India’s most preferred digital counselling and preparation platform for careers beyond engineering and medicine, Toprankers, has acquired ProBano, a New Delhi-based career platform, in a cash-and stock-deal, marking its entry into the career discovery and guidance category.
With this acquisition, Toprankers aims to leverage ProBano’s expertise in offering career guidance services to high school students aged between 13 and 18. The platform aims to facilitate students to make informed career choices and develop the necessary skills to achieve their career goals, an official statement said.
However, the company did not disclose the transaction details.
Founded in 2016 by Aditya Bose, ProBano is committed to providing the best career guidance to the youth of India through its innovative and technology-backed process. It helps students make well-informed career choices and build up the necessary skills. The startup claims to have counselled more than 30,000 students across 24 states.
Speaking about the acquisition, Co-founder & CEO of Toprankers, Gaurav Goel, said:
Toprankers is committed to supporting the 90% segment of the Indian K-12 market, which doesn’t opt for engineering or medical science entrance exams. We have a legacy of enabling students to make informed career choices for a bright future. Leveraging ProBano’s expertise in career guidance & counselling, we will help the next ten lakhs to 1 crore high school students explore different career options, discover their passion, and pursue it.
As a part of the deal, Toprankers will integrate ProBano’s CEO, Aditya Bose and his team of experienced career guides and project managers into its existing team. With the inclusion of ProBano’s expertise in career guidance and counselling, Toprankers is designing a career discovery and experience platform that will enable high school students to explore their passions and offer skill-building opportunities across diverse career domains.
Co-founded in 2016 by serial entrepreneurs Gaurav Goel, Karan Mehta, and Harsh Gagrani, Toprankers focuses on the Indian K-12 market beyond engineering and medicine entrance exams. It offers learning approaches and support to students preparing for management, CUET (Common Universities Entrance Test), law, judiciary, and design and architecture entrances.
Founder & CEO of ProBano, Aditya Bose, added:
ProBano’s mission has always been to help students across India make informed career choices and build the skills needed to succeed. Joining forces with Toprankers enables us to do it at a large scale by leveraging its strong student network, its expertise in EdTech, and its range of offerings for students who have chosen a specific career option.
According to Goel, the startup will also offer career guidance and counselling, with its one-to-one counselling product slated to launch in the first week of June. The product, priced in the range of Rs 30,000-50,000, would provide a personalized experience to students over 4-6 months, helping them discover and experience different career options. It is also looking to expand its footprint in the offline space. From about 4-5 centres in June last year, it has nearly 15 offline centres, with another ten opening in the next five months. Toprankers plans to have 50 offline centres, including ten franchised ones, by the end of FY24.
The company’s presence so far has been limited to North Indian states like Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Rajasthan. However, it also plans to expand into South India, to states like Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh, with about 8-10 new centres expected to open in this region in FY24.
With this deal, the firm’s team will grow to more than 400 people, and in the next year, its workforce will expand by about 50% as it plans to hire across verticals.
Toprankers has previously unveiled its career discovery brand, “Toprankers Udaan.” It aims to deliver extensive career guidance to 10th, 11th, 12th and dropper students struggling with career-related uncertainties. In June 2022, the startup raised $4 million in its Series A funding round led by Sixth Sense Ventures, a leading consumer fund.
