Edtech Startup byteXL Bags $5.9 Mn To Boost IT Skill Offerings For Students

Edtech startup byteXL has secured $5.9 Mn (around INR 49 Cr) as a part of its Series A funding round led by Kalaari Capital, with participation from Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, the non profit arm of the family behind tech giant Dell.

The startup plans to use the fresh capital to expand its team as well as to reach out to more colleges and universities across the country. Besides, a part of the proceeds will also be deployed for product development and introducing new digital tools and technologies. 

Founded in 2019 by Karun Tadepalli and Charan Tadepalli, byteXL is a Hyderabad-based B2B edtech startup offering IT skills for students via engineering colleges. 

They claim to partner with colleges and industry to integrate curriculum, content, and practical learning, that enables students with the necessary skills and awareness on employability and empowering.

Its program offering is divided into three parts. First is the IT skill-focused curriculum, the second is the Nimbus software where the students can work on the codes and the third is the mentor deployed in the college to help the students with the learning. 

As per its website, byteXL has over 120K active platform users with over 1,500 students placed in top product-based companies, and more than 40K students placed in Wipro, Infosys and TCS.

Karun Tadepalli said, “At byteXL, we’re not just teaching coding; we’re shaping futures and driving innovation in tech education across India. This funding will boost our confidence in empowering engineers of tomorrow with cutting-edge skills and technologies and help us bridge the gap between academia and industry at a faster pace.”

Till date, byteXL claims to have raised $1.2 Mn in total funding. It competes against the likes of BYJU’S, Unacademy, UpGradi, Seekho, and Practically Trilogy Education Services in the broader edtech segment. 

byteXL recorded a net profit of INR 1 Cr for the financial year ending March 2023 (FY23), as per Tofler. It recorded an operating revenue of INR 15 Cr, a 3X increase from its operating revenue of FY22 at INR 5 Cr.

It is pertinent to note that the fundraising comes against the backdrop of the Indian edtech sector undergoing a massive funding crunch. 

Unlike the tendency shown by VCs and PEs before the pandemic wherein they infused billions of dollars during the height of the pandemic, the segment has witnessed a waning interest of the investor as the schools and colleges opened post-lockdown. 

Besides this, a slew of issues within the startups in the sector made the matter worse. This issue included heavy cash burn, mounting losses, and weak governance guardrails, among other issues. 

Not to mention, the space was among the leading sectors in laying off the most number of employees over the past two years. Notably, as many as 24 edtechs have sacked more than 14,616 employees since 2022.

Even on the financial front, the sector’s heavyweights like BYJU’S, Unacademy, and UpGrad continue to post heavy losses, and names like Udayy, Supen Learn, and DUX Education have shut down operations in the last two years due to the funding crunch. 

According to Inc42’s Indian Tech Startup Funding Report 2023, the Indian edtech startups raised $283 Mn in 2023 against $2.4 Bn in 2022, accounting for a massive 88% year-on-year (YoY) decline. The number of deals also plummeted 45.91% YoY to 139 in 2023 from 257 in 2022.

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