Postman, a SaaS company, invests Rs 2 crore in BITS Pilani’s API lab

New Delhi, India: Postman, a software as a service (SaaS) company, announced on Monday that it will invest Rs 2 crore to create an API Lab at the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani (BITS Pilani) to encourage API literacy among students and prospective developers.

The API Lab at BITS Pilani, which is set to debut in December 2022, will foster interest in APIs and give a venue for students to develop new skills by brainstorming, developing, and experimenting with new ideas, according to the business.

As part of Postman’s Student Programme, which aims to encourage API literacy among students and educators, the new API Lab at BITS Pilani will provide a space for students to explore this developing technology. APIs enable app-to-app interactions as well as app-to-app functionality.

Abhinav Asthana and Abhijit Kane, both of BITS Pilani, and Ankit Sobti, of NSIT Delhi, founded the company in 2014. Previously, Asthana and Sobti worked together at Yahoo India.

According to the organisation, students can develop new skills and capacities through the programme, giving them a competitive advantage before graduating and looking for full-time work.

Postman’s ongoing collaboration with BITS Pilani includes a classroom programme to train and support educators who want to use APIs into their curriculum.

Postman raised $225 million in August of last year in a funding round led by existing investor Insight Partners, with new investors including Coatue, storied Silicon Valley investor Mary Meeker’s Bond Capital, and Battery Ventures.

Asthana, co-founder and CEO of Postman, remarked, “Students with a strong background of API literacy can do incredible things.”

“Our ambition is to power an API-first world, and our cooperation with BITS Pilani marks a significant step forward in that direction.” We’re giving kids the tools they need to thrive and stand out in a competitive hiring market by empowering educators to teach API skills in schools and institutions around the world, so they can keep bringing the API-first world to life,” he added.