Skill-Lync, an edtech startup that provides engineering upskilling courses, has raised $17.5 million (approximately 130 crore) in a Series A funding round. Iron Pillar, a venture capital (VC) fund, led the round, with participation from existing investors Y Combinator and Better Capital.

Furthermore, Flipkart cofounder Binny Bansal, former Flipkart executive Sai Krishnamurthy — who is also the founder of investment firm Xto100X — and Rashmi Kwatra, founder of Sixteenth Street Capital, joined the round as new investors.

Binny Bansal has made his fourth investment in an edtech startup. He has put money into Unacademy, HashLearn, and Crejo. Prior to Skill-Lync, have some fun.

Skill-Lync, which was founded in 2018 by Suryanarayanan Paneerselvam and Sarangarajan V Iyengar, will use this funding to expand its current course offerings, build a "strong" management team, and enter international markets.

A portion of the fund will also be used to expand corporate partnerships and better understand the needs of future talent, according to co-founder Sarangarajan V. Prior to this, the company received a $150K investment from Y Combinator in 2019.

“The rapid adoption of new technologies by industries has also created a need for constant upskilling of engineering professionals. Hence, the need of the hour is to have engineers who have knowledge of both engineering fundamentals and how they can be applied to solve real world engineering problems through engineering design and simulation tools,” Suryanarayanan P, cofounder and CEO of Skill-Lync added.

Skill-Lync currently has two learning models available. First, an eight to ten month master's programme will focus on providing students with in-depth industry relevant technical knowledge. This would also include a number of projects aimed at assisting students in finding suitable employment.

Second, a six-month programme at physical skill centres will provide students with hands-on practical experience from Industry experts.

“Engineering education and upskilling outside of Computer Science have seen very little digital disruption over the last two decades. This, combined with the ever-expanding need for real world interdisciplinary applications of engineering in today’s world creates a unique opportunity to establish a multi billion dollar global company with deep moats in this space,” Anand Prasanna, managing partner at Iron Pillar said.

Aside from Skill-Lync, other startups offering engineering upskilling courses include Pesto Tech, Talent Sprint, Masai School, and Grey Atom.