Stoa School, an online business school startup, has bagged funding from founders of Indian and US startup ecosystems such as Zerodha’s Nitin Kamath, CRED's Kunal Shah and Udemy’s Gagan Biyani to scale its operations and expand new programmes.
The company has raised an initial investment of $1.5 million, which will help the firm scale up its capacity, introduce new programs as well as build tech for running its online-first campus, it said in a statement.
Stoa School was started in October 2020 and teaches 6-month part-time Master of Business Administration programme with the focus on startup ecosystem. The entire course costs Rs 2.5 lakh.
So far, Stoa School has helped over 300 students from different backgrounds get into funded startups in marketing, operations, product, and finance roles. It has more than 100 startups as hiring partners and has placed students in companies like Swiggy, Gojek and Chargebee.
According to the company's website, graduates from Stoa school get a salary increment of 72 percent.
India currently sees over 3 lakh students graduate with an MBA every year, but after the top 20 MBA colleges, median salary post-placement drops under 10 LPA, the statement added. “The high entry point and fee structure also mean that India has over 50 lac / 5 million early career professionals in business roles without an MBA. This is why Stoa School is bullish on its key differentiators that have enabled so many professionals to transition into better-paying jobs in a matter of months,” the company said.
In addition, there is a huge demand for quality talents and companies are willing to pay a premium for them. “By imparting business professionals with startup relevant skills and experience, Stoa School is helping them capitalise on India’s fledgling startup ecosystem,” the company said.
Other startup founders who have invested in the company include Richa Kar (Co-Founder, Zivame), Raveen Sastry (Co-Founder, Myntra), Phanindra Sama (Co-Founder, RedBus), Vaibhav Domkundwar (Founder, Better Capital), John Danner (Dunce Capital, early investor in Lambda School), Vivekananda Hallekere (Co-Founder, Bounce), Ankur Nagpal (Co-Founder, Teachable), Harpreet Singh (Co-Founder, Co-Cube), Kushal Bhagia (CEO, Firstcheque), Pravin Jadhav (CEO, Raise, ex CEO - Paytm Money), Packy McCormick (Founder, NotBoring Media), and Ganesh Rao (Founder, Suryoday Bank).
