Scaler, a Bengaluru-based education technology startup, has announced a strategic partnership with National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) to help India meet its growing demand for software development Engineers, data scientists and machine learning specialists through its upskilling programmes, the company said in a statement.
The collaboration intends to work towards standardizing tech upskilling in emerging areas and recognize it as the appropriate solution to create a large pool of skilled and certified workforce. Through this union, the learners completing the Scaler Academy and Scaler Data Science and Machine Learning (DSML) courses will be awarded a certificate of completion co-branded with NSDC, the statement further mentioned.
Speaking on the partnership, Sanjeeva Singh, EVP of the skill financing team from NSDC, said:
We believe that our partnership with Scaler will not just help certify deserving trained workforce but also help generate appropriate employment opportunities for the youth of the country. NSDC and Scaler will together address the need of the high-growth sectors identified by the government of India, including IT, electronics, and entrepreneurship. This association has the potential to bridge the supply-demand differences and therefore bridge the ongoing great skills shortage in the tech industry.
This alliance also aims to help Scaler become an integral part of the Skill India Mission that was started in 2015 with a mandate to skill 400 million Indians across key sectors in the country,
Commenting on the latest development, Co-founder of Scaler & InterviewBit, Abhimanyu Saxena, said:
In the last four years, over 30,000 people have joined our unique upskilling programmes that comprise world-class pedagogy, an up-to-date curriculum, and trainers and mentors from the tech industry. We are delighted to join hands with NSDC, one of India’s most successful public-private partnerships, and become part of Skill India Mission.
Launched in 2019, Scaler focuses on upskilling working professionals in the country. The platform’s industry-vetted curriculum provides the highest quality technology education in the world. Learners enrolled in Scaler are mentored and taught by tech leaders and subject matter experts working with leading organizations, including Google, Facebook, Intuit, Microsoft, Amazon, Hotstar, Snapdeal etc. The startup is backed by marquee global investors like Sequoia Capital India, Tiger Global, and Lightrock India. It is currently witnessing a 90% course completion rate with a 94% successful placement rate.
According to the company, this partnership also aims to address the prevailing skill gap in the tech industry by providing upskilling courses, which will now be recognized under NSDC, thereby highlighting the country’s support for producing industry-ready tech talents.
Last year, Scaler expanded its footprint in the US, launched co-living campuses, strengthened its leadership team, and launched its learning app on the Play Store. The company also became cash-flow positive during this period, with a valuation of $710 million, up from about $76.5 million in 2020.
NSDC aims to promote skill development by creating large, quality, for-profit vocational institutions. The platform provides funding to build scalable and profitable vocational training initiatives. Its mandate is also to enable a support system that focuses on quality assurance, information systems and training the trainer academies directly or through partnerships.
