Unstop, a community engagement and hiring platform for students and graduates, has raised $5 million in its first funding round led by Japan-based leading job board and HRTech firm, Mynavi. The funding round was also backed by Coursera, one of the largest online learning platforms in the world, with operations in India. Other investors, including Venture Catalysts and 9Unicorns, and Pankaj Bansal, through his fund Caret Capital, have also participated in this round.
Ankit Aggarwal founded Unstop as a playground for talented individuals to learn, upskill, showcase their skills, gain CV points, and get hired to unlock their true potential throughout their academic journey. This enables them to eventually get hired by their dream employers and start their career journey. Backed by the vision of skills-based education, the startup aims to ensure companies find the right talent through engagements that test students’ real-life skills. The platform strives to democratize hiring by recruiting talent globally rather than from a select list of institutes.
Speaking about the company and investment, Founder & CEO of Unstop, Ankit Aggarwal, said:
Unstop is on a quest to revolutionize how talent and employers meet in today’s increasingly competitive market. We are committed to empowering fresh talent to achieve their dreams by realizing their full potential. Our moat is our six million-strong community. Technology platforms may become interchangeable; however, building a community and ecosystem takes ages and eventually sets you apart. This funding is a significant milestone for Unstop as our investors from a unique blend, coming together from various parts of the world and different domains (EdTech+HRTech) and supporting us in our journey with their vote of confidence on our robust proposition. This fresh capital will enable us to drive growth on all fronts and achieve our goals.
Unstop, derived from the belief to #BeUnstoppable, has more than 800 brands, such as Flipkart, Amazon, Reliance, TATA Sons, HUL, Reckitt, Accenture, EY, Infosys, and Wipro, as well as other top recruiters working to engage and hire from this community. It has a user base of six million students and early talent from over 20,000 colleges attracting nearly two million monthly active users.
The firm claims to have 40 million students enrolled in Indian education at a UG or PG level, of which 50 per cent are females. Over 5,000 companies are engaging with campuses across domains in India but still need help finding the right talent.
Hidekazu Ito, Managing Director of Mynavi Solution India, added:
Mynavi is dedicated to addressing challenges in India, investing in startups for HR and education. Supporting Unstop can make our vision a reality to work towards bridging skills gaps for freshers and professionals. We are excited to collaborate as a significant HR provider in Japan and expand Unstop.
With investors and strategic partners coming on board from varying domains and geographies, Ankit Aggarwal, founder of Unstop, expects to grow the company’s global presence. He aims to create a pool of qualified talent with proven employability skills and access to diverse opportunities.
According to the company, the fresh capital will help Unstop create a future where brands can match their skills requirements while engaging and recruiting talent across engineering, MBA, arts, science, commerce, and more domains.
