India’s leading edtech and upskilling platform, with 200+ recruiting companies from Tamil Nadu, NxtWave (www.ccbp.in) gains the spotlight. Its co-founders Sashank Reddy Gujjula and Anupam Pedarla are honored in Forbes 30 Under 30. Being included in this prestigious list underscores their commitment to elevate India’s tech horizon 4.0 by empowering Tier-2, Tier-3, and Tier-4 engineering college students through upskilling in vernacular languages. It recognizes 30 leaders for their ground-breaking achievements across industries. This stellar achievement comes after their last year's notable Series A funding of INR 275 crores.
This honor is particularly noteworthy as it emerges from a highly competitive landscape, with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) reporting over 5500 recognized EdTech startups across the nation. The selection of NxtWave's co-founders as the sole representatives in the education category highlights their massive contributions to the field.
According to a report by Morgan Stanley, India's IT industry is expected to triple in this decade. Despite numerous opportunities, students face difficulties in securing jobs due to a lack of industry-relevant skills and language barriers. As per market research firm Statista, 88% of the urban population speak English, while the number is just 3% for the rural population. Since English is the predominant medium of tech instruction, lack of English proficiency leads to lost opportunities for a majority of Indian youth. After graduating from IIT Bombay and IIT Kharagpur respectively, Sashank and Anupam recognized this problem and were determined to solve it. They turned down lucrative job offers and together with Rahul Attuluri ( IIIT Hyderabad graduate), established NxtWave, aiming to equip the youth with modern Industry 4.0 technology skills with tech courses in vernacular languages and provide them with reliable placement support.
Since then, NxtWave has become one of India's fastest-growing edtech startups by making technical skills training accessible through courses in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Hindi, Bengali, and Marathi. The company is making a significant impact in the education sector by catering to 65% of the Indian population that communicates in local languages.