Vivek Sinha, former Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Unacademy, announced the launch of his new venture, Beyond Odds Technologies. The startup secured a substantial seed investment of $11 million, led by Matrix Partners India and Lightspeed.
This development follows a previous exclusive report by Moneycontrol in December, highlighting anticipated investments from notable figures including Ritesh Agarwal, CEO of Oyo, and Gaurav Munjal, CEO and co-founder of Unacademy. Additional backers include prominent personalities from upGrad, Livspace, Tracxn, CloudNine Hospitals, Softbank, and Steadview Capital.
Beyond Odds Technologies aims to enhance employability through a technology-enabled platform that recruits, trains, certifies, and deploys candidates for various industries such as healthcare, education, construction, and hospitality. The company’s flagship initiative, ‘Emversity,’ is a higher education brand designed to integrate academic degrees with industry-relevant skills and includes unique features like ‘built-in income’ and ‘work abroad integrated’ modules, along with extensive placement assistance.
Vivek Sinha, who also served as a business head at Oyo before his tenure at Unacademy, expressed optimism about addressing the skilled workforce shortages both domestically and globally. “Our platform is dedicated to creating a high-quality supply of skilled manpower from India,” Sinha stated.
The series of departures from Unacademy that preceded Sinha’s new venture included high-level executives, underscoring a period of significant change within the company.
Emversity, Beyond Odds’ education arm, is set to open its first center in Bangalore on April 20, with plans to expand to six more cities this quarter. The startup has partnered with leading healthcare institutions to offer tailored programs that meet industry-specific skill requirements.
Rajat Agarwal, Managing Director at Matrix Partners India, commended Sinha’s efforts: “We extend our best wishes to the Emversity team for their journey ahead, as they play a pivotal role in harnessing India’s demographic dividend to foster the growth of sunrise industries.”
Harsha Kumar, Partner at Lightspeed, highlighted the critical role of Beyond Odds in bridging the talent and skills gap in India’s workforce by promoting vocational, skills-based education in collaboration with public and private entities.
