Tiger Global-backed upskilling platform Scaler has forayed into undergraduate education by opening an offline institute, a move that will help the edtech company in diversifying its offerings as competition intensifies in the higher edtech space.
The offline institute, called Scaler School of Technology, will be located in Bengaluru and will offer a four-year residential undergraduate programme in computer science, which will be recognised by the UGC (University Grants Commission) through a partner institute, the company said in a statement on March 29. The course will start in July and the company plans to enrol about 200 students in the first year.
Scaler did not reveal the amount it plans to invest in the new initiative, but its two co-founders said that they expect it to become one of the biggest verticals for Scaler soon.
“This vertical in the next five years will become equally or even bigger than the current operations that we have. We expect this to contribute massively to the bottom line of the company,” said Anshuman Singh, co-founder of Scaler on Moneycontrol’s query during a virtual media briefing.
Scaler said its degree will enable students to apply for government jobs or Indian and overseas higher studies if they wish to. Students will receive a Master of Science in Computer Science from Woolf University, which is licensed as a higher education institution in the European Union that works on ECTS - European Credit Transfer System, the company said. During the course, students at Scaler School of Technology will be able to meet industry leaders at least once every quarter, the company said.
“Computer science and software development is an area where the demand is expanding. But there is a large supply gap, but there is intent,” added Singh.
Singh believes four areas that will set the Scaler institute apart, to help solve this issue are its curriculum, pedagogy, ecosystem and placements.
The curriculum, Scaler said, is divided into three parts, where the first 18 months are for learning which will help students secure a 12-month internship, which is the next part of the course plan. For the next 18 months, the company will offer students a specialisation in their respective areas of interest, helping them secure their final placements.
Scaler also said it will offer students training from industry experts who have worked with or built tech companies earlier.
Scaler, an online tech education platform launched in 2019 by InterviewBit Technologies, till now offered a structured programme for upskilling technology capabilities of learners. The company was last valued at $710 million in February 2022 making it a soonicorn or a company valued above $500 million but under $1 billion.
Moneycontrol had earlier reported that Scaler co-founder Abhimanyu Saxena said the company expects to reach an ARR of $200 million by March 2023. Saxena had also said that ARR (annualised booking run rate) increased from $4 million in October 2020 to $25 million in August 2021 and $110 million in August this year.
In September, Scaler had said that it was planning to hire over 600 employees across sales, business-to-business (B2B) enterprise, instructors, and operations teams by December this year.
In May, Saxena had told Moneycontrol that the company had set aside $50 million for mergers and acquisitions in FY23 (2022-23) in order to capitalise on consolidation opportunities amid falling edtech valuations. Scaler's acquisition strategy, according to Saxena, will be to primarily focus on acquiring and distributing its courses.
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