Mesa School of Business Raises INR 34 Crore Funding for Startup Leadership Programme

Mesa School of Business, a higher education startup, has raised INR 34 crore in a funding round led by Elevation Capital and with participation from angel investors such as Kunal Shah, Vidit Aatrey, Abhiraj Bahl, and others. The startup plans to utilize the funds to develop a curriculum and deliver it in partnership with startup leaders and potential future employers for a founding cohort of 60 students.

Learning by Doing Approach

Mesa School of Business was founded in 2023 by Ankit Agarwal and Varun Limaye. Initially, the startup offered a 12-month, full-time PG program in Startup Leadership. The program’s core principle is “learning by doing,” where students learn business directly from startup CXOs and practitioners, build startup businesses from scratch as part of the coursework, and deeply immerse themselves in Bengaluru’s startup ecosystem.

The startup aims to provide students access to opportunities for leadership roles at startups and tech companies in India.

Funds Utilization and Cohort Details

The funding raised by Mesa School of Business will be used to develop the curriculum for the program and to deliver it in partnership with startup leaders and potential future employers. The startup plans to begin its founding cohort in September 2023, with a fee of INR 14.95 lakh for the one-year programme.

Mesa School of Business will also provide scholarship support to some students. The startup has set the first application deadline for May 28, 2023, and has already received more than 300 applications. The founding team expects the final numbers to be more than 1,000.

Curriculum Designed by Startup Founders and Senior Leaders

The startup has invited startup founders and senior leaders to design the curriculum for the program, and some of them have agreed to join as faculty members and mentors. Some of the names include Aditya Shrivastava (SVP, Urban Company), Mukul Arora (managing partner, Elevation Capital), Saurabh Jain (founder StableMoney), Rahool Gadkari (cofounder, Neufin), among others.

Rise of Higher Education Startups in India

India has witnessed a recent rise in higher education, upskilling, and reskilling startups that offer PG diplomas and above, focused on new-age subjects such as data science, AI, and ML, among others. According to Inc42 data, these startups have raised $2.6 Bn between 2014 and Q1 2023.

The competition in this segment includes upGrad, Great Learning, Masai School, Eruditus, and Springboard, among others. Recently, Tata Digital also entered this segment, launching a new platform NeuSkills and offering courses in data analytics and frontend development. Last month, upskilling unicorn upGrad received INR 300 crore investment from Ronnie Screwvala and Temasek.

Conclusion

Mesa School of Business’s startup leadership program aims to provide hands-on learning and access to opportunities for leadership roles at startups and tech companies in India. With the help of the funds raised, the startup plans to develop a curriculum in partnership with startup leaders and potential future employers for a founding cohort of 60 students. The competition in the higher education, upskilling, and reskilling startup segment is fierce, with various players such as upGrad, Great Learning, Masai School, Eruditus, Springboard, and Tata Digital. However, Mesa School of Business believes that its learning-by-doing approach and partnerships with startup leaders and potential future employers will set it apart from the rest.