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Enguru: An Innovative Startup Removing Language Barriers

Introduction to Enguru application
Effective English communication is more than a goal; it may be a tool to help families break the cycle of poverty. It has a particularly positive impact on young people who desire to work and help support their families.
Being able to speak in English offers up more professional opportunities and aspirational vocations, especially for young people from low-income backgrounds. Individuals who are proficient in English earn 23% more than those who are not, according to a recent survey. Because English is so vital in business, knowing how to speak in it boosts young people’s self-esteem and drive.
According to the 2011 Census, English is the primary language (mother tongue) of 256,000 individuals, the second language (second language) of 83 million people, and the third language (third language) of another 46 million people, ranking it second only to Hindi in terms of frequency of use.
Enguru saw this and created an innovative company to address the problem of every second individual in India not having access to education or the English language. Enguru’s designers are aware of this fact and have developed a platform to help low-income teenagers in India gain employment.When users first use the application, they are given a placement exam to determine where they should begin. This test inquiries about your English abilities as well as your general preferences, such as why you want to study English and your career objectives.


Investments and funds raised
Among the institutional and private investors that contributed to the platform’s funding in August were Potencia Ventures, Bisk Ventures, LetsVenture, Ronnie Screwvala, and Arihant Patni. The Dell Foundation, an existing investor in the Bangalore-based business that uses Android apps to provide live English lessons to teenagers and children, also took part in the pre-series A round. Potencia Ventures, an impact investment organisation, and Bisk Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm, are investing directly in India for the first time. Phillip Schmidt has been named as Director and Advisor.
The funding will be used to extend the live class offering, which will involve the establishment of a new enguru Kids app that will focus on conversational and reading sessions for children aged 6 to 16. Enguru will also provide a variety of other services. Individualized reading programmes, developed in conjunction with Penguin Random House, as well as the Cambridge English Assessment Upskill programme, are among them. Enguru hopes to expand as a platform and secure its place as India’s best live English learning app with such exciting firms in the pipeline.
Foundation and stepping stone journey of the platform
Arshan Vakil, Tahem Veer Verma, and Udit Hinduja founded Bengaluru-based Enguru in the year 2014, which offers live English instruction to young people and children via Android applicationsby offering low-cost, community-based instruction. Through games and quizzes, the platform creates a dynamic and fun learning environment. Enguru is a technology-based platform that aids in the learning of English and the improvement of one’s employability. It can be used in 12 Indian languages.

Ideation behind the innovation and current performance
The platform uses new technology technologies to deliver employability-focused English language and communication skills training. The Michael and Susan Dell Foundation and Village Capital have both made investments in the company. Their most popular product, the enguru Spoken English app, has over 40 million users.
Enguru, which is accessible in 28 languages, teaches you English in your own language, starting with the foundations and graduating to more complex industry-specific functional English that improves your employability. Across India, the organisation provides a variety of app-based and teacher-led programmes to enterprises, government schools, colleges, and training institutes.
Students, working professionals, homemakers, entrepreneurs, other discipline teachers, and job seekers all utiliseEnguru. Students may engage in live virtual courses while also practising on their own thanks to the platform’s technology. This adaptability enables students to pursue their own learning path while receiving support from classmates who are seeking the same goal. Every day, the platform receives 1.5 hours of activity, proving enguru’s technique and displaying students’ enthusiasm.
For industries such as BPO, retail, and hospitality, Enguru provides both basic and functional English training. It is popular among users because of features such as interactive group courses, leader boards, clever voice recognition, and adaptive self-learning.
Conclusion
Enguru is designed to suit the requirements of individuals of different ages and backgrounds who have a range of aspirations, despite the fact that 52 percent of users are students and 55 percent are secondary school graduates. Despite the fact that learning general English is the most prevalent method, many people desire to increase their function-specific English proficiency in order to prepare for job interviews or better their business.
Enguru is popular in both rural and urban areas across India, with Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, and Telangana accounting for 66% of its users.It would be prudent to evaluate how the platform functions in India, where the language barrier is the most serious impediment to efficient communication.

Written by Hardeep Singh

IIT Kharagpur Speaker, Growth Hacker, Startup, and Digital Marketing Consultant having more than 10 years of experience. He played a key part in developing online marketing strategies for many startups/businesses and increasing their annual revenue by more than fourfold.

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