Edtech Startup Scaler Academy Secures $55 Million In Funding Led By Lightrock India
Edtech startup Scaler Academy,which helps college students and tech professionals upgrade their skills, said it has raised $55 million in a Series B funding round led by Lightrock India. The company's existing investors Sequoia Capital India and Tiger Global also participated in the funding round, after which the total capital raised by Scaler since January 2020 stands at $76.5 million. "The company, whose valuation has increased to $710 million after the funding, will use the capital for expansion, inorganic growth and to beef up its technology platform", said Abhimanyu Saxena, Co-Founder of Scaler.
"This is entirely primary capital raise to create a war chest for the inorganic growth opportunities we see in newer markets such as the US. In 2022, we will focus on India as well as the US market and then will look at other markets, such as Latin America and South East Asia", Abhimanyu added.
Scaler was launched in April 2019 by Anshuman Singh and Abhimanyu. The company claims that under the parent company, InterviewBit, it has grown manifold during the pandemic, with revenue jumping 200 percent over the pre Covid level and is operationally profitable. Scaler helps working professionals upgrade their skills. So far, more than 7,500 people have joined Scaler's educational programmes. It has 50 instructors.
"We don't need capital for run way(operational expenses)as we are operationally profitable. The failure of legacy institutions in India's higher education sector, particularly in the IT space, has opened up opportunities for avowed status quo disruptors like Scaler to push a new kind of thinking that looks beyond cost arbitrage based success", said Abhimanyu.
Divya Venkatavaraghavan, Principal Investor, Lightrock India, said, "The team at Scaler Academy (and Interview Bit) are transforming higher education in India by democratising the privilege of working in technology for millions of Indians. They are building a learning community that is account able for outcomes and designed for the future of work".
Shailendra J Singh, Managing Director, Sequoia Capital, said, “To us, the most distinctive part of Scaler’s strategy is that they are super focused on extremely high quality computer science education, delivered with their own unique approach that makes their programs practical and useful in the work environment. This is resulting in outstanding student NPS and exceptional job placements for Scaler students”.
John Curtius, Partner at Tiger Global, said, “As an experienced investor in India's startup ecosystem, we are particularly bullish about the country's edtech companies. Scaler's relatively young age (since April 2019) is more than made up for by the vision and maturity of its founders and the 800+ member team that is on a mission to disrupt India's tech education space”.
"This is entirely primary capital raise to create a war chest for the inorganic growth opportunities we see in newer markets such as the US. In 2022, we will focus on India as well as the US market and then will look at other markets, such as Latin America and South East Asia", Abhimanyu added.
Scaler was launched in April 2019 by Anshuman Singh and Abhimanyu. The company claims that under the parent company, InterviewBit, it has grown manifold during the pandemic, with revenue jumping 200 percent over the pre Covid level and is operationally profitable. Scaler helps working professionals upgrade their skills. So far, more than 7,500 people have joined Scaler's educational programmes. It has 50 instructors.
"We don't need capital for run way(operational expenses)as we are operationally profitable. The failure of legacy institutions in India's higher education sector, particularly in the IT space, has opened up opportunities for avowed status quo disruptors like Scaler to push a new kind of thinking that looks beyond cost arbitrage based success", said Abhimanyu.
Divya Venkatavaraghavan, Principal Investor, Lightrock India, said, "The team at Scaler Academy (and Interview Bit) are transforming higher education in India by democratising the privilege of working in technology for millions of Indians. They are building a learning community that is account able for outcomes and designed for the future of work".
Shailendra J Singh, Managing Director, Sequoia Capital, said, “To us, the most distinctive part of Scaler’s strategy is that they are super focused on extremely high quality computer science education, delivered with their own unique approach that makes their programs practical and useful in the work environment. This is resulting in outstanding student NPS and exceptional job placements for Scaler students”.
John Curtius, Partner at Tiger Global, said, “As an experienced investor in India's startup ecosystem, we are particularly bullish about the country's edtech companies. Scaler's relatively young age (since April 2019) is more than made up for by the vision and maturity of its founders and the 800+ member team that is on a mission to disrupt India's tech education space”.
