Synopsis Edtech firm NxtWave on Tuesday said it has raised $33 million (about Rs 272 crore) in its latest funding round led by private equity firm Greater Pacific Capital. NxtWave's existing venture investor Orios Venture Partners also participated in the funding round. ETtech Upskilling platform NxtWave on Tuesday said that it has raised $33 million in funding led by global equity firm Greater Pacific Capital (GPC). Existing venture investor Orios Venture Partners also participated in the round. Founded in 2020 by IIT Bombay, IIT Kharagpur and IIT Hyderabad graduates — Sashank Reddy Gujjula , Anupam Pedarla and Rahul Attuluri — NxtWave offers upskilling courses to learners, helping them get jobs in the technology domain. “We’re excited to have GPC as a new partner in our journey. Making India a powerhouse of technologies starts with upskilling our youth. Together, we’ll bring high-quality, employability-focused education to India’s youth and equip them for the jobs of the future at scale,” said Rahul Attuluri, cofounder and chief executive officer, NxtWave. NxtWave claims it has helped learners secure jobs across 1,250 companies, including fast-growing startups and Fortune 500 corporations. “India has world-class engineering institutes, and as the country positions itself as one of the leaders of the information era, the country needs to build the capacity to provide quality learning, particularly in artificial intelligence, for 500 million young Indians. Leveraging technology to fill this gap is the key to unlocking India's economic potential and providing quality employment to its youth, which NxtWave is doing,” said Ketan Patel, founder and CEO, GPC. As a part of the deal, Nandan Desai, managing director and co-head of India for GPC, will join NxtWave’s board. Discover the stories of your interest Blockchain 5 Stories Cyber-safety 7 Stories Fintech 9 Stories E-comm 9 Stories ML 8 Stories Edtech 6 Stories “Nearly 63% of Indian graduates are unemployed and an estimated 30 lakh new tech jobs are projected to be created in India within a few years. This gap opens up a total tech-upskilling opportunity of over $8 billion annually. NxtWave has proved it can bridge this gap and is now ready for its next phase of growth across India,” said Anup Jain, managing partner, Orios Venture Partners. Over the past few years, several startups, including Masai School and Scaler, have provided upskilling services to learners, as demand for technology and software professionals grew. Other players include Simplilearn which provide certification courses in the technology domain . Simplilearn also launched its job-tech arm, SimpliRecruit which helps enterprises find the best technology talent. However, with the slowdown in funding, and enterprises being prudent about hiring, platforms like Unacademy’s Relevel, which was previously in the job-tech and upskilling domain decided to pivot its business. Relevel has shifted its focus to test products and its new app NextLevel, which is a professional networking platform, Unacademy founder Gaurav Munjal informed staff last month. Don’t miss out on ET Prime stories! Get your daily dose of business updates on WhatsApp. click here! Tuesday, 21 Feb, 2023 Experience Your Economic Times Newspaper, The Digital Way! Read Complete Print Edition » Front Page Pure Politics Companies ET Markets More Bourses Review Extension of Equity F&O Trade Hours Stock exchanges are reviving plans of longer trading hours for equity derivative contracts, said two people with direct knowledge of the matter. The National Stock Exchange (NSE), which is spearheading the effort, is in preliminary discussions with market participants to extend timings for stock futures and options (F&O) trading, they said. Govt Hopeful of Work Starting on at least One Semicon Unit by Yr end The Centre is hopeful that at least one among the “few” semiconductor manufacturing projects it expects to approve in 2023 will commence “ground-breaking” at its manufacturing unit by the year end, a top official told ET. Small Packs Fit Inflation-hit Urban Baskets With retail inflation on the rise again, packaged goods companies are pushing small packages even in urban markets across soaps, toothpaste, confectionery, coffee, soft drinks and detergents at kirana stores, modern trade and online platforms. These are already contributing 20-50% of sales, executives said. 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