Why we invested in MyCaptain
Look at IBM’s career portal and you’ll see that 50% of their U.S. jobs are open to anyone with the right skills regardless of whether they hold a college degree. Just one example of a legacy name hinting at the future of work. Let’s zoom out.
A reported 85 million jobs are ripe for displacement by automation while 97 million new roles are expected to emerge as we re-envision the division of labour between humans, machines and algorithms. People are connecting with jobs and income opportunities in completely new ways.
In response to these trends and the global workers shortage, nearly 70% of the world’s most admired companies are taking a skills-over-degrees approach to hiring. They’re valuing learning agility and curiosity over career history, education and experience. But, the implications don’t end with hiring. Lifelong learning is an integral part of the future of work. Learning and development professionals have made upskilling and reskilling programs a top priority globally.
Career paths which were practically unheard of a few years ago have become mainstream. Young people are diving into careers as influencer managers, podcast hosts and crypto lawyers. Job titles such as social media manager, cloud architecture specialist and online community manager have become commonplace. With the pace of adoption of new technologies (ranging from blockchains, metaverses, and edge processing) only expected to accelerate, we can anticipate new roles and specializations to keep pace.
Moreover, the proliferation of the digital economy has created opportunities for project and task-based work that can be done by anyone with the relevant skill set and a broadband connection. Today, ‘gig’ workers comprise 30% of the U.S. and European workforce. This is expected to increase to 50% globally by 2027.
At the tailwind of these trends, India sits on a massive opportunity to be a skill provider for the world. The combination of our young population, business processing track record, and entrepreneurial spirit positions us to build a $500 billion gig economy by 2025. But to get there, some things need to change.
Our legacy higher education institutions are mismatched with today’s world of work. Academic institutions continue to push pupils to prepare for narrowly defined fields of employment. There is tremendous potential for an online platform that helps students discover new vocations, understand required skills required for success and evaluate earning potential.
That’s why we’re excited to invest in MyCaptain, a multi-disciplinary cohort-based learning platform that aims to support students in discovering and succeeding in prospective careers.
MyCaptain’s career discovery platform offers students the opportunity to discover the latest career trends by interacting with and learning from young professionals in their desired fields. Students can uncover both mainstream and alternative career pathways, build practical skills and connect with a community invested in each other’s success. The company has a range of courses in areas ranging from digital marketing, UX design and entrepreneurship to fashion photography, journalism and music production. These offerings will expand as fields emerge globally.
MyCaptain is unique in its ability to provide students with ongoing support through various levels of skill development and finally match them to related jobs or freelance opportunities. To date, MyCaptain has trained and mentored more than 150,000 paid learners from metro cities such as Bangalore to small towns like Guntur in Andhra Pradesh.
Co-founders Mohammed Zeeshan, Sameer Ramesh, and Ruhan Naqash developed a version of MyCaptain during engineering college where they all first met. They’ve since spent 5 years iterating the product, deepening their market understanding and building community trust.
We are excited to partner with MyCaptain and enable India to leverage its demographic dividend to build world-class skills for the future of work.
