Unstop, community engagement & hiring platform, raises $5 million from Mynavi and Coursera in its first funding round
Unstop will use the capital to enhance its Technology, Marketing, Product, and Sales functions
Founded by Ankit Aggarwal, Unstop, a community engagement and hiring platform for students and graduates, has raised $5 million as its first funding round. The round was led by Mynavi, Japan’s leading Job Board and HRTech firm. Coursera, one of the largest online learning platforms in the world with operations in India, also provided funding. The investment round also included participation from Venture Catalysts and 9Unicorns, and Pankaj Bansal through his fund Caret Capital.
Unstop is a playground for talented individuals to learn, upskill, showcase their skills, gain CV points, and get hired to unlock their true potential throughout their academic journey. This enables them to eventually get hired by their dream employers and start their career journey.
Backed by the philosophy of skills-based education, Unstop aims to ensure companies find the right talent through unique engagements that focus on testing students’ real-life skills. Unstop strives to democratize hiring by recruiting the right talent globally rather than from a select list of institutes.
Empowering 6 Million Talents, 800+ Brands
Today, Unstop boasts a talent community of approximately 6 million students and early talent from 20,000+ colleges. It successfully attracts nearly 2 million active users on a monthly basis. The platform has formed partnerships with more than 800 renowned brands, including Flipkart, Amazon, Reliance, TATA Sons, HUL, Reckitt, Accenture, EY, Infosys, and Wipro, along with other top recruiters. All of them are actively involved in engaging and hiring from this talented pool.
Aggarwal, the founder, anticipates expanding Unstop’s global reach with the support of investors and strategic partners from diverse domains and geographies. His primary goal is to establish the largest repository of qualified talent with proven employability skills, offering access to a wide range of opportunities. Unstop, being a category creator in India, aims to revolutionize talent acquisition by enabling brands to match their skill requirements while connecting with talent across various fields like engineering, MBA, arts, science, commerce, and more.
The Indian education system currently enrolls 40 million students at the undergraduate or postgraduate level, with females constituting 50 percent of the total student population. Despite the vast talent pool, over 5,000 companies across different industries struggle to find the right candidates. Additionally, many other companies face difficulties in recruiting graduates due to accessibility constraints.
Most students, not just from premier institutes, struggle to find jobs that excite them and deliver on their career aspirations. At the same time, many recruiters struggle to find suitable candidates for their roles given what they have to offer in terms of Pay, Career Growth and other intangible benefits. Platforms like Unstop needs to connect employers and students so that they find value in each other by matching their needs and expected growth trajectory.
Hidekazu Ito, Managing Director at Mynavi
Hidekazu Ito, Managing Director at Mynavi Solution India commented, “Mynavi is dedicated to addressing challenges in India, investing in start-ups for HR and education. Supporting Unstop can make our vision a reality, to work towards bridging skill gaps for freshers and professionals. We are excited to collaborate as a major HR provider in Japan and expand Unstop.”
Apurva Shah, VP of Corporate Strategy and Financial Planning at Coursera, commented, “We are excited to partner with Unstop to advance our shared vision for skills-based hiring in India. Coursera commits to empowering learners, and through this investment, we aim to expand opportunities for students, helping them unlock their true potential and access diverse career pathways”.
Ankit Aggarwal, Founder & CEO of Unstop further commented, “Unstop is on a quest to revolutionize the way talent and employers meet in today’s increasingly competitive market. We commit to empower fresh talent to achieve their dreams by realizing their full potential. Our moat is our 6 million strong community. Technology platforms may become interchangeable; however, building a community and ecosystem takes ages and eventually sets you apart. This funding is a significant milestone for Unstop as our investors form a unique blend, coming together from various parts of the world and different domains (EdTech + HRTech), and supporting us in our journey with their vote of confidence on our robust proposition. This fresh capital will enable us to drive growth on all fronts and achieve our goals.”
About Unstop
Unstop, derived from the belief to #BeUnstoppable, is a community engagement and hiring platform for students and freshers where talent meets opportunities.
Ankit Aggarwal founded Unstop as a playground for talent to learn, upskill, showcase their abilities, earn CV points, and secure job opportunities, enabling them to realize their full potential during their academic journey. The platform connects students across domains in INDIA to a world of opportunities across the GLOBE. Currently, Unstop has a community of 6 Million+ Students and Freshers.
Major brands like Amazon, Flipkart, HUL, Reliance, Tata, Mahindra, Uber, Accenture, Infosys, EY, PwC, and many others have chosen Unstop for their early talent recruitment needs.These companies interact with students and early professionals at Unstop and leverage the platform’s expertise to build their dream teams.
