Chennai-based Skillveri Training Solutions is looking to expand its business in the US and Europe as the recent spate of geopolitical events has increased demand for its training solutions in these markets.
“After Brexit, large numbers of Eastern European labor had to leave the UK, creating a sudden shortage of skilled labour. The US is also rebuilding its manufacturing capacity to avoid over-reliance on China. As a result, we are seeing great traction from both markets,” said Sabarinath C Nair, CEO, Skillveri.
Founded in 2012 by Sabarinath and L Kannan, Skillveri was incubated at IIT Madras’ Rural Technology Business Incubator (RTBI) to provide vocational training. It uses an eXtended Reality (XR)-based simulation platform to provide hands-on training on welding, spray painting, sandblasting and other skills. XR refers to the amalgamation of immersive technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality.
Currently, Skillveri’s XR simulators are used by major automotive and paint manufacturers in India including Nippon Paints, Berger Paints, Tata Motors, Hyundai, Maruti Suzuki and TVS to name a few. Institutions like Industrial Training Institute (ITI) have used Skillveri solutions to train their students.
Sabarinath said that while the mix of industrial-institutional clients is 65-35% in India, it is 90-10 in the US market. Skillveri aims to increase share of US industrial customers. The company will establish a new office in the US in January. “Today, Skillveri’s product is used in 5 out of 700 colleges and 50 out of 10,000 schools in the US. So there is a lot of room for growth on the institutional side as well.”
New qualification training
Started with a subtype of welding specific to the automotive industry, Skillveri later added different types of welding skills that span multiple industries. It then expanded simulation training into the painting industry and merged welding and painting into one platform.
Internally, Skillveri will expand the simulators to skilled solar panel technicians, AC repair mechanics and decorative painting contractors to tap the growing demand for skilled labor in these fields.
On AC repair skill training, Sabarinath said, the company is in talks with several small AC service companies as well as AC manufacturers, besides targeting players like Urban Company.
Nippon Paint recently partnered with Skillveri to launch an XR Painter Training Module to provide spray painting training to 20,000 painters. Sabarinath said the company is in talks with big paint manufacturers and aggregators like Aapka Painter to train painters on their platform.
Published on December 3, 2022