Edtech Startup ImaginXP Raises $1.5 Mn Led By Venture Catalysts The brand aims to utilize funds to accelerate growth in its B2B higher education model

Pune-based university embedded provider of degrees and short-term certifications ImaginXP on Monday announced it has raised $1.5 million in a funding round to accelerate growth in its unique B2B higher education model. The round was led by Venture Catalysts along with co-investors such as Shashank Deshpande, KrishKupathil, Samyakth Capital, and others.

On the back of the pandemic-led disruption and the upcoming implementation of NEP2020, the B2B, B2C, and D2C edtech enterprise said to be helping universities provide future skills degree programmes and for-credit certification courses with corporate-led curriculum, well-trained faculty and the MyCoach platform that brings over 1,250 corporate coaches led mentorship and live projects for students. The focus is on student outcomes by enabling universities to provide world-class education in India.

Founded in 2013 by Shashank Shwet and led by Prof. (Col) Shishir Kumar, the edtech startup provides B.Des (Bachelor of Design), M.Des (Master of Design), BBA, MBA, BSc, and BTech degree programmes in partnership with universities.

"ImaginXP is partnering with universities to give them access to a world-class curriculum with an industry partnered delivery model. The success of universities is the success of ImaginXP" shared Prof. (Col) Shishir Kumar, director-general, ImaginXP.

The pandemic-led online working model has only accelerated these opportunities for students. The company currently has 2,500 students studying in full-time degree programmes and over 15,000 students on the MyCoach platform, the company said.

In line with the recommendations of the IIT panel to the ministry of HRD, the company also aims at creating a professor of practice for future skills in its partner universities. Additionally, with universities getting enabled for online degrees, the platform claims to be in a position to enable its partners to provide online degrees.

"We aim at making our partners feature in the top 500 universities of the world. Around 3.7 crore students in India pay $7 billion in tuition fees and our mission is to provide them with global quality education at university campuses and online courses. Our test of time was during the pandemic when the traditional university model got disrupted. We quickly scaled up our digital platform MyCoach to provide for-credit courses to the universities and engage the students on their behalf. This company is a fantastic blend of corporate and academia; online and offline," explained Shwet, co-founder, ImaginXP.

Within three years the company has partnered with 22 universities across the country and employs more than 70 full-time faculty members. There are 300,000 students collectively studying at these partner universities that act as a captive TAM for the company to train in future skills. With a focus on student employability, the company provides for-credit certification in the upcoming fields of design, sunrise technologies, and business such as UX, design thinking, gaming design, AIML, cybersecurity, RPA, robotics, fintech, healthtech and more.

"ImaginXP has a proven revenue model with universities to help them increase their capacity by providing future skills and a focus on student RoI. The MyCoach platform with such a huge captive TAM and online degrees has digitally accelerated the company to a threefold growth trajectory over the last two years. The impressive hold over the higher education market led us to partner with the team," added Anuj Golecha, co-founder, Venture Catalysts.

The current round of funding is aimed at accelerating both offline and online degree programmes. This business model makes the company a challenger to Laureate and GUS, albeit in an almost zero asset model.

The edtech enterprise intends to fill in the glaring employability-skill gap for students by collaborating with universities like Chitkara University, DIT University, and Jagaran Lake University.