Ex-Unacademy COO secures $11m to transform India’s ‘gray-collar’ jobs

Beyond Odds Technologies founder Vivek Sinha / Photo credit: Beyond Odds Technologies

“Gray-collar jobs” refer to positions that require more specialized technical skills and training compared to blue-collar work but do not necessarily fit into the traditional corporate office environment. That may seem like a niche proposition, but the post-pandemic hiring crunch may see gray-collar workers as a solution.

The healthcare space, for one, may see a shortage of 10 million skilled workers by 2030, according to the World Health Organization.

That’s an opportunity that Vivek Sinha, the former COO of Indian edtech firm Unacademy, wants to tackle. He recently founded his own edtech startup called Beyond Odds Technologies, which aims to create a high-quality supply of Indian gray-collar workers to solve both local and global manpower needs.

The company has now raised US$11 million in a seed funding round led by Matrix Partners India and Lightspeed. Participating investors include Alteria Capital and Temasek subsidiary InnoVen Capital, along with angel investors Ritesh Agarwal from Oyo and Gaurav Munjal from Unacademy.

Beyond Odds runs a training, certification, and recruitment platform that targets the gray-collared workforce in sectors like healthcare, education, hospitality, and construction. Through the platform, candidates can enter training programs where industry partners provide “hands-on” coaching.

An upcoming project is higher education brand Emversity, which provides bachelor’s degrees and certificates with university partners, and will open its first center in Bangalore this week. Emversity’s programs include emergency and trauma care, anesthesia, and hospital administration.

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