National, February 2023: Upskilling startup NxtWave has raised₹275 Crores in its latest fundraising round, led by Greater Pacific Capital (GPC), a leading international private equity firm. NxtWave’s existing venture investor Orios Venture Partners also participated in the current round.
Founded by IIT Bombay, IIT Kharagpur and IIIT Hyderabad alumni – Sashank Reddy Gujjula, Anupam Pedarla and Rahul Attuluri, NxtWave is building India’s largest online employability platform for new-age technology careers. The company has been extremely successful in creating job-ready tech professionals through its training programs. Over the last couple of years, 1250+ companies, from fast-growing startups to Fortune 500 giants have hired NxtWave learners. Students from all the 38 districts of Tamil Nadu are learning with NxtWave and getting ready for software careers.
Recently, NxtWave conducted the nationwide Fly High Challenge for students. Two students from Tamil Nadu — K Vishal, hailing from Trichy and R Roshan Wilfred, hailing from Chennai, were among the 25 winners across the country. The students would soon Fly to Dubai to join the prestigious 4.0 Tech Camp to learn advanced technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Cyber Security, IoT directly from world-class professionals.
Commenting on the new funding, Rahul Attuluri, Co-Founder & CEO – NxtWave said, “We’re excited to have GPC as a new partner in our journey. Tamil Nadu has one of the leading IT hubs of our country and it’s growing rapidly. Together with GPC, we want to make world-class training in software development available to youngsters in every corner of the state and equip them for the jobs of the future.”
According to a Morgan Stanley’s ‘Why this is India’s Decade’ report, India’s IT exports are expected to grow threefold in the next 8 years, from$178 billion to $527 billion. This brings abundant career opportunities for India’s youth. NxtWave is bridging the widening industry-academia gap by providing career paths to these opportunities with an industry-relevant curriculum.
Mr. Ketan Patel, Founder and CEO of GPC, commented, “India has world-class engineering institutes, and as the country positions itself as one of the leaders of the information era, the country needs to build the capacity to provide quality learning, particularly in artificial intelligence, for 500 million young Indians. Leveraging technology to fill this gap is the key to unlocking India’s economic potential and providing quality employment to its youth, which NxtWave is doing. We are excited to partner with NxtWave to rapidly scale its platform and provide access to high-quality education and training for India’s youth for this exciting global growth area.” Nandan Desai, MD and Co-Head of India for GPC, will join NxtWave’s Board as part of the transaction.
Speaking about the investment Anup Jain, Managing Partner, Orios Venture Partners said, “Nearly 63% of Indian graduates are unemployed and an estimated 30 lakh new tech jobs are projected to be created in India within a few years. This gap opens up a total tech-upskilling opportunity of over $8 billion annually. NxtWave has proved it can bridge this gap successfully and is now ready for its next phase of growth across India.”
Avendus Capital acted as the exclusive financial advisor to NxtWave on the transaction.Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co. and Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas acted as legal counsel to NxtWave and GPC, respectively. For more information: http://nxtwave.in
About NxtWave:
Founded by IIT Bombay, IIT Kharagpur and IIIT Hyderabad alumni – Sashank Reddy Gujjula, Anupam Pedarla and Rahul Attuluri, NxtWave is on a mission to build India’s largest online employability platform for tech careers without the need for a conventional college degree. It offers vernacular, asynchronous and online cohort-based training programs in Industry 4.0 Tech career tracks for college students, graduates and early professionals. In the last couple of years,1250+ companies, from fast-growing startups to Fortune 500 giants, have hired thousands of NxtWave learners. For more information on NxtWave, please visit: http://nxtwave.in
About Greater Pacific Capital
GPC is a leading international private equity investor, focused on delivering a strong development impact alongside financial returns, with measurable impact on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. The firm was founded in 2005 and has invested and mobilized over US$1 billion of capital in high-growth companies in core sectors of the Indian economy including financial services, technology and healthcare. This is GPC’s fourth investment from its latest fund, alongside investments in Enzen Global Solutions Pvt. Ltd., a leading global provider of energy efficiency solutions to utilities, Near Pte., a rapidly growing software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform focused on location as a driver of value, and Muthoot Microfin, one of India’s largest microfinance institutions. For more information on GPC, please visit: http://greaterpacificcapital.com
About Orios VP:
Launched in 2013, Orios Venture Partners is one of India’s leading technology Venture Capital funds which primarily invests in India-focused startups and businesses. Each investment is backed with continuous support in strategy, operations, marketing and fundraising to help them breakout cost-effectively and build loyal customers. Notable portfolio companies include Pharmeasy, Country Delight, Battery Smart, Beato, Karbon, Zupee, Kenko among others.