AI, GCC boom fuels edtech’s B2B gold rush

Even as companies say that the conventional consumer model is still very much in vogue, they are working towards building their B2B (business to business) businesses, backed by corporations racing to upskill employees for the artificial intelligence (AI) age, and by the expansion of global capacity centres (GCCs) in India. 

The goals are lofty. Mumbai-based upGrad, a traditionally consumer-facing business, expects 30-35% of its business coming from B2B in the next few years, from 20% currently. Simplilearn, which has offices in the US, Singapore and Bengaluru, and offers courses ranging from AI to digital marketing, gets 30% of its revenue from its enterprise segment, and expects a 50:50 split in two to three years. 

And Bengaluru-based Scaler, which focuses on software development and data science courses and introduced a B2B vertical this year, expects it to contribute 10-20% of revenues in the first fiscal year (FY26).

The details

Let’s start with Scaler. The startup, traditionally a direct-to-consumer player, is focusing its B2B business towards companies with a headcount of 2,000-20,000 employees and those that have set up a GCC in India.

“Most large enterprises outsource their software needs, and it lands in an Indian GCC,” said Abhimanyu Saxena, co-founder of Scaler, identifying the training of GCC staff as a key revenue stream. 

“In the first year, revenue from enterprise will be sizeable,” Saxena said, adding that the company has already signed deals with a few Fortune 500 companies, but declined to share the names. 

Scaler closed FY24 with ₹384.5 crore in operating revenue, up from ₹316.6 crore in FY23, according to documents sourced from business insights provider Tofler. Scaler also slashed its losses in FY24 to ₹138.8 crore, down from ₹330.2 crore in FY23.

“If edtechs are able to win contracts from GCCs, which have the potential to give big-ticket deals, they can end up becoming really profitable for companies,” said Amit Nawka, technology deals partner at PwC India.

Meanwhile, upGrad has been slowly building its muscle for enterprise-facing solutions through mergers and acquisitions over the past three years. While the edtech acquired Work Better and Centum Learning in 2022 to build its B2B segment, it was only in April 2024 that the company brought its B2B offerings under one banner, upGrad Enterprise, the company said.

Srikanth Iyengar, chief executive officer of upGrad Enterprise, said B2B will help the company accelerate its growth in international markets through partnerships with global organisations. “While consumer programmes typically allow individuals to learn at their own pace, enterprise learning is built on speed and precision–where organizations need their talent to acquire and apply skills to drive performance.” 

upGrad clocked ₹1,875 crore in non-Indian Accounting Standards gross revenue in FY24, up ₹1,530 crore in the previous financial year, according to data shared by the company with Mint. It trimmed Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) losses to ₹79 crore,down from ₹500 crore in the previous fiscal.

Some of upGrad’s B2B vertical clients are Reliance Retail, Hexaware Technologies, HCL Technologies and Walmart Global Tech India, according to the company.

Pivotal role

As for Simplilearn, company founder Krishna Kumar told Mint In an interview last year that the company would focus on reskilling for professionals and its B2B segment. “We should reach a 50-50 split between our consumer and enterprise business in the next two to three years,” Kumar said.

According to data from the company’s FY24 revenue announcement release, Simplilearn clocked ₹773 crore in revenue and trimmed Ebitda losses by 75% to ₹51 crore.

Most of Simplilearn’s enterprise business comes from four segments: IT and ITES, GCCs, public sector undertakings (PSUs) and government institutions, and manufacturing and BFSI (banking, financial services, insurance). The startup’s B2B clients include Indian IT firm Mphasis and Swiss technology company Temenos.

“At IT and ITES companies, they hire fresh graduates who can’t be put on projects from day one,” Kumar said. “They need extensive training that is part of their onboarding programme and we work with them to make sure they can be deployed on projects.” 

On the other hand, at GCCs, the focus shifts to upskilling and reskilling the workforce, Kumar added. 

Post-pandemic shifts

To be sure, edtech’s troubles started to grow in 2022 as the pandemic waned and students began to return to their classrooms. Startups in the sector faced slower growth and looked to pivot to more viable options. Additionally, Byju’s collapse hurt the ecosystem, in terms of both valuations and investor faith in the space. 

While several edtech companies switched to an offline model, others have turned to B2B for consistent revenue. Yet, companies told Mint their D2C business is still alive and kicking.

“If you look at the higher education segment, I don’t see any downturn. Even if you look at the players in the upskilling and reskilling segment, I don’t see any of the players struggling,” said Simplilearn’s Kumar. 

In fact, PhysicsWallah is among the few profitable edtechs that has stuck by its D2C business. 

Increasing AI demand

The change in the edtech revenue mix comes as AI increasingly takes centre stage and enterprises look to plug holes in this space, from both an adoption and staffing perspective. 

“AI can be adopted well into GCCs because they’re highly process-driven organisations with specific turnaround times as well as predictability of work. In that regard, GCCs will be the torchbearers of AI adoption,” said Nawka of PwC.

upGrad Enterprises’ Iyengar said that the division has seen 100% jump in enterprise sign-ups for AI-focused training in the past six months, across India, North America, Europe and the Middle East. “What’s encouraging is that this isn’t just a top-down push–we’re seeing equal enthusiasm from employees,” he added.

Popular courses

upGrad Enterprises’ most popular courses include generative AI for quality assurance/quality engineering teams and coding agents, and advanced GenAI courses for professionals working with large language models. At Simplilearn, AI and GenAI have become big themes across the four verticals that use its services. 

It’s the same at Emeritus. “Additionally, topics such as executive presence, communication, and negotiation & influence are in high demand across leadership levels,” said Morarji.

The increased focus on AI comes as organisations look to automate tasks, putting entry-level jobs at risk. The Future of Jobs report 2025 by the World Economic Forum points out that 85% of the employers surveyed plan to upskill their workforce, while 70% expect to hire staff with new skills. At the same time, 40% of employers are reducing staff as their skills become less relevant and 50% are planning to transition staff to growing roles.

“I can’t see a better time for edtechs to target B2B as a segment because AI is disrupting everything and everyone wants to be on top of their game,” PwC India’s Nawka said.