Edtech Firm byteXL Secures $5.9M Series A Funding Led by Kalaari Capital
- ByStartupStory | July 18, 2024
Hyderabad-based edtech platform, byteXL, has raised $5.9 million in a Series A funding round led by Kalaari Capital, with additional investment from the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation. The company, founded in 2020 by Karun Tadepalli and Sricharan Tadepalli, aims to use the funds to expand its team, develop new products, and introduce advanced digital tools and technologies, enhancing its outreach to colleges and universities across India.
byteXL specializes in preparing engineering students for IT careers through a hybrid learning platform and a guided campus recruitment model. Since its inception, the platform has partnered with over 26 colleges and universities, training more than a lakh students in various software technologies, including cybersecurity, full stack development, and cloud technologies. These efforts have resulted in higher placement rates and increased student intake for its partner institutions.
Sampath P, Partner at Kalaari Capital, highlighted the evolving landscape of engineering education in India. “Engineering schools in India and other markets are evolving to maintain high standards of curriculum, pedagogy and industry readiness in technology disciplines that are rapidly evolving. This need, accelerated by rapid progress in AI, is a critical problem to solve to enable students to succeed in the next generation of technology jobs.”
Sanjay Modi, Senior Director of the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, noted the impact of byteXL on tier II and tier III cities. “byteXL is transforming the teaching and learning of engineering colleges in India. By bridging the gap between academia and industry, it is set to make a significant impact on the lives of students in tier II and tier III cities.”
Karun Tadepalli, CEO of byteXL, shared the company’s recent growth and future plans. “The business has grown by two and a half times in the last financial year and the company is EBITDA positive. The funding ‘is icing on the cake.’ We have always focused on the physical classroom and how to integrate technology into it. The fundamentals of our business are very strong; we operate in the B2B sector. We have demonstrated that there is a huge market out there and that you can work effectively with colleges.”
Karun elaborated on byteXL’s approach, emphasizing the importance of collaboration with colleges and academic professionals to empower students. “It’s not just about skilling the students; the company also helps colleges automate many processes, from attendance to teacher-student engagement—these initiatives have aided the company’s growth. Everyone has realised there’s a paradigm shift in hiring practices, with colleges placing greater emphasis on learning and skill development. Regardless of the engineering discipline, understanding how to utilise AI for learning is becoming a universal requirement for employment.”
Recently, byteXL collaborated with Microsoft to launch a new BTech Computer Science Engineering course in artificial intelligence and machine learning, tailored to meet current industry demands. The company’s learning platform, Nimbus, offers coding education in multiple languages and features AI capabilities for real-time code improvement and error detection.
Before this funding round, byteXL raised $1 million from seven angel investors in June 2022, following an initial bootstrap investment of $200,000.
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