byteXL, one of the leading experiential learning platforms for IT career aspirants, announced that it has raised $1 million in a Seed B angel round led by Joy Family Investments along with Derek Missimo and six others investors.
The Hyderabad-based startup has also announced its strategic growth plans that include expansion of its operations into newer geographies that span Tamil Nadu, Odisha, and Karnataka, robust hiring plans of doubling the team to over 350 by March 2023, added senior members to the team including the Head of Operations, Head of Learning, Vice President for Sales and other senior members, and is on course for onboarding additional 90 institutes and 1,40,000 students by March 2023.
Founded by Karun Tadepalli, byteXL offers learning solutions for IT ‘career-ready engineers’ in conventional coding and deep technologies like cloud, artificial intelligence/machine learning, DevOps, FullStack Development, and cyber security. It delivers the courses through a hybrid learning platform. The company’s aim is to provide an unparalleled combination of self-learning coursework and guided training to bring job readiness along with graduation for every student.
Speaking on the fundraising and growth plans, Founder & CEO of byteXL, Karun Tadepalli, said:
“byteXL is witnessing exponential response from the engineering institutes and we are emerging as the preferred skilling partner for the colleges across several states. With a robust growth trajectory, byteXL is aiming at achieving a 400% increase in revenues as we target US$11 Mn for the financial year 2022-23. We are strengthening our advisory and strategy team and the fundraising of $1 million is primarily towards adding investors as strategic partners and for expanding the team, infrastructure, and other operational systems. The funds will also help us scale up as we aim to disrupt the market with learning, skilling, and placement and consolidate our position.”
byteXL which started its operations in 2020 has witnessed tremendous growth in the last 2 years. While the startup signed up 15 institutes covering 20,000 students within the first year of operations, the second year witnessed an impressive response with 4X growth in the number of sign-ups at 75 institutes. Currently, 85 institutes are utilizing byteXL’s proprietary platform to train its 1,00,000 students on emerging technologies.
Adding about the latest development, Co-founder & Chief Sales Officer of byteXL, Sricharan Tadepalli, said:
“We are on track to meet our aggressive plans of onboarding 175 institutes and training 240,000 students by the end of March 2023. As we expand our pan-India presence to Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Gujarat, and Odisha, we are already chalking out plans for the APAC region as well as in the United States. We are partnering with community colleges, veterans’ programs, and underprivileged and underrepresented youth and collaborating with consortiums and skill development centers as part of our outreach and partner programs in India.”
Post the initial operation focusing on Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, the company has recently expanded its operations to newer geographies including Maharashtra and Gujarat, apart from advanced level discussions with more institutes in a number of states currently, it has clients in 7 states and 20 cities.
President, Joy Family Investments, Joseph Joy, added:
“At byteXL, we have seen a high potential start-up that is addressing a critical need by guiding engineering students. Its niche offering will pave the way for high growth as it is taking very calculated steps in expanding operations. It is evident that institutes are becoming more interested in their programs. This is because they not only add value to the student’s employability but also aid the institutions in increasing placement offers.”
byteXL has partnered with one of the leading cyber security companies in the world, Fortinet, to train and certify students in the application and penetration testing. The company has also partnered with Leading Indian AI (an initiative to promote and teach artificial intelligence) and various companies to help students with placements to start a career based on their individual skills and interests.
Derek Missimo, a US based angel investor, has said:
“The cost-efficient B2B model of byteXL is very effective and the growth trajectory is exciting. Faster customer acquisition, high customer renewal rates, and high engagement rates are bright signs of the company’s momentum. We are highly optimistic about their future.”
The company’s revenues have also witnessed an upward trend with the EdTech startup clocking $2.2 million revenues in the financial year 2021-22 from $120,000 recorded in the first full financial year of 2020-21. It is also moving its operations to a larger facility in Hyderabad of a 100-seater capacity expandable up to 400-seater with potential offices in Pune and Ahmedabad to support the expanding operation in the respective states.
Last year in September, byteXL had raised $200,000 in funding that was led by US-based investor – Joy Family Investment headed by Joseph Joy, who had earlier also invested in EdTech, Pharma, and healthcare companies.
