CareerNinja has recently raised an undisclosed amount in pre-seed funding from Unitus Ventures.
Founded by Shronit Ladhani in 2017, CareerNinja is focused on making high-quality learning both practical and affordable in India. Ladhani explains, “CareerNinja seamlessly addresses the quality upskilling needs of those early in their career and looking to upgrade their career profiles. The company uses ML (machine learning) and NLP (natural language processing) models and frameworks to make learning more personalized and interactive while bringing down the cost.”
Commenting on the fundraise, Ladhani adds, “Forty-three percent of businesses surveyed indicate that they are set to reduce their workforce due to technology integration, 41 percent plan to expand their use of contractors for task-specialized work, and 34 percent plan to expand their workforce due to technology integration. We aim to touch over a million learners by 2022. The funding secured will help us to advance the product, team and technology to achieve this goal.”
A nation-wide employability report showed that graduating students had only a 20 percent employability in today's knowledge economy. Forty-eight percent Indian employers report difficulties filling job vacancies due to talent shortages.
Surya Mantha, Senior Partner, Unitus Ventures, says, “Business needs are changing rapidly and hiring needs are constantly evolving to keep up. The roots of underemployment in our country are deep. One way to address this is to make upskilling affordable and outcome focused for the millions in India’s workforce. CareerNinja aligns with our outlook and investment thesis to create meaningful solutions to address this problem at scale.”
The AI-powered edtech platform democratizes quality learning at affordable rates for anyone seeking to upskill. AI allows each course at CareerNinja to be segmented into multiple specializations and over 5,000 unique learning pathways personalized for learners’ needs. Learners on the platform also get one-on-one mentorship with industry experts, opportunities to work on guided projects, personalized doubt solving, a dedicated student success manager and guaranteed placement.
