00:00 I'm joined by Michael Moe.
00:01 He's the co-founder and CEO of GSB,
00:04 which is one of the world's leading investment firms,
00:08 especially in ed tech.
00:09 Michael, thanks so much for taking the time out.
00:11 My pleasure.
00:13 My first question would be, given
00:15 that you're a lead investor, a major investor,
00:18 in so many Indian ed tech startups,
00:20 and not just Indian, around the world,
00:22 you've seen the Indian ed tech ecosystem shape itself
00:27 over the years.
00:28 With the recent developments that have happened,
00:30 there's Byjus, and there's a couple more.
00:33 How do you see the ed tech system going ahead?
00:38 Well, the education technology system in India
00:41 is, I think, the best in the world.
00:44 The situation with Byju is obviously very challenging.
00:48 But in a way, as you look at an ecosystem evolving
00:52 and maturing, this kind of experience
00:55 actually is healthy in the long run.
00:57 So it will clean out some people that
01:02 weren't going to be all in.
01:04 You learn some lessons.
01:06 But as things mature, I think what is important,
01:09 not just ed tech in India.
01:11 But 10 years ago, there were just 350 startups in India.
01:15 Today, there's over 110,000.
01:16 So just in that 10 short years, you've had all this activity.
01:19 So lessons learned about that's all very good.
01:22 And the fundamentals long term here are fantastic.
01:27 Are there ripples being felt across your portfolio?
01:30 You have PhysicsValley, you have ClassPlus, you have LEED.
01:33 You have all these unicorns, right?
01:35 Are there ripples from what happened, from the implosion?
01:39 Are they being felt across your portfolio?
01:42 Well, there's definitely a winter type of environment
01:46 that's involved today.
01:49 But you mentioned these companies,
01:51 like PhysicsValley and ClassPlus.
01:53 And they're doing very, very well.
01:56 And so our philosophy is you buy swimsuits in the winter.
01:59 And I think this is a good time to be looking to--
02:04 because spring is going to happen,
02:05 and ultimately summer, and the sun's going to come up.
02:08 And that's what we want to be positioned for.
02:11 Interesting.
02:12 Apart from ed tech, Michael, GSB has spotted Meta, Facebook,
02:18 Google--
02:19 not Google, sorry, Spotify.
02:21 So these large tech companies that
02:23 have just gone on to revolutionize
02:26 how the world works.
02:27 What are you seeing in India in terms of tech as well as ed
02:30 tech?
02:32 India is just a fantastic market in terms
02:36 of the talent and the energy around technology and ed tech.
02:41 So many smart things have happened.
02:43 I think Prime Minister Modi sort of creates
02:46 an overall passion and excitement about the future.
02:50 And that transcends into the entrepreneurship
02:53 that's going on.
02:54 So no, we love it.
02:55 We're looking for the next Facebook, the next Twitter,
02:59 the next Spotify.
03:01 And undoubtedly, there's going to be a bunch of them here.
03:05 Coming to ed tech, within ed tech,
03:07 what do you see picking up in India?
03:09 Is it maybe K-12?
03:12 Or are you seeing pre-K or higher education?
03:15 What segment within ed tech are you the most bullish on?
03:19 Well, I think that the corporate learning, lifelong learning,
03:23 the upskilling is a great opportunity.
03:27 Higher ed is going to be a growth market for a long time
03:31 to come.
03:31 In K-12, there's huge needs.
03:33 Needs create opportunities.
03:35 I think the K-12 system right now
03:38 is maybe one that there's a little bit more of a--
03:42 if we're in winter, it might be a little colder in that space
03:45 than the others.
03:47 But long term, it will be great opportunities too.
03:51 Fair enough.
03:53 From GSV in India, what can we expect?
03:55 Are we seeing a follow-on investments happening this year?
03:58 Or are we seeing some new, fresher investments coming in?
04:02 Hopefully both.
04:03 So we have great companies here that we like to support,
04:06 love to put more capital in.
04:08 We also are looking for fresh new ideas.
04:10 And we're here, and we're bullish.
04:13 And so we're open for business.
04:16 Excellent.
04:16 Thank you.
04:17 Thank you so much.
04:19 (dramatic music)
04:21 [music]
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