EduBridge, a Mumbai based startup which provides skill development service to youths in semi-urban and rural areas, has raised $2.5 million in its Series A round of funding, led by Insitor Impact Asia Fund and Acumen Fund.
With this fresh influx of cash, the company is now planning to use it to expand operations to Gujarat, Odisha, Jharkhand and Bihar. It is also planning to strengthen its existing presence.
Girish Singhania, founder of EduBridge Learning, said,
We also plan to spend on integrating various technological applications into our system, improving accessibility of our services in rural India.
Founded by Girish along with a group of IIM alumni and professors in 2009, EduBridge is an education and training company that aims to transform the lives of unemployed youth in rural and semi-urban India.
It mainly offers four services – TeamBridge, EmployBridge, SkillsBridge and Projects. The company, which has partnered with over 50 colleges and universities, claims to have 67% placement for its students.
The focus in TeamBridge is to establish, manage and operate skill development centers across India to act as a bridge between unemployed youth and the industries seeking skilled manpower. The EmployBridge program is a high-quality training program specifically designed for college students.
SkillsBridge provides customized Soft-Skills / Behavioral Skills training workshops for entry-level, mid-level and senior level professionals. Projects is initiated by the Government, and offers intensive training to the unemployed youth in villages/small towns after which they are given access to job opportunities.
Its vision is to fulfill the skill gap that exists currently between semi-urban/economically backward youth and the skill requirements of the high-performing companies/government organizations.
With a mission to empower youth to impact India’s future by walking with them towards a better life, the startup currently has 60 training centres in the north east, south and western India. The company claims to have trained more than 50,000 unemployed youth from rural India over the last five years.
The company has also partnered with National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) to help to skill India’s rural and semi-urban youth. Earlier, Acumen had invested $300K in its seed funding round.
