Gurukul from Avanti Fellows in India, powered by Capgemini, has today been named in the Top 30 shortlist for the inaugural Global EdTech Prize in the Non-Profits category. Founded this year by T4 Education, with the support of Owl Ventures, Digital Promise, Rethink Education, XEdu, Injini, Founders Forum, EdLatam, and IAAE, the Global EdTech Prize recognises those trailblazing solutions that are driving change and grappling with the most crucial challenges in today’s classrooms.

Judged by educators themselves, the prize provides a vital platform to help companies and organisations scale their products, tools, or services and their impact worldwide. It celebrates EdTechs that are making a real difference to the next generation and champions innovative tech solutions that actually work for the people who matter most – educators, their students, and their communities. 

The prize will be awarded in three categories: Non-Profits, Start-Ups, and Majors, with winners announced live at the World Schools Summit in Abu Dhabi, UAE, on November 16, 2025.

Vikas Pota, Founder of T4 Education and the Global EdTech Prize, said: 

“Congratulations to Gurukul from Avanti Fellows on being shortlisted for the inaugural Global EdTech Prize. Your vital work in this field proves my belief that innovation in education lifts all of humanity.

“All of our shortlisted tools have one thing in common. They have harnessed technology in the service of education and they are making a difference. From enhancing literacy development to building lifelong skills, supporting social mobility, and closing learning gaps, the Global EdTech Prize measures not only innovation, but impact. By giving a global platform to these tools, we help scale that impact at a time when it has never been more needed.”

Akshay Saxena and Vandana Goyal, co-CEOs, Avanti Fellows, said:

“At Avanti Fellows, our mission has always been to level the playing field for students from underserved communities. With Gurukul, we’re taking that mission online, at scale and at zero cost. Gurukul, powered by Capgemini, is the country’s largest free test preparation platform, designed specifically for government school students and low-income learners who have long faced systemic barriers to top-tier STEM colleges.

In its very first year, Gurukul reached over 93,000 students, offering high-quality learning content, mock tests, and personalized support, all through a mobile-first, open-source platform. These numbers reflect a clear truth: when students are given access, they rise to the challenge.

As we look ahead, our goal is to evolve Gurukul into a full-stack college preparation tool, and we are excited to partner with state governments, educators, and the open-source community to scale this platform nationally.”

About Gurukul by Avanti Fellows:

Gurukul, developed by Avanti Fellows and powered by Capgemini, is India’s largest free online test preparation platform for students preparing for competitive exams like IIT-JEE and NEET. It is designed to address the inequalities in access to quality STEM colleges, particularly for students from government schools and low-income backgrounds, by providing quality test prep without any cost. While STEM degrees significantly boost earning potential, students from underserved communities face systemic barriers like high coaching fees, geographic inaccessibility and limited access to individual devices that prevent them from qualifying for top-tier colleges.

Launched in 2024, Gurukul is a mobile-first, open-source platform tailored for low-resource settings. It offers over 5,000 high-quality videos, recorded classes, mock and practice tests, and personalised test reports. More than 93,000 students enrolled in 2024–25, with 88,000 choosing the self-paced option. Around 10,000 students demonstrated deep engagement with the platform by consistently attending classes and completing assessments. Collectively, students spent over 950,000 hours learning and attempted over 380,000 tests.

Gurukul’s differentiators include its free access, mobile-first design, and open-source infrastructure that enables government and non-profit partners to adapt it at scale. Teachers played an important role in designing and refining the platform - creating content, advising on pedagogy, and shaping features like test reports based on real classroom experience. Contributions from the open-source developer community further enhance Gurukul’s scalability and reduce ongoing tech costs.

The platform is rooted in decades of Avanti’s experience delivering test prep across India and is informed by its deep field learnings and research including on the role of STEM in economic mobility,  A/B testing of user features and ensuring direct feedback from students and educators.

Looking ahead, Gurukul aims to evolve into a complete college preparation tool, with planned features like career guidance, entrance test calendars, and college exploration modules. It is already part of government partnerships in eight states, and the team anticipates reaching 100,000 yearly users by 2027–28. Gurukul aims to become more comprehensive in its features (like test reports), the support it extends to the students, and the impact and feedback it captures of the students’ learning experience.

ABOUT T4 EDUCATION:

We believe every child, everywhere, deserves a good education. We are building the world's largest community of teachers and schools to achieve this. Together. Our digital media platform provides opportunities for educators to network, collaborate, share good practices, and support each other's efforts to improve learning and school culture. We work to amplify teachers’ voices because the world we want to see will only be built by listening to those at the heart of education.

For more information, please contact Salman Shaheen: salman@t4.education / joash@avantifellows.org