CareerLabs Raises $2.2 Mn From Rocket Internet's VC Fund GFC And Angel Investors The platform is enabling millions of students in tier-II and tier-III cities to access the quality content and services

Bengaluru-based profile building platform CareerLabs for college students and working professionals announced on Monday to have secured $2.2 million in a new financing round as it looks to scale its platform, including a new product.

Rocket Internet's VC fund, Global Founders Capital, invested in the Bengaluru-based startup's pre-series A round with participation from Toshan Tamhane, Ajit Isaac, Rohit Kale, Spencer Stuart, Ghanshyam Dass, Nasdaq, and Abhishek Nag, and other angel investors.

"India's vision of "Make in India' leading to AtmaNirbhar Bharat can be a reality only if India leverages its demographic dividend. With CareerLabs we strongly intend to bridge this supply-demand gap and enable 1 million students to learn and earn better by providing everyone a chance to achieve a successful career thereby creating a motivated workforce. We are investing in building the right machine learning models with the focus on identifying the right career tracks for students and incorporating the right engagement activities resulting in successful outcomes for students," said P.N. Santosh, co-founder, and chief executive officer, CareerLabs.

Founded in 2019 by Santosh, Krithika Srinivasan, and Prasanna Alagesan, CareerLabs is building India's first profile builder platform to help college students and working professionals discover their career paths and prepare for a life beyond college at scale and at affordable price.

"We are highly impressed by Santosh and the CareerLabs team and love their passion to create a better end-to-end solution for career discovery, skilling, and recruitment. We are convinced that they will have a significant impact on the lives of millions of graduates in India in the years to come, and are proud to be part of their journey," commented Roel Janssen, partner, Global Founders Capital.

CareerLabs provides a technology-enabled platform with a unique career track recommendation engine called CareerWizard which helps CareerLabs provide suitable industry-recognized courses and certifications for upskilling. The career skilling solutions are carefully built to make it affordable at a price that is 70 per cent lower than similar solutions. Through a completely planned journey involving detailed profile analysis, personalized mentoring, and recruitment help, CareerLabs is enabling millions of students in tier-II and tier-III cities to also access the same quality content and services.

"Engineering undergraduate students are at a pivotal phase in their professional careers and yet, they don't find a helping hand that works with them to enable the right career and higher education decisions. CareerLabs brings decades of experience at BYJU's where the team solved this problem for school students and I'm excited about the impact they'll have in the undergraduate space in India," remarked Abhishek Nag, director of business development -India and South Asia, Netflix.

CareerLabs specializes in not just computer science tracks but has a wide range of profile-building career tracks in electronics, mechanical, civil, and techno-managerial domains covering creative and interdisciplinary domains. These come from the industry with practical learning and capstone projects validated by industry mentors which ensure high course completion rates which finally leads to students getting better jobs in their fields of choice or entry to top programs at master's level, the company shared.

"I am amazed at how CareerLabs is using technology to transform the traditional field of skilling, in terms of mapping prospective industry requirements, designing curriculum, and then delivering in a suitable context. Moreover, the team is incorporating softer dimensions of adult learning through technology to ensure better candidate preparedness to take on the challenges of the real world," added Toshan Tamhane, chief digital officer, UPL.

Most edtech platforms have taken the high-cost route where courses and education services are priced very high making it unaffordable for most students. The company is looking at reversing the trend and using its platform to reduce the costs to make it affordable to almost 99 per cent of students across India. This will democratize the skilling opportunities and impact students across India and the world. In the near future, the brand will reach out to over 1000 colleges covering 600,000 students and help everyone discover their dream careers through its artificial intelligence (AI)-enhanced career discovery engine, CareerWizard.