Village Capital today announced that Board Infinity, Workflexi, Unschool Learning, and Mentoria were peer-selected to receive investment as part of the Future of Work India, an investment-readiness program run by Village Capital with support from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE).
The program supported 18 Indian startups that are using technology to help people across the country find jobs, build careers, and prepare for the future of work. The entrepreneurs benefited from a wide range of support services including training, networking opportunities and access to industry experts, mentors, and investors to scale their impact.
Speaking on the program’s finalization, Village Capital’s Programs and Partnerships lead for South Asia, Shreyansh Chandak said, “It’s a critical time for us to redefine the future of work, more so in India where the current unemployment rate has been rising over the past couple of years. Supporting startups that are enabling us to better understand, respond to, and prepare for the future workplace is key in creating new job opportunities. We see a lot of promise with the startups we’ve supported within this program and look forward to engaging further with other local and regional stakeholders in the ecosystem.”
The four peer-selected companies are focused on the following:
- Board Infinity is a leading higher education platform for students and early career professionals that provides access to industry-focused courses and mentors
- Vigour Contingent Pvt Ltd (Workflexi) is an online platform that connects professionals in IT/ITES and creative domains with recruiters and follows a milestone-based pay as you go model. It aims to improve the cost efficiency of hiring and managing talent for companies, while also providing better access to opportunities to skilled professionals.
- Unschool.in is an e-mentorship platform that allows students, graduates, young professionals, entrepreneurs and anyone with the curiosity to learn to create an online learning ecosystem that fits their needs and industry demands.
- Mentoria is a counseling platform that offers career discovery, assessment, and mentorship solutions for students (classes 8th-12th), college graduates, and working professionals. With its proprietary psychometric tests, trained career counselors, and career library, it helps students identify the right career options, matching their abilities, personalities, and interests.
The full list of companies that took part in the Future of Work India accelerator includes:
- AssessHub has built a talent assessment and predictive analytics platform that can provide customized tests for each role and level within the organization throughout the employee lifecycle of a company’s hiring, training and performance measurement.
- EduGorilla Community Pvt Ltd is an app and web-based test preparation platform that focuses on state level government exams. It offers mock interviews as well as online and offline tests for its subscribers.
- EvueMe Selection Robot pre-screens candidates by assessing them on key competencies critical for the job, ranks them on the desired ones using AI, and provides recruiters with multiple data points to help the selection process.
- Extraclass is a gamified social learning network that allows young learners to collaborate and help each other in improving learning outcomes. It offers free educational content and rewards users for uploading content showcasing their skills.
- GetConduct assists companies in tracking diversity data, allows employees to have a confidential discussion with a bot on matters of sexual harassment at workplace, provides byte sized content on awareness of the POSH Act and redressal assistance to internal committees (IC) of companies required to be formed under the POSH Act.
- iDreamCareer is a full-stack career and college discovery platform, available across a web app and website. The company offers career guidance programs for high school and college students. iDCs programs help students obtain general career awareness, choose the right colleges and subjects, and build a personalized career trajectory through psychographic analysis and career counselling programs.
- Iona.ai is an all-in-one conversational AI platform that helps companies in remote onboarding using a chatbox for quality hiring at speed and scale. Companies can save time and money by using this solution while onboarding employees at scale in a secure manner.
- MentorMind is an online platform where students and young professionals can access and work on real-time work situations through virtual internships designed in partnership with industry partners and recognized through certifications. Depending on the performance, a student can then also be hired full time by a company.
- PMaps is a platform that improves hiring outcomes through quick and automated assessments for mass recruiters. It evaluates skills and personality traits through a set of images. The technology can be used by companies to identify skill gaps, train their workforce and engage their current workforce.
- Pick My Work is an online platform that helps clients hire, manage and track performance of staff and reward them based on the value created. They also provide training to workers to help upgrade their skills.
- Prepleaf Preparation is a job preparation platform focused on helping job seekers in the field of data science and analytics.
- Processbee Technologies Pvt Ltd creates game-based learning solutions that provide immersive onboarding and skilling. It is offered as a SaaS product to businesses and universities to train their workforce and students.
- Qandle is an easy to install HR SaaS solution. It covers all the requirements across core HR, talent management, payroll and business expenses. The solution can be configured to meet each company's unique policies and processes..
- Trabaajo Software Labs seeks to create better matches between employees and employers and increase productivity. AskTrabaajo- the real-time virtual assistant automates processes across all levels of HR functions and enables users to manage their departments, tasks and seek new opportunities.
For more information, reach out to Eva Waweru at Village Capital (eva.waweru@vilcap.com)
About Village Capital
Village Capital helps entrepreneurs bring big ideas from vision to scale. Our mission is to reinvent the system to back the entrepreneurs of the future. Our vision is a future where business creates equity and long-term prosperity. Since 2009, we have supported more than 1,000 early-stage entrepreneurs through our investment readiness programs. Our affiliated fund, VilCap Investments, has invested in more than 110 program graduates.
About IFC
IFC—a member of the World Bank Group—is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. We work in more than 100 countries, using our capital, expertise, and influence to create markets and opportunities in developing countries. In fiscal year 2021, IFC committed a record $31.5 billion to private companies and financial institutions in developing countries, leveraging the power of the private sector to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity as economies grapple with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. For more information, visit www.ifc.org.
About ANDE
The Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) is a global network of organizations that propel entrepreneurship in developing economies. ANDE members provide critical financial, educational, and business support services to small and growing businesses (SGBs) based on the conviction that SGBs create jobs, stimulate long-term economic growth, and produce environmental and social benefits.
As the leading global voice of the SGB sector, ANDE believes that SGBs are a powerful, yet underleveraged tool in addressing social and environmental challenges. Since 2009, we have grown into a trusted network of nearly 300 collaborative members that operate in nearly every developing economy. ANDE grows the body of knowledge, mobilizes resources, and connects the institutions that support the small business entrepreneurs who build inclusive prosperity in the developing world. ANDE is part of the Aspen Institute, a global nonprofit organization committed to realizing a free, just, and equitable society.