After Mira, Vuclip launches 'edu', a mobile video channel for education

Mobile video and media company Vuclip  has introduced a new mobile video channel for education called 'edu'. The channel will provide educational videos for students in K-12 and higher education space, and can be accessed by any internet-enabled handset.

Currently, the channel supports educational videos only in English, but will include course materials in other languages as well. At this point, the portal has free access to educational videos from Khan Academy, a not-for-profit organisation that offers free micro-lectures and teaches various topics including mathematics, history, healthcare, medicine, finance, physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, economics and computer science, among others.

"Vuclip today has more than 14 million active monthly users in India and this number is growing fast. This is a readily available platform through which Indian universities and educational institutions can participate to make quality education accessible to the masses anywhere, anytime," said Nickhil Jakatdar, CEO and founder of Vuclip.

The company recently raised  $13 million in Series D, led by a new investor, SingTel Innov8, besides existing investors NEA and Jafco Ventures. The money raised would be utilised to expand into new geographies and innovate on its platform. It had also raised $8 million in Series C from NEA and Jafco in May 2011.

Headquartered in Milpitas, California, Vuclip was co-founded by Indian origin entrepreneur Jakatdar and Zhigang Chen (CTO), and provides video on the fly – on any device and in any country. It also has offices in Mumbai, Singapore, Shenzhen, Beijing and Los Angeles.

Earlier in 2012, Vuclip launched another niche channel for women called Mira! Claiming it to be India's first mobile video portal, the channel sources content from 30 or so Indian and global content providers. Vuclip claims to deliver more than 25 million videos to consumers in 200-plus countries on a daily basis.

(Edited by Sanghamitra Mandal)