Purple Squirrel (that’s quite a name !), an online platform which allows students to enroll in supplementary education courses like workshops, practical training, field visits etc., has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Matrix Partners India and India Quotient.
Founded in September 2013, by Aditya Gandhi and Sahiba Dhandhania, alumni of IIT Bombay and Christ University respectively, Purple Squirrel aims to become India’s largest online marketplace for supplementary education aiming to make practical and industry driven education accessible to all. The startup, which is currently incubated at SINE, IIT Bombay, facilitates industry visits, workshops and hands on trainings for students from all streams.
The two founders, both first time entrepreneurs, are extremely optimistic about the sector. Upon reflecting the initial days, Sahiba said,
Both Aditya and I found an expectation reality mismatch in our first jobs. In wanting to help students chose better careers, we realised that we had to change the way they learnt in the first place.
To get enrolled on Purple Squirrel’s platform, you can straight away head to the startup’s website and click on the “Plan Now” button. Upon clicking, you get redirected to a new page where in you can start the tour and inform Purple Squirrel about your requirements.
Purple Squirrel claims to have enrolled students from over 70 colleges spanning across 10 Indian cities. Total number of students who have already benefited via purple Squirrel’s platform stands at 800 with over 300 companies taking this students in.
The startup already has a 100 member strong team at its disposal and is looking at further geographical and college expansion pan India.
