Skill-Lync, a Chennai-based engineering-focused EdTech startup, has raised $17.5 million in a Series A funding round led by Iron Pillar.
Existing investors Y Combinator and Better Capital also participated in the round, with others like Binny Bansal (Co-founder of Flipkart), Sai Krishnamurthy (Co-founder of Xto10X), and Rashmi Kwatra (Founder of Sixteenth Street Capital) joining as new investors.
Founded in 2018, Skill-Lync offers industry-relevant advanced courses for engineering students by partnering with industry experts. It currently provides job-leading courses in mechanical, electrical, civil, and computer science engineering domains for students in India and other parts of the world. The startup claims to be the first-of-its-kind engineering technical education platform that provides the above courses.
Skill-Lync has collaborated with over 800 industry experts for creating existing course content. The platform also has full-time people with extensive experience in the industry (with the likes of Bosch, Cummins, ABB, Samsung, and Accenture) to provide the students a world-class learning experience.
Issuing a statement on the development, Suryanarayanan PaneerSelvam, Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer of Skill-Lync, said,
“The ever-increasing gap between the need of the industries and the education imparted by engineering institutions has caused a global shortage of high-quality engineering talent. The rapid adoption of new technologies by industries has also created a need for constant upskilling of engineering professionals. Hence, the need of the hour is to have engineers who have the knowledge of both engineering fundamentals, and how they can be applied to solve real-world problems through engineering design and simulation tools.”
The startup said that it will use the fresh capital to increase the number of courses it offers, build its management team, and expand its business to international markets.
Anand Prasanna, Managing Partner, Iron Pillar, said,
“Engineering education and upskilling outside of computer science have seen very little digital disruption over the last two decades. This, combined with the ever-expanding need for real-world interdisciplinary applications of engineering in today’s world, creates a unique opportunity to establish a multi-billion dollar global company with deep moats in this space. This is also a strong beachhead for expansion into multiple adjacent areas. Surya, Sarang and rest of Skill-Lync team has already built a great product and significant revenue in the business, with exceptional growth and capital efficiency. We feel privileged to have the opportunity to partner with them in this journey.”
Sarangarajan V Iyengar, Co-founder of Skill-Lync, said the company will double down on developing corporate partnerships to understand future talent requirements, and build in-house, high-end engineering teams to offer excellent learning outcomes to students.
Skill-Lync had last year partnered with the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) to provide technical training and also to ensure the continuity of students’ learning during the lockdown.
