Springboard, a silicon valley headquartered online learning platform has announced today, raising of a fresh $11 Million in Series A from multiple investors. The round was led by Reach Capital, with participation by Pearson Ventures, International Finance Corporation (IFC), as well as returning investors Costanoa Ventures, Learn Capital, and Blue Fog Capital.
Founded in 2013, Springboard is a workforce upskilling platform, which offfers fully-online, job-guaranteed courses for early- and mid-career professionals in analytics, data science, design, software engineering and other new-economy fields. These are generally areas where in the demand for talent exceeds supply. As a part of the skilling process, Springboard also provides one-on-one support from expert mentors and career coaches, and a uniquely human experience that leads to higher completion rates and job placements.
The model that Springboard employs to get users is tather unique. It has, what it calls “Job-Guaranteed Career Tracks”, which are online courses that guarantee students a job upon graduation or they’re completely free. So far, the platform claims to have over 14,000 learners globally. Graduates see an average salary increase of $26,000 or at least 20% after the course. Alumni work at over 50% of the Fortune 100, in data science, data analytics, machine learning and UX design roles at companies including Microsoft, Facebook, Boeing, and Visa.
“Today, the world is changing so rapidly that the traditional model of education where a college degree at the beginning of your career lasts a 40-year career is breaking down. In fact, working professionals now have to significantly upskill or re skill every 3-5 years to advance in their careers. Our industry-designed programs combined with in-depth, 1-on-1 mentorship and career guidance enable people to achieve their full potential.” said Parul Gupta, Co-founder of Springboard. “We are on an ambitious mission to solve the global skills gap and especially excited about the talent and opportunity in India. We’re delighted to have education focused investors like Reach Capital and Pearson Ventures as partners on this journey,” she added.
Along with the Series A financing, Springboard also announced an interesting partnership with Microsoft. As a part of the partnership, the platform will train and place 5,000 students into analytics jobs over the next 3 years, through its new Data Analytics Career Track. The course combines Microsoft’s educational resources and subject matter expertise with Springboard’s model of getting students job-ready and placing them into high-demand jobs.
