NxtWave, an edtech firm, has raised $2.8 million from Orios and Better Capital

NxtWave, an edtech firm, has raised $2.8 million from Orios and Better Capital

Orios Venture Partners and Better Capital led a $2.8 million investment round for NxtWave, a Hyderabad-based education technology business.

The fundraising was attended by a number of angel investors, including LivSpace founder Ramakant Sharma, CarDekho's Umang Kumar, and Shaadi.com's Anupam Mittal. According to an announcement released on Wednesday, the new funds would be utilised for employment, product development, and expanding the company's income by five times in the following 12 months.

During the pandemic, NxtWave was established by IITians Sashank Reddy Gujjula, Anupam Pedarla, and Rahul Attuluri with the goal of creating India's largest "online employability university" for anyone seeking a career in technology without a formal college degree. Every year, it intends to produce one million new-age developers. NxtWave now offers training programmes for Industry 4.0 tech vocations in regional languages, aimed at college students, graduates, and early young professionals in small communities.

"We feel that in order to generate transformative learning experiences in small-town India, digital pedagogy must be radically different," CEO Attuluri remarked. "We've taken a multi-pronged approach in building our 'Continuous Career Building Programs,' leveraging technology, pedagogy, and vernacular content to achieve this."

More than 200,000 students from over 3,000 colleges are said to be part of the company's active student network. Its paying clients hail from over 250 districts across India, with over 85 percent residing in non-metro and rural areas. According to the corporate statement, 250+ organisations have hired NxtWave grads in the previous six months, including Google and Reliance Jio.

"NxtWave's vernacular and semi-synchronous format...fills a big niche for students and early professionals...," said Vaibhav Domkundwar of Better Capital, which raised $15.28 million for its first fund. "It gives them access to the fast-growing tech industry in a way that has never been done before."