Remote work has broken down barriers for many employees and now Virtual internship is doing the same for university students around the world by partnering with more than 12,000 companies from 100 countries. The edtech startup today announced it has raised $14.3 million Series A led by Hambro Perks, with participation from Sequoia India & Southeast Asia’s Surge, Arsenal Growth, Kaplan, Ascend Vietnam Ventures and STIC Investments .
Virtual internships use AI to match students on a large scale with internships at companies ranging from startups to blue chip and guarantee a fit within a month. Its parent companies include AWS, Carrefour, Dentons, GAM Investments, Asian Development Bank, and Bio Pharm Dongsung.
Over 70% of interns work directly with C-suite founders or executives, and the platform also trains students before and during an internship with a employability course called CareerBridge. . They have access to weekly subscriptions, group discussions, webinars, and coaching calls in between and at the end of their internship. About 25% of students who complete an internship through this platform are invited to continue working with their right company and 70% are working full time within three months of their internship.
CEO Daniel Nivern told TechCrunch that work experience is the most important differentiator for job-seeking graduates, but of the 260 million higher education students around the world, not yet up to 80 million internships done. This leads to many students feeling that their colleges are not providing them with adequate career support. But geographic and time commitments also make many top internship opportunities inaccessible.
“Virtual internships address all of these barriers and more by giving all students worldwide access to a structured, globally structured internship program that they can undertake anywhere,” he said. anytime and anywhere. “It allows employers to create global talent pipelines and universities or governments can support specific audiences, ensuring better hireability and ROI outcomes.” .
Prior to founding Virtual Internships, Nivern and co-founder Edward Holyroyd Pearce launched CRCC Asia in 2006 to help students get internships in Asia, growing their businesses to over 10,000 students. In 2018 they realized there was a much larger market of students who wanted to do an international internship and created Virtual Internships to help them find a place no matter where they are.
Since its launch, Virtual Internships have grown in revenue from $100,000 in fiscal year 2019/2020 to $4.1 million in 2021/2022 and is expected to reach $10 million by 2024. Most of its revenue comes from universities that have added Virtual Internships to their curriculum. It also collaborates with government and university transfer programs.
Nivern said competitors include venture-backed firms like Fodder, which offers five- to six-hour virtual work experience programs; Apprenticeship program background Multiverse; and Riipen, which hosts corporate competitions and assignments for students to complete with the help of instructors. Virtual internships differentiate themselves by partnering with universities and governments to provide internships that guarantee high employment opportunities.
The company will use its new capital to grow its engineering team and products. It also plans to add to its partnership development teams in the US, UK and Australia, along with emerging markets such as the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia.
Nivern said Virtual Internships will focus on scalability and employability outcomes by further evolving its matching process and working on a post-internship recruitment portal that will allow companies to find potential employees from a database of students and graduates.
Hambro Perks CEO Nicholas Sharp said: “Virtual internships are addressing the needs of a more digital working world and providing opportunities for young people from all backgrounds to be part of the economy. globalization”. “The global network the team is creating through the platform — with customers, teams, and investors around the world — is unique and exciting, and we’re excited to support them in their growth phase. next development”.
