saasguru, an education technology platform for cloud skills and workforce development, recently announced that it has raised A$4 million (around US$2.7 million) in a seed funding round led by local VC giant Square Peg, with the participation from existing investors like Black Nova and Antler.
With the latest round of investment, the startup plans to continue to build its technology stack and expand into multiple high-demand cloud certifications.
Co-founded by former consultants, Amit Choudhary and Atif Saad in 2021, saasguru automatically designs a personalised learning pathway for users from micro-learning modules inspired by TikTok, to insights, suggestions, and gamified learning, as well as offering access to a community of software experts for 1-1 mentoring. It targets both fresh graduates starting their first job in cloud technologies to professionals who have one or more cloud certificates and are working towards the next.
saasguru is on a mission to solve the cloud skills crisis by creating the bridge between learning and certifications. The company believes in the power of collective action to change lives. Through its “Be the change” initiatives, the platform is supporting programs across the world to help people from a situation of disadvantage change their lives with the power of cloud skills and certification.
Speaking about the company, Co-founder of saasguru, Amit Choudhary, said:
We want to play a leading role in solving the global cloud skills crisis and supercharge cloud skilling and certification. EdTech has become an e-commerce-like experience for users. All users are getting is an overload of content with aggressive subscription models. Saasguru is disrupting that with a personalized learning experience, supported by our gurus and leading to a very tangible outcome of skills, certifications and jobs.
saasguru claims that, more than 40,000 learners from 20 countries have used the platform, with the business offering 15 programs covering leading cloud providers, and the firm also partners with more than 20 cloud consulting companies to help them accelerate the cloud upskilling of new hires as well as re-skilling and upskilling of existing teams.
Since its inception, the company has added a variety of learning programs to its platform covering Salesforce, ServiceNow, AWS, GCP and Azure.
saasguru acquires customers by running free webinars with its teachers, or gurus. It also offers free one-on-one mentoring sessions on careers and interview tips and certifications, and runs a Slack community. The EdTech platform serves both individuals and cloud consulting companies that want to build the skills of new and existing employees.
Principal, Square Peg Capital, Lucy Tan, added in a statement:
There is a massive cloud skills shortage in the industry that is slowing down digital transformation initiatives undertaken by businesses. Universities are not well equipped to solve this skills shortage as the skills update so quickly. This means post-university upskilling is critical for continued business growth and Saasguru provides a personalised learning pathway for cloud professionals to embark on, helping them get skilled and certified in cloud technologies. This can make a meaningful impact on people’s lives from either landing them in a new career or getting salary increases.
Earlier this year, saasguru had raised $1.3 million in a funding round led by Aussie VC Square Peg Capital. The round also saw participation from Black Nova.
