Community engagement and hiring platform Unstop raises $5M from Mynavi and Coursera

Unstop, a community engagement and hiring platform for students and graduates, has raised $5 million in its first funding round led by Mynavi, a Japan-based HRtech firm. Online learning platform Coursera, Venture Catalysts, 9Unicorns, and Pankaj Bansal, through his fund Caret Capital, also participated in the funding round.

With the capital, Unstop hopes to create a future where brands can match their skills requirements while engaging and recruiting talent across domains, including engineering, MBA, arts, science, commerce, and more.

“The capital from our first funding round will help us drive our growth plans to drive user and customer penetration in addition to enhancing our product and technology while adding team members who have been there, done that. We're at an inflection point in our journey, where with a little push, we'll be able to explode and connect the employers and students across the globe," Ankit Aggarwal, Founder and CEO of Unstop, told YourStory.

With investors and strategic partners coming on board from varying domains and geographies, Aggarwal expects to grow Unstop’s global presence. He aims to create the largest pool of qualified talent with proven employability skills and access to diverse opportunities.

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Started as a blog by Ankit Aggarwal in 2019, Unstop has a community engagement and hiring platform for students and freshers to learn, upskill, showcase their skills, gain CV points, and get hired. The platform connects students in India to a world of opportunities across the globe.

Earlier this year, Unstop declined an offer from Shark Tank India Season 2.

“It was fantastic to receive offers from the Sharks, and it was a defining moment for us as a brand. However, being a bootstrapped company with money in the bank and being profitable at gross and net levels, we were looking for more strategic investors to come on board. Investors who could help us go global and help us with their inputs. So, we looked at the long-term and decided against picking any funds from Shark Tank since we found a more strategic connection with our current investors,” Aggarwal tells YourStory.

Currently, it is a community of over six million students and freshers from 20,000+ colleges attracting nearly two million monthly active users. It has more than 800 brands, including Flipkart, Amazon, Reliance, Tata Sons, HUL, Reckitt, Accenture, EY, Infosys, Wipro, and other top recruiters working to engage and hire from this community.

“Mynavi is dedicated to addressing challenges in India, investing in startups for HR and education. Supporting Unstop can make our vision a reality to work towards bridging skill gaps for freshers and professionals. We are excited to collaborate as a major HR provider in Japan and expand Unstop,” said Hidekazu Ito, Managing Director at Mynavi Solution India, according to a statement.

"Coursera is committed to empowering learners, and through this investment, we aim to expand opportunities for students, helping them unlock their true potential and access diverse career pathways,” added Apurva Shah, VP of Corporate Strategy and Financial Planning at Coursera.

In July, the Delhi-based platform hit about six million users and seven million monthly traffic for the first time.

"With 90% margin and an EBITDA of 20%, we aim to grow multi-fold across all our parameters—users, revenue, traffic, etc., by March 31, 2024," Aggarwal said.