Lernern secures $ 1 Mn USD in a seed round led by elea

Lernern, an EdTech company providing apprenticeship, upskilling & further education opportunities to blue-collar workers has raised a total of $ 1 Mn USD from its investors in seed funding. The investors in the angel round include OOB Ventures Pte. Ltd. – a Singapore based company run by Ruchi Sihare, seed investor & board member and Kunal Solanki, an ex-investment banker and elea Foundation for Ethics in Globalization – a Swiss philanthropic impact investor, leading the investment along with other individual investors at the seed stage that includes well-placed alumnus of St. Stephen’s College. Lernern is also a non-funded partner of National Skill Development Corporation.

The newly infused capital will be deployed in three focus areas. First, the EdTech platform is being further developed to meet the specific requirements of blue-collar workers in the workplace and provides for synchronous & asynchronous learning. Lernern has partnered with Dr. Prasad Ram, the ex-CTO of Google India who has pioneered a unique Navigated Learning System called Gooru which uses AI & ML to navigate the learner’s journey. The second focus area will be to develop content & academic partners across disciplines that will enable the blue-collar worker to acquire the knowledge, skills & academic credits needed for working towards formal educational qualifications. Lastly, as the name suggests, the ‘Learn & Earn’ business model depends heavily on industry involvement to contextualize & implement the ‘dual model of education’ and the team will look to ramp up its partnerships with relevant employers in the manufacturing & services sectors. Strong collaboration with corporate India across different industry sectors of focus will ensure industry-relevant curriculum and seamless absorption of certified students from Lernern.

Abhinav Madan, Co-founder & CEO of Lernern said, “Having co-founded & led one of India’s leading skill development companies, Gram Tarang, for over 12 years, we have skilled over 360,000 youth in brick-and-mortar mode in rural & peri-urban areas and placed thousands into first-time blue-collar jobs in the industrial belts of Tirupur, Coimbatore, Chennai, Pune- Chakan-Ranjangaon, Gujarat, Hyderabad, Greater Noida, Manesar, Neemrana, Baddi, etc. This grassroot level experience has helped us deeply understand youth aspirations and their desire to learn & grow. Lernern picks up where the current skilling ecosystem ends and creates pathways for blue-collar workers to progress towards better jobs, careers & earning capacity. I am delighted to have found an incredible group of individual & institutional seed investors, who believe in our capabilities, share our vision and most importantly, are equally passionate about the social change that Lernern aims to bring by enabling growth for our youth and ensuring that their skills remain relevant for the fast-changing technologies in industry 4.0. Lernern has also become my personal mission and tribute to my batchmate, friend & co- founder, Aditya Saikia, whom we lost to Covid in May 2021.”

The team has pioneered a ‘Work-integrated Skill Training & Apprenticeship’ program which enables further education for blue-collar workers by integrating academia & vocational education with industry. Several pilots have been on the ground since 2015 with leading industry partners like Café Coffee Day, Haier, Carrier Midea & Western Refrigeration. The employer benefits through better retention and increased productivity and many have co- sponsored the training fee. Industry demand has only gained traction during the Covid pandemic and Lernern is currently well-positioned for the next phase of growth. Covid also gave the team an opportunity to pivot to a blended learning model, which enabled a quicker scale-up of the programs through technology.

Singapore based investors Ruchi Sihare and Kunal Solanki of OOB Ventures Pte. Ltd. said, “We have been incredibly impressed with the dedication and impact the founding team of Lernern have had in the employment and skilling space in real Bharat. Lernern’s plan for digitizing the process of recruitment and training/upskilling of blue and grey collared workforce is infinitely scalable and it addresses many challenges that are currently prevalent in the blue-collar ecosystem. As they pivot into a tech-enabled learning and earning model to solve these challenges for the billions, we are excited to join them – to help realize their vision for closing the skilling and earning gaps in the country.”

Lernern has demonstrated credentials in transforming the lives of blue-collar workers with several advantages. It has harnessed technology and customized Diploma & Degree courses from leading universities to provide 24x7 access to blended learning programs from anywhere in the country. Lernern’s courses are affordable and work-integrated, making it possible for workers to learn and earn on the job. And lastly, all qualifications are from accredited Universities and government bodies like the Directorate General of Training which have a long-term value proposition for the individual.

Lisa Jean-Mairet, Director at lead investor elea Foundation for Ethics in Globalization said “As a global impact investing organization that exists to fight absolute poverty, we think that Lernern constituted an ideal investment case for elea. We recognize a rapidly progressing reinvention of the Indian vocational training sector. Based on our decade-long working experience in the skill-building space across the globe, we think that the answer to its challenges lies in the digitalization and user-reorientation of the learning ecosystem. In our opinion, Lernern’s solution can be a driving force in the development of the sector. We are sure that the enterprise will thrive under the leadership of Abhinav Madan.”

With a diverse and sectorally relevant board and an extended think tank of experts adding intellectual capacity to shape the strategy & execution plans, Lernern recently appointed Sajan Varghese as the Chief Operating Officer. Having a strong acumen in large-scale enterprise management and overseen two IPOs at WNS and Café Coffee Day, Sajan was the President of HR at Café Coffee Day in his last role. He strengthens the leadership team atLernern and will play an instrumental role in navigating the growth of the company in the days ahead.

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