InterviewBit raises $20 mn in Series-A round from Sequoia, Tiger Global

The edtech start-up is addressing the problem of the employability of Indian engineers, which continues to be as low as 20 per cent

InterviewBit, an edtech start-up, said it has raised $20 million in a Series-A funding round, led by Sequoia India and Tiger Global, and with participation from other investors. The firm provides Scaler Academy, an advanced online computer science programme for college graduates and young software engineers.

The firm will use the funds to scale up the enrollment of students and launch in new markets. It would also invest in the curriculum and live teaching product to enhance the student-teacher experience.

“A lot of young engineers don’t always have access and exposure to the relevant technical skills or recruitment processes of global companies. Our mission is to bridge that gap and help them grow in their careers,” said Anshuman Singh, co-founder, InterviewBit. “We are very pleased to be able to help young engineers expand their knowledge and coding skills and enable them to get top-tier software engineers jobs at the best global tech firms.”

InterviewBit said its programme Scaler Academy was massively over-subscribed, receiving over 200,000 applications in the nine months since launch. About 2,000 students are enrolled in the programme, and the company claimed that they have already graduated and that it placed several hundred software engineers at top tech companies such as Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Samsung. 

A recent National Employability Report Engineers 2019 report highlighted that the employability of Indian engineers continues to be as low as 20 per cent. With that in mind, Scaler Academy’s six-month online programme enhances the coding skills of professionals by creating a modern curriculum with exposure to the latest technologies. Students enrolled in Scaler Academy are mentored and taught by tech leaders and subject-matter experts working with leading organisations such as Google, Facebook, Twitter and Netflix.

“Scaler Academy was incubated inside InterviewBit to help young professionals and students learn advanced programming skills,” said Abhimanyu Saxena, another co-founder of InterviewBit. “Within a short period, it has made a huge impact on the capabilities of our students, who spend 4-5 hours per day, on average, on our online and live learning platform.”

More than four million students enrol in engineering colleges in the country in a given year. Of these, only 3.4 per cent are considered employable in software engineering product roles and between one and five per cent are deemed employable in artificial intelligence, mobile app development (android and iOS) and web development.

“There is a huge global scarcity of high-quality software talent, and we have experienced it first-hand across the portfolio. As a result, we were very excited about Anshuman (Singh) and Abhimanyu’s (Saxena) vision to build an advanced online computer science program,” said Shailendra Singh, managing director, Sequoia Capital (India) Singapore.