Aspire has successfully completed a second–round (Series B) funding of $4.5 million from Foundation Capital, a US based early–stage fund and a personal investment from Neeraj Bhargava, Co–Founder of private equity firm, Steer Capital. The announcement was made at a function held in the city attended by Mr. Amit Bhatia, Founder & CEO, Aspire Human Capital Management; Mr. Warren Weiss, General Partner–Foundation Capital & Mr. Samit Sinha, Founder–Alchemist Brand Consulting, all Board Members of Aspire.
Aspire Human Capital Management, a Gurgaon–headquartered Education Services Firm provides embedded employability and professional education to schools and colleges. Aspire works extensively with educational institutions across India through its offices and staff in 14 cities and 8 states. Aspire delivers employability through two market–winning, instructor–led training products: ProHire™ and EnglishPro™ hosted on our EEMSTM (Employability Education Management System) which includes our proprietary assessment tool, i.e., NEST™ (National Employability Skills Test). Aspire’s mission is to help India reap its demographic dividend.
India currently has 600 million youth below 25 years of age of which 320 million are in schools and colleges. Less than 25% are employable! Moreover, India expects 500 million new job seekers between 2007 and 2022. The youngest nation on the planet, plagued with a severe job–talent mismatch, needs initiatives like Aspire to bridge a growing skills gap. As shown in Annexure 1, a two–year survey of 12,000 candidates shows that the skills gap actually increased by 300 basis points in 2009–10 over 2008–09.
Aspire is also pleased to announce the appointment of three new Directors:
- Mr. Warren Weiss, General Partner, Foundation Capital has more then has 25 years experience in the software industry, including time as president and CEO of four public and private software companies. Warren commented, “We are excited about Aspire’s 70 million students, $1.4 billion market opportunity in Embedded Employability Education which is the best answer for India’s Skills Gap challenge.”
- Mr. Neeraj Bhargava, Co–Founder of Steer Capital has over 20 years of management experience as Ex Co–Founder and Group CEO of WNS Global Services; Former Founder and CEO of eVentures; and, Former Partner, McKinse& Company. Neeraj, commenting on his investment and Board role, mentioned, “I am very excited about Aspire's sharp focus on working closely with Indian Universities and enhancing the employability and career prospects of their large pool of students. Aspire is on to something big and the investments from Foundation Capital and me is a strong endorsement of its strategy and team. I look forward to my Board role and supporting Amit and team on building a great company."
- Mr. Samit Sinha, Founder of Alchemist Brand Consulting since 2001 completed a 20–year advertising career with last role as Chief Operating Officer, Mudra after long tenures at Lintas and Clarion/Bates. Commenting on his appointment, “This association is truly meaningful for me, as Aspire is doing the right thing, at the right time, and for the right reasons– to foster useful and usable quality education for a real purpose, not merely for a degree.”
“Aspire is embarking on a new growth orbit, with new leadership and new growth capital. This year, we will grow our student base three–folds from 15,000 currently and extend our offering from 14 cities in 8 states to 25 cities in 15 states. Aspire, with a truly differentiated (1) asset–light, embedded–education model; (2) technology–enabled, bundled, end–to–end offering; and, (3) industry created and endorsed content; will make a real difference to the lives of over 1 million students in 5 years” said Amit Bhatia, Founder & CEO of Aspire.
This partnership with Foundation Capital, a world–class investor, gives Aspire access to their talented partners, with hands–on operational experience, who have successfully built almost 100 companies in the last 15 years. Foundation’s investment and our new Board with marquee business leaders, is as much a vote of confidence about our future, as recognition of our past. Aspire will be using the capital raised for investing in geographic market expansion and new product development.
About Aspire
Aspire™ is a social entrepreneurial firm. We enable in–campus education that enhances employability through world’s first “hallmarked” Employability Education Management System (EEMSTM). Aspire’s flagship product ProHire, available in three editions (ProHire Classic, ProHire Lite and ProHire Ivy League), enhances professional employability skills in schools and colleges. Aspire’s EnglishPro product available in five editions (Junior School, Middle School, Senior School, Business and Professional) enhances English Language & Communication Skills in schools and colleges. We deploy our technology platform, EEMSTM with either of our two core products (ProHire™ and EnglishPro™), offering three modules (Assessment, Training and Placement) to all four customer segments (B2E, B2B, B2C and B2G). Headquartered in Gurgaon, Aspire™ enables Educators, Employers and Employees to Grow More and can be found @ www.aspireindia.org
About Foundation Capital
Founded in 1995, Foundation Capital is a venture capital firm with a single purpose: building great companies. It is this entrepreneurial spirit along with deep operational expertise that gives the partners the understanding, perspective, and enthusiasm to help promising companies in their formative stages. Foundation Capital targets innovative opportunities in consumer services, cleantech, consumer Internet, and Information Technology. Further information is available at www.foundationcapital.com
