Four friends founded e-learning company under their 50s, clocked Rs. 15 cr revenue in FY-23

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When four passionate tight-knit work colleagues transformed their friendship into business partnerships they founded a venture called Nuvepro Technologies in Bangalore.

Challenging the conventional thought of settling by the 50s, Jankiraman S, Giridhar LV, Rajesh Menakath Vasudevan, and Moyukh Goswami collectively took the risk of quitting their jobs to focus on their passion for entrepreneurship. Like every startup encompasses stories of struggle and failure, this venture’s tales are no short of it.

In conversation with Empowering Indians came one of the co-founders of Nuvepro Technologies to share about the brand and their entrepreneurial journey.

Giridhar LV, speaking about the brand’s journey from when it started in 2014, originating as a spin-off from LTI Mindtree shed light on how their experience of failures and learning molded their vision along the journey.

Giridhar said while talking to Empowering Indians, “In the beginning, Nuvepro Technologies was mainly dealing with the multi-cloud management for data centers. Gradually our brand began to focus on helping workers and learners gain the skills they need to do well in projects, tasks, or jobs. We achieve this by filling in skill gaps and providing practical learning opportunities. The shift resulted when we began to recognize the needs of the customers closely, which led to efficient growth in our company as well.”

Nuvepro is a learning lab that helps the workforce to upskill through three stages of learning; real-world training, assessments, and practice environments.

For the first stage, learners start by learning from an instructor or a faculty. The startup gives learners Practice Playgrounds for this part, which are like ready-to-use practice spaces. Then comes the next step where learners reinforce what they have learned.

“We offer projects with guidance that are based on real-world scenarios and lastly checking what you’ve learned with tests – again, these tests are like real-world situations done in a practice space. When we have a certain skill we want to teach, we put together these practice spaces, projects, and tests into Skill Bundles,’’ added Giridhar- co-founder of Nuvepro.

Having collaborated with around 60 to 70 organizations, with 30 active clients monthly, mostly in India. The platform serves three categories: IT service organizations, upskilling platforms, and higher education institutions.

For enterprises, Nuvepro provides packages of skills that help workers become really good at using cloud technologies. This makes them capable of performing better in their projects and tasks.

Educational technology (EdTech) companies can easily include Nuvepro’s skill packages in their teaching methods, making learners better at skills and boosting their chances for a successful career.

Universities can connect what industries need with what they teach using Nuvepro’s complete solutions, training partners, pre-configured sandboxes, and industry projects.

Nuvepro Technologies aims to focus on providing B2B training services, working with organizations and not individual users. The company’s major clients include IT service organizations like TCH, Mahindra, Wipro, and global companies like Genpact, and HP. The platform serves three categories: IT service organizations, upskilling platforms, and higher education institutions like Bits Pillani, IIMs, and IITs.

Looking back at their startup journey, Giridhar talked about how they went through the first four years of their startup until they finally figured out what was missing and the business didn’t work out.

“In 2014, we started with data software, but it didn’t work because we didn’t understand what customers needed. In 2018-19, we switched to training services because people wanted to learn online. During COVID, our team grew to about 70 members. At first, we made a mistake by thinking technology would sell itself, but we learned from it. We used our experience in IT services and managing a team to meet customer needs and changed our platform to provide hands-on training online.”

Continuing with the journey, he also reflected on the growth of customers. He added that before 2019, the data software business had 8-10 customers and made less than $250,000 a year. With training services, Nuvepro managed to have 60-70 customers, with 30 using it regularly each month.

“But it’s been a bit up and down after this year because of economic challenges. Right now, 40,000 to 60,000 people use our platform every month,” told Gridhar.

The prices vary, starting at Rs. 30 per hour for some services and going up to several thousand rupees for bigger packages. Sometimes it can even be Rs. 25,000 for one user, considering everything from start to finish.

The startup Nuvepro Technologies from Bangalore began with 15 people and found success by learning from their mistakes and listening to what customers needed.

While talking about the financial aspect of the business, Gridhar mentioned during the interview with Empowering Indians that Nuvepro Technologies was launched with an initial investment of Rs. 6 crores that came from all four co-founders. They aimed to use the investment primarily for product development and building a team for engineering, support, sales, and marketing.

Mentioning the revenue of Nuvepro Technologies over the years, Giridhar said, “The startup’s growth has been notable, transitioning from annual revenue of one crore before 2019 to Rs. 15 crores now.”

He further added, “One of the primary reasons for success goes to understanding the needs of the customers to plan your startup, and the second is to find a large customer base willing to pay for the services.”

Upskill yourself: Learn skills from successful personalities and boost your career.

Giridhar believes that the confidence in their valuable skills have motivated them to take the risk of starting a venture in their middle age when many people are considering retirement.

He added, “We were intrigued by the emerging technology of cloud systems and saw potential opportunities in the field. All of us were assured of our skills that if we failed at setting up this business, we still had valuable skill sets and the confidence to return to our jobs.”

Intending to carve their name in the start-up ecosystem, Giridhar LV and his three friends, who have been friends for decades, are aspiring to grow their company, Nuvepro Technologies, all around the world to bring significant revenue growth in the future.

Beyond the realm of their entrepreneurial journey, it often makes a reader curious how entrepreneurs manage their work-life while doing a venture that requires a person’s presence in fulfilling the responsibility quite closely.

In the interview, Giridhar shared pieces of advice as entrepreneurs on putting up with the work-life balance. He emphasized one should be ready to be available based on the demands of the hour, whether it’s for work-related matters or family commitments.

“As an entrepreneur, the work-life line is always blurry because your presence often revolves around the immediate needs of the business, such as fulfilling customer needs or resolving issues. Rather than striving for a strict work-life balance.” Giridhar has participated in numerous marathons