With advances in technology and innovation, the upskilling and reskilling revolution has been a long time coming. Offering skill-building courses that address the core issue of making youth more employable, these platforms can bridge the skillset gap between available and existing workers.
While India’s edtech startups are struggling to raise funds from investors in the much-discussed funding winter, edtech firms in the higher edtech and upskilling space are attracting investments and are on an expansion with mergers and acquisitions.
Professional education firm Imarticus Learning’s report illustrates the increase in demand for upskilling courses in tier 2 and 3 cities in 2022.
According to the report, the surge in demand for upskilling has increased by about 50% in tier 2 and 3 cities, and the overall student enrollment stands at 45,000 in the upskilling courses offered by the platform.
“This increase can be attributed to several factors including the need to remain relevant in the changing professional landscape coupled with the widespread availability of internet services and the popularity of e-learning courses,” states the report.
“We want to fill in the vacuum between the demand for upskilling courses in tier 2 and 3 cities and the availability of such programmes, and our expansion plans are centred on this,” said Nikhil Barshikar, Founder of Imarticus Learning.
The 2023 Workplace Learning Trends Report by Udemy highlights top skills in demand across employee learning activity areas which include business, technical and personal skills. In fact, 2022 saw a 49% annual increase in time spent learning technical skills, the report revealed.
“Technical skills will lead to the rise of new industries as well as impact existing businesses and change the way we do things,” said Irwin Anand, Managing Director for India and the Asia-Pacific region at Udemy.
“Businesses will need to adapt to the new wave of flexible and effective skill development to make their workforce future-ready.”
Edtech unicorn Unacademy’s new product, NextLevel, will take on the Microsoft-owned social network LinkedIn, according to co-founder and CEO Gaurav Munjal.
“Your career shouldn’t be dependent on one or two exams that you wrote years back. You can keep learning and keep improving your rating. It’s a continuous process and not a singular stamp that you got years ago,” he wrote in a tweet.
Earlier this month, Blackstone-backed edtech firm Simplilearn launched SimpliRecruit, a platform for recruiters to identify and hire talent across technology domains.
The platform will serve as a one-stop solution to help companies hire talent proficient in-demand tech skills, and is aligned with Simplilearn’s core value of equipping learners with industry-relevant skills.
In a media statement, Krishna Kumar, Founder & CEO, Simplilearn, said, “Extending our database of millions of learners and skilled talent to enterprises and recruiters, we look forward to effectively improving the employment landscape in India and globally.”
Kumar had earlier said that the edtech platform will aggressively expand in international markets, which will contribute nearly 70% of its overall revenue?by FY24 (2023-24). The startup recently raised $45 million in a new funding round led by GSV Ventures, and acquired Fullstack Academy, a US-based bootcamp education company, in order to expand and scale its presence in North America.
Ronnie Screwvala-led company upGrad acquired about 13 companies since the start of 2022, while Scaler acquired online learning platform Applied Roots for $50 million in March.
Eruditus Education Pvt Ltd also raised $350 million, or about ?2,696 crore, in debt capital from Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s (CPPIB) credit arm to invest in mergers and acquisitions (M&As) to expand its global footprint.
While, in May, Byju’s-owned Great Learning acquired Northwest Executive Education for $100 million. The deal was done in combination of cash, equity and earnout. The platform offers long-format comprehensive programmes from international educational institutions, including MIT, UC Berkeley, Yale, UCLA, University of Chicago, and National University of Singapore, among others.