MicroDegree, a Mangalore-based Edtech startup, has raised an undisclosed amount in a recent funding round that was led by marquee investors including Siddharth H Somaiya, Founder & CEO at Organic Riot in an Individual capacity and RIIDL (Research Innovation Incubation Design Labs).

MicroDegree was founded by Gaurav Kamath, Rakesh Kothari, and Manikanta Nair in 2019. The startup aims to democratize technology by offering learning in local languages with a focus on relevant technologies. The company aims to make emerging tech affordable for students and freshers across regions irrespective of their educational backgrounds and language.

Talking about the development, Manikanta Nair, Co-founder of MicroDegree, said, “It is exciting to have big industry names back our vision. It encourages us to achieve our goals in the journey to empower local engineering talent from non-metro cities with foundational clarity of tech in vernacular language. Our mission is to connect them with the right opportunities at an affordable price. We believe a language shouldn’t be a hindrance for anyone to fulfill their dreams. We will use the investment to further advance our technology to come up with more efficient solutions and expand our network.”

In India, there are students from different corners of the country pursuing engineering but their inability to be fluent in English has been a barrier stopping them from learning to program or code. MicroDegree has the vision to teach coding in a local language and instill job-ready skills in students and freshers with their online programs.

Commenting on the investment, Mr.Siddharth H Somaiya, said, “What is better than learning a skill like coding in your own language? I think Micro-degree will revolutionize up-skilling and making technology accessible to people who otherwise would not get access to that pedagogy due to a language barrier. I think this is a game-changer for Ed-tech in India and this solves a very Indian problem of language diversity and access to IT Skills.”

Mr. Ninad Karpe, Partner at 100X.VC, added, “It is a matter of pride that we are the first institutional investor in MicroDegree. We have complete faith that MicroDegree will play a pivotal role in providing people from non-metro cities with equal opportunities in technology.”

Earlier this year, the Edtech startup had received its first cheque from 100X.VC as part of the fund’s Class 03 portfolio. The MicroDegree team had begun with teaching emerging technology through a boot-camp program and they effectively managed to scale up the idea to an online platform, increasing its reach and network. The platform had managed to get more than 2100 users in the first 75 days of its launch and is planning to enter new language markets beyond Kannada. 

MicroDegree is an online education platform, working towards democratizing IT & Job-ready skills for the Bharat market through vernacular courses.