As AI automates part of the workforce, Emversityan Indian workforce training startup, is building talent pipelines for roles it believes AI cannot replace, and has raised $30 million in a new funding round to expand skills training in the world’s most populous market.
The all-stock Series A round was led by Premji Invest, with participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners and Z47, the Bengaluru-based startup announced on Thursday. The funding values Emversity at around $120 million post-money, sources confirmed to TechCrunch, up from around $60 million in its April 2025 pre-Series A round. Total funding now stands at $46 million.
India is grappling with a growing skills gap, with graduates often entering the job market without professional skills, even as major service sectors struggle to hire skilled staff. In the area of health, the Indian government says that the country has approximately 4.3 million registered nurses and 5,253 nursing facilities producing approximately 387,000 nurses annually, yet recent reports indicate continued to report a shortage. Hospitality, too, was confronted with a Bid-ask gap of 55% to 60% for workers, according to industry estimates.
Emversity attempts to bridge this gap by integrating employer-designed training programs into university curricula and running skill centers affiliated with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) of the Government of India for certifications and short-term internships.
The two-year-old startup has partnered with 23 universities and colleges across more than 40 campuses and focuses on “gray-collar” roles – positions that require hands-on training and qualifications – including nurses, physical therapists and medical lab technicians, as well as hospitality roles such as guest relations and food service.
So far, Emversity has trained around 4,500 learners and placed 800 candidates, founder and CEO Vivek Sinha (pictured above) said in an interview.
Sinha, who previously served as chief operating officer of Indian edtech startup Unacademy for more than three years before starting Emversity in 2023, told TechCrunch that he first conceived the idea while working on test prep courses for entry-level government jobs. He noticed that applicants included engineers, MBAs and even doctors.
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“I started talking to these learners,” he said. “Some of them had paid tuition to private colleges and spent 16 to 18 years getting these degrees.”
Sinha said the gap has widened in recent years and could widen further as automation and new work tools change what employers expect from entry-level hires, while demand remains strong in credentialed positions such as health care, where hands-on training and staffing ratios are still important.
“AI can reduce a nurse’s administrative work, such as filing patient details or electronic medical records,” Sinha said. “But AI can’t replace a nurse if you always need one in a two-bed intensive care unit.”
Emversity works with employers such as Fortis Healthcare, Apollo Hospitals, Aster, KIMS, IHCL (Taj Hotels) and Lemon Tree Hotels to co-design role-specific training modules, which it then helps universities integrate into their degree programs. The startup does not charge employers, but generates revenue through fees paid by partner institutions and short-term certification programs held at its NSDC-affiliated skill centers.
The startup operates with gross margins of around 80% and has kept customer acquisition costs below 10% of revenue by relying heavily on organic channels rather than performance marketing, Sinha said.
He added that the startup offers a career guidance platform for high school students that generated more than 350,000 requests and accounted for more than 20% of revenue last year.
With this new funding, Emversity plans to expand its presence to more than 200 locations over the next two years and increase its focus on healthcare and hospitality, while also entering new sectors such as engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) and manufacturing. The startup is already in advanced discussions with one of India’s largest EPC companies to design and roll out role-specific programs this year, and plans to begin manufacturing-focused training next year, Sinha said.
To deliver consistent results across campuses, Emversity combines employer-led program design with hands-on training infrastructure, including simulation labs for clinical roles such as nursing and emergency care.
Last year, Emversity’s revenue was roughly evenly split between its integrated training programs at universities and short-term certification courses run by its own skill centers, Sinha said.
While Emversity is currently building talent pipelines for domestic employers, Sinha said the startup sees an opportunity to also meet international demand, particularly in healthcare, as aging populations in markets like Japan and Germany seek skilled workers. However, it did not disclose the exact timeline to meet global demand.
Emversity has around 700 employees, including 200 to 250 trainers deployed across its entire campus network.