Career guidance platform Mindler has announced that it has raised $1 million in a Pre-Series A round led by Inflection Point Ventures (IPV).
In relation to the announcement, the founder of Mindler, Prateek Bhargava stated “We are very excited to have the support from IP Ventures and their network of C-Suite leaders from across the globe. Apart from Inflection Point Ventures, we are also in final stage talks with a few HNIs for this round.”
The startup offers what it claims is the “world’s most-advanced career assessment” platform. It allows users to take tests that cover questions from 5 different categories: Orientation, Interest, Personality, Aptitude and Emotional Quotient, and carves out your perfect career path based upon your answers.
Moreover, it also operates a SaaS platform for other educators & ed-tech partners to create their own career guidance ecosystem. The company also aims to create and certify career coaches through a multi-level credentialing program in collaboration with National Career Development Association (USA) and Career Development Alliance (USA).
Despite the pandemic affecting businesses adversely, Mindler carved a fantastic growth trajectory last year. The startup grew its collaborations and partnerships, and also transformed its in-school career counselling programs. Its International Certification and Credentialing Program for educators saw over 400% increase with a huge number of educators taking to career guidance in order to bridge the gap of over 1.5 million career coaches in India.
It also launched a new initiative called the Mindler Scholarship Hunt to support students in these difficult times, offering scholarships worth INR 25 crore to students in 12th standard (from India and Middle East) for admission into leading Indian Universities.
“Despite all its challenges, 2020 has been a phenomenal year for us. It has been a landmark year for us especially in terms of collaborations and we are all geared towards increasing the same in the coming year.” Stated Bhargava.
The funds raised in the Pre-Series A round will be utilized towards expanding the startup’s base of institutional partnerships and alliances. As part of its growth charter for 2021, the edtech start-up now plans to strengthen its platform with the objective of shaping the entire career guidance ecosystem.
Bhargava also said that the startup is looking to hire 15-20 employees to ramp up its technology, data science, machine learning, and sales teams.
IPV with its vast investor base of CXOs from diverse industries (including Edtech), will help Mindler access a large unexplored market base and expand its network exponentially, while enhancing its tech capabilities as well. Mitesh Shah, Co-founder of IPV, also commented on the announcement, stating “With their cutting-edge product, deep relationships with schools and above all its dynamic Founding Team, Mindler is solving a genuine problem in a very efficient way and has penetrated really very well amongst career aspirants.”
