Indian professional skilling edtech startup bags $200k in pre-seed round

Geekster, an edtech human resources company based in India, has raised US$200,000 in its pre-seed round led by startup investment platform We Founder Circle.

The We Founder Circle team / Photo credit: We Founder Circle

Investors including Ah Ventures also participated in the financing round.

Geekster will use the fresh funds to launch skill development programs, accelerating its product development and offering its product to a wider client base.

An integrated edtech and HR platform, Geekster helps students get trained for in-demand skills by industry experts. Users are only required to pay for the course after landing a job, while employers gain access to vetted talent through data-driven matching algorithms.

“The attrition rates at Indian IT companies are rising, and this has triggered a war to acquire the best tech talent. Also, early attrition is a new trend that is making it more difficult for IT companies to retain talent,” said We Founders Circle co-founder Neeraj Tyagi.

The startup said it has received over 20,000 student inquiries for its job-oriented programs, with more than 500 professionals active on its platform. Currently, Geekster is helping over 25 startups and some large and mid-size IT enterprises to build their tech teams.

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We Founder Circle invests US$50,000 to US$150,000 in early-stage startups. The firm also provides business development, and global networking opportunities to firms.