Simplilearn

The Indian edtech major is gearing up to compete with global majors in the space

Start-up added more than more than 120,000 paid learners in the past year

The hiring is a part of the company's plans to strengthen its teams in India and overseas markets to address the burgeoning demand for reskilling and upskilling, Simplilearn said in a statement

Mohit Yadav, IIM-Indore alumnus with 12 years in sales across verticals, joins as VP-growth; project management exec Sujoy Ghosh takes over as VP-product

The India EdTech Consortium (IEC) under the aegis of IAMAI, will ensure that every learner shall have access to quality and affordable education

Key growth driver for Simplilearn is its strong strategic ties, with two-thirds of its enterprise business from multi-year deals that are half a million dollars or more in size

The buyback was undertaken as part of the recent investment by Blackstone earlier this year

The buyback was completed earlier this month. The company has over 1,600 people

Like many edtech players, Simplilearn decided to raise some money in 2020 to fund its expansion plans

The firm, which is already global, will use the funding to double down in its primary markets such as the US and India and expand in Europe and LatAm

The collaboration will focus on upskilling higher education students from Indian engineering and technical institutes

The edtech firm is doubling down on global expansion in markets such as the Middle East, Africa and the Far East, and expects to cross Rs 500 crore revenues in FY2020-21

Motivation remains key in the quick adoption of upskilling and reskilling programs.

Simplilearn, an online platform that aids reskilling of technology workers, has pivoted to serve more business clients rather than individuals seeking to get certified in new technologies as the cost of consumer acquisition has hit unsustainable levels.The Bengaluru-based firm says it is far cheaper to tap corporates who are looking to re skill existing workers, as they look to redeploy the same workforce rather than hiring new people. Businesses also drive bulk purchase of its online courses and have shown the tendency to be repeat customers."If you look at most of the consumer facing companies, their biggest problem is cost of customer acquisition. Most of the money is taken away by Google, to the extent that it's become unsustainable if someone is only looking at doing paid marketing to get customers," said Krishna Kumar, founder and CEO of Simplilearn.While the company continues to serve individual customers, it has shifted its focus from onboarding new customers to reaching out .