Weskill Nets Funding To Fuel Its AI-Driven Product Offering
Summary
Bengaluru-based upskilling platform Weskill has secured an undisclosed amount in a pre-seed funding round from a clutch of high-net-worth individuals (HNIs) and strategic investors at a valuation of INR 40 Cr (around $4.5 Mn).Weskill founder and chief executive Prashant Prakash Dubey told Inc42 that the freshly raised capital would be deployed to further scale up its AI-driven product offering.The startup claims to have built an in-house AI chatbot which helps students and freshers for counseling and mock interviews.Currently, the chatbot is in a testing phase and is available only to its selected users. The chatbot is trained on Krutrims AI model.Apart from that, the startup also plans to make a strategic acquisition to further strengthen its position in the market.Founded in 2023 by Dubey, Weskill provides virtual training and certification courses to students and young professionals to equip them with future skills especially in the area of artificial intelligence for better employment opportunities.The platform provides skilling courses in finance, human resource, cybersecurity and more. It also helps students and individuals, preparing them for competitive exams.Additionally it also offers internship opportunities to its users and claims to have partnered with companies like Meta, Microsoft, Adobe and Cisco, among others, for the same.In 2023, the startup rebranded itself to pivot into providing training and certification courses to professionals in AI-focussed upskilling courses. Earlier the platform also focussed on skilling individuals in non-technical areas.According to Inc42s annual funding report, after seeing a downturn for two consecutive years2022 and 2023, the edtech sector saw some revival last year. However, the deal count still remained low, plunging 38% year-on-year to 29 in 2024.Recently, a couple of edtech startups have raised funding as the sector sees a technology-driven disruption and the rush to capitalise on the surge in demand.For instance, in January, Leap bagged $65 Mn as a part of its Series E funding exercise led by Apis Partners funds Apis Growth Markets Fund III and Apis Global Growth Fund III.Meanwhile, Suniel Shetty-backed Klassroom Edutech also secured an undisclosed amount in a Pre-Series A funding round led by ah!