www.facebook.com/startuptalky)(https://twitter.com/StartupTalky)   (https://instagram.com/startuptalky_admin/
TAG CLOUD (https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?

text=enguru%20-
100Pillars Constructions (/tag/100pillars-constructions/) 2009vs2019 (/tag/2009vs2019/) 2019 (/tag/2019/) 2020 (/tag/2020/)
21st Century Hospitality (/tag/21st-century-hospitality/) english- %20The%20English%20Learning%20App%20that%20is%20Making%20Youth%20More%20Employa

2pi Interactive english- 3D Printing
(/tag/2pi-interactive/) english-
Startup (/tag/3d-printing-startup/)
3Hcare (/tag/3hcare/) 3one4 capital (/tag/3one4-capital/) 4tigo (/tag/4tigo/)

learning-app/) english- 500 Startups (/tag/500-startups/)
learning- learning- 72cubes (/tag/72cubes/)
SUBSCRIBE TO STARTUPTALKY - YOUR ENTREPRENEURIAL JOURNEY STARTS HERE!

join 100k+ member from startup ecosystem to get latest updates to grow your startup.
Enter your email...
Subscribe
ABOUT STARTUPTALKY
StartupTalky is India’s leading media platform for entrepreneurs to read and share startup stories, startup news, research reports and start events. Connect with
us to share your opinions and learnings with fellow StartupTalkers.
Copyright (/copyright)
Privacy Policy (/privacy-policy)
Contact Us (/contact-us)
About us (/about-us)
Become a contributor (/startuptalky-contributor)
Sitemap (/sitemap.xml)
© 2019 StartupTalky - Your Entrepreneurial Journey Starts Here! (https://startuptalky.com). All right Reserved.
   
text=enguru%20-
english- english-

Enguru - The Free English Learning App

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Enguru - The Free English Learning App

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

13/11/2019 enguru - the free English learning app

enguru - The English Learning App that is Making Youth More

Startup Name enguru

Co-founders Arshan Vakil & Udit Hinduja

Parent Organization Kings Learning Private Limited

About enguru and How it Works

enguru - Name, Tagline english-

enguru - Funding and Investors

About enguru and How it Works

learning-app/) english- learning- learning-

enguru app screenshot

monitor user progress, customized

enguru - Target Market

75% of internet users in India. %20The%20English%20Learning%20App%20that%20is%20Making%20Youth%20Mo

enguru - Founders and Team

Arshan is tech-savvy (https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?

How was enguru Started

enguru is envisioned to solve the problem of access to high-quality English language

the most important learning was%20The%20English%20Learning%20App%20that%20is%20Making%20Youth%20More%20Employa

enguru app screenshot

enguru - Name, Tagline and Logo

learning-app/) english- learning- learning-

enguru - Startup Launch

To get students to come to the centers, we used a combination of online marketing,

enguru - Business Model and Revenue Model

enguru - Startup Challenges

enguru - Funding and Investors

Date Stage Amount Investors

September Pre- $2.5 Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, Village

enguru - Advisors and Mentors

enguru - Awards & Recognitions

Village Capital: Winner of Education Cohort

Reliance Jio GenNext: Selected

enguru - Future Plans

Tags bangalore startups (/tag/bangalore-startups/) enguru (/tag/enguru/) Arshan Vakil (/tag/arshan-vakil/)

Udit Hinduja (/tag/udit-hinduja/) Tahem Veer Verma (/tag/tahem-veer-verma/)

Michael and Susan Dell Foundation (/tag/michael-and-susan-dell-foundation/) Village Capital (/tag/village-capital/)

Weihua Yan (/tag/weihua-yan/)

PREVIOUS POST (HTTPS://STARTUPTALKY.COM/LITTLE-APP-STORY-FOUNDER-BUSINESS-MODEL-FUNDING-TEAM-

Little App: Fetching The Best DealsFor Customers!

learning-app/) english- learning- learning-

Parnas Ghosh (/author/tushar/) November 12, 2019

0 Comments Sort by Oldest

Facebook Comments Plugin

Join our Facebook Group

TAG CLOUD (https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?

21st Century Hospitality (/tag/21st-century-hospitality/) english- %20The%20English%20Learning%20App%20that%20is%20Making%20Youth%20More%20Employa

3Hcare (/tag/3hcare/) 3one4 capital (/tag/3one4-capital/) 4tigo (/tag/4tigo/)

SUBSCRIBE TO STARTUPTALKY - YOUR ENTREPRENEURIAL JOURNEY STARTS HERE!

Enter your email...

Privacy Policy (/privacy-policy)

Become a contributor (/startuptalky-contributor)

learning-app/) english- learning- learning-

You might also like