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MicroDegree, a Mangalore-based edtech startup, has raised an undisclosed amount in a recent funding round that was led by investors including Siddharth H Somaiya, Founder and CEO at Organic Riot in an Individual capacity and RIIDL (Research Innovation Incubation Design Labs).

Founded by Gaurav Kamath, Rakesh Kothari, and Manikanta Nair in 2019, MicroDegree aims to democratise technology by offering learning in local languages with a focus on relevant technologies. The company said it aims to make emerging tech affordable for students and freshers across regions irrespective of their educational backgrounds and language.

Manikanta Nair, Co-founder of MicroDegree, said, 

“We will use the investment to further advance our technology to come up with more efficient solutions and expand our network.”

“It is exciting to have big industry names back our vision. It encourages us to achieve our goals in the journey to empower local engineering talent from non-metro cities with foundational clarity of tech in vernacular language. Our mission is to connect them with the right opportunities at an affordable price,” added Manikanta.

In India, there are students from different corners of the country pursuing engineering but their inability to be fluent in English has been a barrier stopping them from learning to program or code. MicroDegree has the vision to teach coding in a local language and instill job-ready skills in students and freshers with their online programmes.

“What is better than learning a skill like coding in your own language? I think Micro-degree will revolutionise up-skilling and make technology accessible to people who otherwise would not get access to that pedagogy due to a language barrier,” said Siddharth H Somaiya.

Earlier this year, the edtech startup had received its first cheque from 100X.VC as part of the fund’s Class 03 portfolio. The platform has managed to get more than 2100 users in the first 75 days of its launch and is planning to enter new language markets beyond Kannada. 

MicroDegree is an online education platform, working towards democratising IT and job-ready skills for the Bharat market through vernacular courses.