Scaler sets records in tech education to professionals, sees highest package of INR 1.5 CR

Bengaluru: Scaler, a leading upskilling platform, completes two years of operations this month. In this short span of time, they have seen a 200% growth in revenue, supported by a 3X increase in employee strength.

The startup's parent firm, InterviewBit, has featured on the Financial Times Asia Pacific High Growth Companies 2021 ranking – one of the only two Indian Edtech startups to make it to the list. InterviewBit is ranked at no. 97 on the latest annual ranking of the region's leading 500 high-growth companies, as compiled by FT in partnership with Nikkei Asia and research provider Statista.

Scaler's education program for tech professionals, Scaler Academy, has created waves in the industry. Professionals with less than 3 years of experience saw an average CTC of INR 16.5LPA post graduating from the program, while those with 3-7 years of experience received INR 22.5LPA and those with 8+ years of experience received INR 39.5LPA, on average. The highest salary package secured among learners was INR 1.5 crore per annum at a global tech firm. On average, Scaler learners see a 4.5x RoI (return on investment) from the course, with RoI calculated as the average salary hike divided by the price of the course. This far exceeds many higher education organisations that typically see an RoI of less than 1x.

Over 220 companies hired from Scaler Academy's present batch of learners (2019-2020). 45.6% of these were MNCs, and the remaining 54.4% were high growth startups. The startups are diverse, with some being companies like Delhivery with $1b+ in funding and others like Salesken that recently received their Series A funding. A common trend is that many of these startups are backed by marquee investors like Sequoia Capital.

In addition, 43.8% of Academy learners got jobs at an SDE 2 (Software Development Engineer) position or higher, with some securing leadership positions at fast-growing tech companies (eg: an Architect at a leading Indian OTT and CTO at a leading solar energy startup). Amazon continues to hire more from Scaler as compared to India’s top 20 engineering colleges including the IITs. Along with cracking top tech companies, many Scaler learners also get promoted within their first appraisal cycle (<6 months) of joining a company and also start their own companies in tier 2/3 cities.

Abhimanyu Saxena, Co-Founder, Scaler & InterviewBit, said, "Despite the challenges we all faced with the pandemic outbreak, the year 2020 has been extremely promising for the ed-tech sector at large, and Scaler in particular. Our learners' widespread success in their career journeys is the ultimate success barometer for us. Additionally, their success also ensures we see growth in our business in terms of size and scale. We are very proud to see the ready uptake of talent we have helped hone and equip with skills the industry most needs today, and hope to see our alumni scale great heights during the course of their illustrious careers ahead."

Among the batch, 50% of the learners were from the states of Karnataka (19%), Telangana & AP (13%), Uttar Pradesh (10%) and Maharashtra (8%). The remaining 50% was split fairly evenly among the rest of the country. Moreover, contrary to popular belief, a majority of the Scaler Academy learners were from Tier 2 and 3 colleges. The numbers indicate a significant shift in companies' mindset, and the focus continues to be on talent rather than pedigree.