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Engineering-focused edtech startup Skill-Lync has raised $17.5 million in Series A funding led by Iron Pillar,  a venture growth investor backing global tech companies built from India. The round also saw participation from Y Combinator and Better Capital.

Binny Bansal (Co-founder of Flipkart), Sai Krishnamurthy (ex-Flipkart; Co-founder of Xto10X) and Rashmi Kwatra (Founder of Sixteenth Street Capital) joined as new investors. This is the largest Series A round by an edtech startup.

Skill-Lynch will use the capital to increase the number of courses it offers, build out the next level of a strong management team, and expand the business to international markets. 

Suryanarayanan P, Co-Founder and CEO, Skill-Lync, said the ever-increasing gap between what industries expect and what students learn during their engineering education has caused a “global shortage of high-quality engineering talent. 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 engineering fundamentals and how they can be applied to solve real-world engineering problems through design and simulation tools.”

 He added that the edtech startup provides industry-relevant courses in the mechanical, electrical, civil, and computer science engineering domains for students in India and other parts of the world. 

Focus on learning outcomes

“Skill-Lync will double down on developing corporate partnerships to understand future talent requirements, and build in-house high-end engineering teams to offer excellent learning outcomes to our students,” said Sarangarajan V Iyengar, Co-founder, Skill-Lync. 

 The startup has collaborated with 800+ industry experts for creating existing course content and has full-time people with extensive experience in industry (with the likes of Bosch, Cummins, ABB, Samsung and Accenture etc.) to provide the students a world-class learning experience.

Anand Prasanna, Managing Partner, Iron Pillar, said, “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 multibillion-dollar global company with deep moats in this space. This is also a strong beachhead for expansion into multiple adjacent areas.

“Surya, Sarang and rest of the Skill-Lync team have already built a great product and significant revenue in the business, with exceptional growth and capital efficiency. We feel privileged to have the opportunity to partner with them in this journey.”