Skillenza

Founded in 2014, Skillenza operates as a talent assessment and engagement platform, connecting skilled individuals with enterprises primarily in the tech sector. The company was established in Bengaluru, India, by Subhendu Panigrahi, Bisineer Vijayendra Myna, and Prakash Kumar Tiwari. CEO Subhendu Panigrahi, an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur, leveraged his background in building startup communities and his understanding of the hiring challenges faced by tech companies to shape Skillenza's direction. His experience, which includes co-founding the Entrepreneurship Cell at his university and working with startups, revealed a significant gap in how companies discover and evaluate qualified engineering talent, which Skillenza aims to address.

Skillenza's business model centers on a Software-as-a-SaaS-enabled marketplace that serves both job seekers and corporate clients. For individuals, including students and working professionals, the platform offers a space to showcase their abilities by participating in coding challenges, hackathons, and competitions. This process allows them to have their skills verified and validated, particularly in high-demand fields like software engineering and data science. For enterprises, which have included companies like Ola, Zivame, and Hike, Skillenza provides a platform to organize these events for talent discovery, employer branding, and filtering candidates. The company's proprietary assessment engine allows clients to create custom tests or use a library of challenges to screen and rank potential hires, thereby streamlining the recruitment process. Revenue is generated from enterprises using the platform for these hiring and branding activities.

The platform functions as a community for tech talent, enabling users to solve real-world problems posed by companies, which helps them gain recognition even if not actively job hunting. This approach differentiates it from traditional job boards by focusing on practical skill demonstration over resumes alone. Over its operational history, Skillenza attracted significant investor interest, raising a total of $2.62 million over four funding rounds, with notable investors including Blume Ventures, Indian Angel Network, and CBA Capital's Education Catalyst Fund. A major milestone in the company's journey was its acquisition by Imarticus Learning on July 8, 2022, which was reportedly facilitated by a common investor to create synergy between the platforms.

Keywords: talent assessment, technical recruitment, coding challenges, hackathons, skill verification, tech hiring, developer community, employer branding, recruitment platform, engineering talent, data science hiring, SaaS, pre-hire assessment, talent engagement, IT skills, programming challenges, online hackathons, candidate screening, skill-based hiring, Imarticus Learning, Subhendu Panigrahi, Blume Ventures, developer assessment, talent marketplace, IT recruitment