Gurugram-based Sunstone Eduversity, an edtech startup focused on imparting practical skills training, has raised Rs 24 crore in a Series A funding round to continue helping students ready for real-world job opportunities.
The funding round was led by venture firm Saama Capital, with participation from Helion Advisors MD Ashish Gupta and PeopleStrong Co-founder and CEO Pankaj Bansal. Sunstone Eduversity’s existing investors Prime Venture Partners, Purvi Capital, and Leo Capital Founder and MD Rajul Garg also participated in the round, according to company’s press statement.
Founded in 2015 by Ashish Munjal and Piyush Nangru, Sunstone Eduversity is on a mission to bring about a paradigm shift in the present higher education system by equipping the students with various skill sets so that they are ready for real-world job opportunities and easily absorbed by the recruitment companies. The company offers higher education programs in BFSI, logistics, operations, sales management, digital marketing, human resource, business research and analytics, and others.
Sunstone Eduversity works closely with various corporates and corporate leaders to design the curriculum according to industry needs. The company operates on a unique ‘pay-after-placement’ model, allowing students to pay course fee only after getting a job. Sunstone claims it has established a 100% placement record to date and has over 200 companies visiting the campuses every year to hire fresh talent.
Speaking about the company, Ashish Munjal, Co-founder and CEO, Sunstone Eduversity, said in a statement,
“We are delighted to welcome Saama Capital into the Sunstone family. Sunstone Eduversity is fixing the problem of large scale skill gaps in students by adopting one simple principle: Accountability. By collecting fees only after our students get jobs, we make sure that all the cogs in our system are working towards the success of our students. One of the challenges faced by freshers is the lack of industry-relevant skills that reduce their chances of getting hired by reputed companies. We focus on imparting practical skills training instead of outdated theory and remote learning methods.”
The company plans to utilize the fresh capital to enhance its technological infrastructure, talent acquisition, and curriculum development. It also plans to grow its network of associated colleges from eight partner institutions in six cities to 20 in 15 cities by July 2021.
Commenting on the investment, Kiranbir Nag, Partner at Saama Capital, said in a statement,
“Increasingly, the need for education to be outcome-oriented is dominating the minds of both students and the industry. With its technology-focused, data-centric approach and alignment with the students, we believe Sunstone is well placed to bring about a shift in the present higher education system by equipping the students with the latest tools that would make them ready for real-world job opportunities. We are excited to partner with the founders and other investors of Sunstone and believe that the company’s vision has the potential for tremendous impact."
Sunstone claimed it has received over 10,000 applications, a fourfold increase, and enrolled over 1,000 students this year, which it said is a threefold increase compared to last year. The company also said it has generated more than 450 internship offers for the batch of 2019-21 despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sunstone Eduversity had last raised Rs 11.35 crore in November 2019 in its seed funding round led by Prime Venture Partners, with participation from LetsVenture, PS1 Ventures, and Rajul Garg.
