Binny Bansal, Flipkart Mafia Lead $1 Mn Seed Funding In Crio

Bengaluru-based learning platform for software developers, Crio.Do, has raised $1 Mn (INR 7.12 Cr) in a seed funding round led by Flipkart cofounder Binny Bansal. In the round, Flipkart employees turned entrepreneurs, also popularly known as the Flipkart Mafia, came forward to support one of their own as well.

The ex-Flipsters who participated in the funding include B2B ecommerce company Udaan’s founders, Amod Malviya, Vaibhav Gupta and Sujeet Kumar; Udhyam Learning founder Mekin Maheshwari and ex-Flipkart CRO Ravi Garikipati.

Crio reportedly plans to use the funds to build its product and scale the team, as it looks to add more modules to serve a wider base of technology skills.

Founded in 2018 by ex-Flipster Rathinamurthy R and ex-Googler Sridher Jeyachandran, Crio.Do provides “work-like” micro-experiences curated from industry with real-world problems, solution landscape and environment optimized for learning.

In simpler words, Crio teaches software developers with projects from the bigger organisations. It provides personalised and adaptive learning opportunities for developers and enables tech organisations to nurture talent.

Some of its customers include Visa, Capillary and Flipkart. “There is an increasing need for qualified tech talent which is a global problem and a huge market opportunity. Crio has an exceptional team and their approach towards solving this problem is unique, backed with practical insights and experience,” Bansal reportedly said.

In the India Skills Report 2018, it was found that the percentage of employable resources between the 18-25 years of age stood at 46% and 26% between the age group of 26-29. Even though the hiring scenario for 2018 looks “positive”, hiring and employability has continued to be a major cause of worry for corporates, students as well as colleges.

Some of the complaints from the end of companies are that students aren’t usually ready for the work environment and the company cannot waste its resources to train those who switch very early. The cost of recruitment has been continuously rising, as one in four graduates leave their job within two years.

Technology software has been at the crux of rising innovation in the country’s startup ecosystem, and as Crio.Do enables software developers to learn and innovate under the mentors, the talent pool of the Indian IT/ITES industry is expected to achieve a revenue target of $350 Bn by 2025.

[The development was reported by ET.]