Matrix-backed AntWalk raises $7.5M in a Series A investment round led by GSV Ventures

6th July, 2022. Bengaluru: AntWalk, a B2B Ed-Tech platform, has raised $7.5M in a Series A investment round led by GSV Ventures. The round also saw participation from Y Combinator and existing investor Matrix Partners India.

Founded in the year 2019, AntWalk is the brainchild of former McKinsey consultants, ex-Bankers and former educators, Joybroto Ganguly, Basav Nagur, Sriramkumar Sundararaman, Sumit Gupta and Sudhanshu Shekhar, who realized that there is a need for contextual knowledge transfer as employees join, grow and shoulder larger responsibilities.

The enterprise L&D Industry is expected to touch the $402B mark by 2025, but the current L&D model is broken, siloed and does not put professionals' role readiness at the center of learning interventions. It is either dominated by self-learning content such as MOOCs (Massive Open Online Course) which have very low completion rates or driven by individual trainers who have limited bandwidth to contextualize and deliver tech driven learning experiences. AntWalk is on a mission to rejuvenate Enterprise L&D with a unique "Role focused Capability Academies'' - a combination of industry relevant content delivered by 4,000+ global professionals through live group sessions, 1:1 coaching and gamified content. These global professionals currently work at renowned firms and have walked the same path as learners.

This infusion of capital will be used to strengthen the Learning Experience Platform (LXP) using gamification, build best-in-class content pedagogy through R&D, and expand the sales & marketing team to widen the customer base.

Joybroto Ganguly, Co-founder & CEO proudly affirmed, "The name '˜AntWalk' is inspired by the way ants communicate and share intelligence with each other when they walk, reflecting the act of '˜collaborative social learning. We are well on our way to building a robust ed-tech company focused on the global skilling opportunity, by leveraging this power of collaborative learning and are excited to partner with GSV Ventures on this journey."

Sumit Gupta, Co-founder, AntWalk added, "Acquiring the right skills at the right time from the right pool of global experts would not only help employees meet their immediate business goals, and become future-ready, but also benefit organizations in creating a high-performance workplace with proficient and motivated knowledge workers. It is crystal-clear that the value created by leveraging the expertise of global professionals is immense for growing organizations.'

Sriramkumar Sundararaman, Co-founder & COO, AntWalk added, "In today's world, learning is possible in a plethora of ways; one size doesn't fit all. While an entry level sales associate would need a mix of self-paced content and 1:1 mock sessions to become better, a senior leader would need 1:1 coaching and live cohort sessions to learn with peers. AntWalk offerings are designed to cater to the nuances of an employee's needs based on the function and role they are in.'

"GSV Ventures is proud to align with Joy and the team, who bring passion and purpose to one of the toughest challenges in the corporate world '“ reskilling and upskilling employees to match dynamic job demands', commented Deborah Quazzo, Managing Partner of GSV Ventures.

"We're excited to double down on our investment in AntWalk as they strive to re-imagine the corporate learning market globally. We're fortunate to be early partners with Joy and the AntWalk team on this journey and welcome GSV to the partnership!', commented Rajat Agarwal, Managing Director, Matrix India

About AntWalk:
AntWalk is an E-learning company that helps organizations accelerate and transform their L&D model, paving the way to continuous learning for professionals. The team consists of ISBians and ex-Mckinsey alums who are extremely passionate about sharing, learning and growing together.

AntWalk's People Growth Platform is powered by 4,000+ experts from 500+ global brands who offer effective solutions to improve employee development, enhance the competencies of employees and develop newer ones that align with business goals. This enables employees to learn in the flow of work, develop a growth mindset and propel their careers to the next level, in turn helping organizations drive fruitful business outcomes. For more, visit https://www.antwalk.com/

About GSV Ventures:
GSV Ventures is a venture firm headquartered in San Francisco, US, and invests in exceptional technology entrepreneurs creating scaled solutions in the "PreK to Gray' digital education and skills market Its portfolio companies include Coursera, Class Dojo, Degreed, Outlier, Remind, Course Hero, Master Class, and more.

About Y Combinator:
Y Combinator (YC) is a startup fund and program. Since 2005, YC has invested in nearly 3,000 companies including Airbnb, DoorDash, Stripe, Instacart, Dropbox, and Coinbase. The combined valuation of YC companies is over $300B. YC has programs and resources that support founders throughout the life of their company. Startup School teaches the basics of starting a company. The YC batch program helps founders as they build their product, talk to their customers, and raise funding. Working at a Startup makes it easy for founders to find their first engineers. YC Series A helps founders launch their A round. YC Growth Program provides founders with resources to scale their companies and hire an executive team, and YC Continuity invests in their later stage rounds.

About Matrix Partners India:
Founded in 2006, Matrix India invests in companies targeting the Indian consumer and enterprise market at the seed, early, and early growth stages. The firm has invested in several market-leading companies such as Ola (mobility), Dailyhunt (mobile local language platform), Razorpay (payments), OfBusiness (B2B Commerce, fintech), Five Star Business Finance (SME lending), Ola Electric (electric vehicles), DealShare (social commerce platform), Stanza Living (tech-enabled student housing platform), OneCard (mobile-first credit card), Country Delight (D2C dairy & fresh foods brand), GoKwik (e-commerce enablement platform), Captain Fresh (seafood marketplace), Bijnis (B2B platform for factories), Jupiter (consumer neobank), Mswipe (mobile POS), Zupee (leading skill-based gaming app), and Oxyzo (a tech-enabled smart financing solution provider) among others. Matrix India has advisory offices in Bangalore, Delhi, and Mumbai. Matrix Partners has a global network of funds investing in the US, China, and India, with approximately $5 billion under management. Further information is available at www.matrixpartners.in. To know more about our investment philosophy & ideologies, check out the #MatrixMoments podcast series.

For more information, contact:
pr@matrixpartners.in