Way2SMS founder Raju Vanapala launches LearnSocial

Raju Vanapala is a first generation entrepreneur who found success with ‘Way2Online Interactive India Pvt Ltd’ that runs the messaging portal way2sms.com. Hyderabad based way2sms had over 40 million users and exited to ValueFirst in 2012 (the deal was estimated to be worth INR 200 crores). Raju Vanapala has now moved on and his next bet is in the online learning space. Vanpala’s latest venture LearnSocial is on a mission to build a global marketplace for Instructor-led Online Learning. Differentiating from the traditional online education or the new generation of Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) platforms, LearnSocial offers Live Instructor-led online courses on a range of topics including Technology, Languages, Business Management, Robotics and many others.

With a team size of 50, LearnSocial identifies industry relevant courses for college fresher/s, mid-career professionals, senior professionals; and also partners with passionate Industry experts. LearnSocial captures each lecture to ensure the best teachings are accessible forever. Commenting on the launch, Vanapala says

Delivering the best with same level of excellence, irrespective of the geographical location, is what we believe in. Hence, unlike others, our Instructors are not traditional professors. They are hand-picked, highly experienced and passionate people working with large corporate firms across sectors. LearnSocial equips each trainer to deliver a special learning experience to any individual from any remote corner. All it takes is internet connectivity of less than 1 MBPS to access all cutting edge and industry relevant courses at LearnSocial.

LearnSocial has partnered with over 200 industry experts to teach on this learning platform. Going forward, LearnSocial plans to increase the number of courses and in diverse segments. Currently 11 courses are available on the platform and about 10 new courses will be added each month going forward.

Online Learning has been picking up and our recent list of the companies in the test prep space is testimony to that (list of 15+ test prep websites). The entire online education space is opening up with big players getting in as well and a fresh burst of innovation changing how education works. We're still far away from a radical change and deep adoption but technology in education most certainly cannot be ignored anymore.

Stay tuned to hear more from Raju, here is their website: Learn Social