AltUni by InsideIIM, an alternative digital university, has raised $500,000 in a funding round led by Indian Angel Network, and numerous angel investors from the previous round have increased their stake. Vishesh C Chandiok, CEO of Grant Thornton Bharat LLP, Ganesh Balakrishnan, Harsh Parikh, Narayan Babu, Supreet Singh, Ashvin George, Prashant Mohanraj, Shreyans Mehta, Amit Monteiro, Raghav Joshi, Mainak Shome, Bhoopesh Jain, Sandeep Bhadresa, and others have also participated in the capital raised.
With this funding, the company plans to expand its online platforms (insideiim.com, insidekampus.com, and AltUni.in) and strengthen community engagement to prepare India’s youth for the workforce. It is one of the few startups in the country with more than 50% female employees.
AltUni, launched in 2020, offers affordable short modules of immersive online learning courses instead of remote learning programmes that stretch endlessly and become obsolete with time. The platform does not provide degrees or certifications but rather connects learners with business leaders and offers opportunities to interview with India’s leading corporations. Every programme includes a live industrial project as well as personalized counselling. AltUni programmes are currently focused on helping candidates establish business and management careers.
Speaking about the company, Founder of AltUni by InsideIIM, Ankit Doshi, said:
For years, India has been the capital of unemployable candidates with paper degrees. We believe it’s time to make India the skills capital of the world. Our company mission is to enhance India’s human capital. A college education is not sufficient to be employable when Artificial intelligence threatens the existence of many jobs. AltUni helps early career professionals and college students gain skills to future-proof their careers for the next decade. AltUni offers personalized mentorship so candidates can navigate an uncertain job market with expert help.
The startup claims that over 4,000 alumni in 36 months who have gained the skills to excel in a digital business. It has an ARR of INR 12 Crores and is operationally profitable. This is the company’s second funding round after February 2022. The firm has raised $1 million so far.
Padmaja Ruparel, Co-founder of Indian Angel Network (IAN), added:
IAN welcomes AltUni, its newest portfolio company. An incredible journey, Ankit Doshi and Mihir Mehta, to make higher quality education available globally. This investment validates our mission and fuels our commitment to producing quality education available to learners globally. AltUni’s dedication to addressing the challenges in the higher education sector aligns with our mission to support innovative solutions. We are confident that this investment will help AltUni further its mission and positively change the education landscape.
AltUni owes its rapid growth to the InsideIIM.com community. InsideIIM is India’s most prominent MBA platform, catering to 400K+ unique users every month and around five million individual users annually. The platform’s YouTube channel garners over 10 million views every year. This community is the backbone of AltUni and helps AltUni acquire users at zero cost.
