Integrated ED+HR Tech Platform Geekster.in raises $200K in Pre-Seed Round from ah! Ventures Angel Platform &WeFounders Circle

Geekster.in, an integrated ed+hr tech platform for technology professionals, has raised $ 200K as part of their Pre-seed round led by WeFounders Circle and ah! Ventures Angel Platform, several notable angel investors from US & UK also participated in the round. This is ah! Ventures’ 72nd investment (in 56 Startups) taking its total investment portfolio to INR 208 CR (~29 MN $) with 10 exits till date (and 2 more exits are in process). This is ah! Ventures’s 9th investment in 2021 and we plan to do 50+ investments in 2021 totaling to INR 150+ CR (~20MN $).

Geekster is building an integrated platform where students get trained on in-demand skills by Industry experts and pay only after getting a job; while the employers are able to access top-quality vetted talent through data driven matching algorithms. The company is following a unique community centric approach and aims to build the largest community of global tech professionals on its platform.

Started in Oct’20, the company has received more than 20,000 student interests for its job oriented programs, has 500+ top professionals active on its platform, and is already helping 25+ well-known start-ups and some large & mid-size IT enterprises in building their tech teams. The freshly infused funds will be utilized for launching more skill development programs, accelerating the product development, and increasing the platform’s offerings to more employers.”

“Geekster was founded with a mission to provide open access to opportunities to everyone irrespective of the financial or geographical background. Our students are extensively trained on in-demand skills and help them get connected to the right opportunities. We are glad to be associated with marquee investors who are aligned with our vision to make Geekster the most trusted edtech company in the higher education space.” said Ankit Maggu, Co-Founder, Geekster.

“We want our employer partners to spend less time interviewing and more time building teams by getting access to pre-vetted engineers who are actively looking for jobs. Our data-driven matching process along with skill assessment insights helps find a better fit much faster “ – said Sahil Miglani, Co-Founder, Geekster. ”

Subrata Patra, Venture Partner, ah! Ventures, said, "For decades, our higher education system lacked focus on practice knowledge and applications. In July 2020, India announced major changes in education policy -- integrating 21st century skills, mathematical thinking, and scientific temper. However, India Inc's demand for entry level tech professionals outgrows the supply of quality professionals with industry-ready skills. This problem is further aggravated by the fact that many Indian colleges mass-produce graduates who cannot find a job or do something else, adding to the distressed unemployability index.
Geekster is poised in solving this pain point at scale, with an innovative approach, which not only offers a flexible yet practical curriculum catering to individual learning needs, but also helps develop a tight-knit community of students, instructors, and employers in order to build successful careers."

Commenting on the investment, Neeraj Tyagi, Co-Founder, We Founders Circle said, “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. This highlights the role for out-of-the-box concepts like Geekster that provide professional address, upskilling, and scrutinization, which cannot be handled in-house at the tech companies.”