Breaking
byteXL raises $5.9M Series A led by Kalaari Capital & the Dell Foundation 100,000+ students trained across emerging technologies 85+ partner engineering colleges across India Exclusive Microsoft partnership for an AI/ML B.Tech Chhattisgarh gets its first degree-integrated GenAI program Named among South Asia's Top 100 EdTech companies - 3 years running byteXL raises $5.9M Series A led by Kalaari Capital & the Dell Foundation 100,000+ students trained across emerging technologies 85+ partner engineering colleges across India Exclusive Microsoft partnership for an AI/ML B.Tech Chhattisgarh gets its first degree-integrated GenAI program Named among South Asia's Top 100 EdTech companies - 3 years running
byteXL logo
EdTech Hyderabad, India Founded 2019

byteXL

The company rebuilding how India's engineering colleges teach code - so graduates leave campus actually hireable.

byteXL TechEd Pvt. Ltd. - a college-embedded training platform for emerging technologies, from AI/ML to cloud.
~120KPlatform Users
85+Partner Colleges
$7.1MTotal Funding
~340Employees
The Company

A skills gap, closed from the inside

India graduates more than a million engineers a year, and a familiar worry follows every commencement: many will struggle to get hired. byteXL was built around that worry. Rather than sell a standalone video course, the Hyderabad company embeds itself inside engineering colleges - the curriculum, the coding labs, the placement desk - and trains students on the technologies that recruiters actually screen for: AI and machine learning, cloud computing, cybersecurity and full-stack development.

The pitch is straightforward. Colleges partner with byteXL, which brings integrated courseware, on-campus trainers and a cloud-based coding platform. Students get self-learning content, live coding challenges and guided placement support. The company describes its purpose as bridging "the huge academia-industry skills gap" - the distance between what a syllabus covers and what an IT employer expects on day one.

byteXL's focus is deliberate. It concentrates on students in tier 2 and tier 3 cities - campuses that produce large numbers of engineers but often sit outside the recruiting radius of the biggest companies. By standardizing training and outcomes across those colleges, byteXL positions itself less as a tutor and more as a hiring pipeline.

That model has scaled to roughly 120,000 platform users and more than 85 partner institutions across states including Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Delhi NCR and Punjab. In July 2024, investors backed the approach with a $5.9 million Series A led by Kalaari Capital and the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation.

The company has been named among South Asia's Top 100 EdTech companies for three consecutive years - a marker of durability in a sector that has seen plenty of churn since the pandemic-era boom.

2019Founded
100K+Students Trained
$5.9MSeries A (2024)
10Microsoft AI/ML Universities
Founders

Two brothers, one classroom problem

Karun Tadepalli

CEO & Co-Founder

Before byteXL, Karun spent roughly 19 years in the United States at Accenture, AT&T and Health Management Systems. An engineering and business-management graduate of Gannon and Texas universities, he now splits time between Hyderabad and Dallas. He founded byteXL to turn his industry experience into an on-ramp for students who lack it.

Sricharan Tadepalli

CSO & Co-Founder

Karun's brother and co-founder, Sricharan brings an engineering-delivery background (previously at Oracle and Kloud9, with an MCA from Osmania University). He leads the strategy behind byteXL's content, coding platform and the mechanics of embedding training inside a college's academic year.

byteXL's mission is to bridge the huge academia-industry skills gap. - Karun Tadepalli, CEO & Co-Founder
Products & Services

What byteXL actually ships

2020

byteXL App

A subscription self-learning platform with 150+ micro-videos and 1,500+ nano-videos covering programming and emerging technologies.

2021

bCAP

The byteXL Career Accelerator Program - structured, guided upskilling aimed squarely at employability and placement outcomes.

2022

NIMBUS

A cloud-based live-learning and coding platform with real-time challenges that run entirely in the browser - no local setup for students.

2022

CareerXL

Career-development and placement services connecting trained students to recruiters and hiring programs.

2024

B.Tech CSE (AI & ML)

A degree-integrated specialization co-delivered with Microsoft - certified trainers, Azure and AI certifications, paid internships and placement support.

The Problem & The Difference

Why "embedded" beats "another course"

The problems it solves

  • Outdated curricula that lag behind industry tooling
  • Faculty with limited exposure to current tech stacks
  • Students who can pass exams but can't ship working code
  • Tier 2 / tier 3 campuses overlooked by top recruiters
  • A weak line between college training and a first job

How byteXL is different

  • Works inside the college, not around it
  • Cloud coding labs - practice, not just video
  • Outcome-oriented: internships and guided placements
  • Co-designed degree programs with Microsoft
  • Focus on underserved cities, not just metros
Market Position

Reach across the partnership map

Students trained
100,000+
Partner colleges
85+
Microsoft AI/ML unis
10
Total funding ($M)
7.1

Figures are company-reported and approximate; bar widths are illustrative for comparison, not to scale.

Business Model

How the money moves

byteXL runs a B2B2C model. Engineering colleges and universities pay for integrated training programs, on-campus trainers and access to the coding platform; students, in turn, use the self-learning content, live labs and placement support.

Revenue comes from institutional partnerships and subscription-based student access, plus co-designed degree programs - the clearest example being the Microsoft AI/ML B.Tech, where byteXL acts as the executing agency deploying certified trainers on campus. The 2024 Series A is earmarked for team expansion, product development, new digital tools and reaching more colleges across the country.

Partnerships

Who byteXL builds with

Microsoft

Exclusive AI/ML B.Tech specialization across ten universities, with Microsoft-certified trainers, Azure and AI certifications.

Dell Foundation

The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation co-invested in the Series A, aligned on affordable tech skilling.

Rungta Intl. Skills University

Launched Chhattisgarh's first degree-integrated Generative AI engineering program.

Lamrin Tech Skills University

Punjab collaboration to advance industry-ready education for engineering students.

Parul University

Joint effort to create highly skilled talent for the IT industry.

GoDaddy Academy & Fortinet

Industry certification and content partnerships referenced by the company.

Timeline

The road so far

2019

byteXL founded

Karun and Sricharan Tadepalli establish byteXL TechEd in Hyderabad to close the academia-industry skills gap.

2020

Platform and app launch

byteXL rolls out its self-learning app with micro- and nano-video courseware for engineering students.

2022

Scaling to 100,000 students

Reaches 85+ partner colleges and trains more than 100,000 students on emerging technologies.

2024

Microsoft partnership

Launches an exclusive AI/ML B.Tech specialization across ten universities with certified trainers.

2024

$5.9M Series A

Raises Series A led by Kalaari Capital and the Dell Foundation to expand college outreach.

byteXL is witnessing exponential response from the engineering institutes. - Karun Tadepalli, Founder & CEO
FAQ

Questions, answered

What does byteXL do?
byteXL partners with engineering colleges to make students job-ready - delivering on-campus training, a cloud-based coding platform and guided placement support in emerging technologies like AI/ML, cloud, cybersecurity and full-stack development.
Who founded byteXL and when?
Brothers Karun Tadepalli (CEO) and Sricharan Tadepalli (CSO) founded byteXL in 2019 in Hyderabad.
How much funding has byteXL raised?
About $7.1M total, including a $5.9M Series A in July 2024 led by Kalaari Capital with the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation.
Who are byteXL's customers?
Engineering colleges and universities and their students, largely in tier 2 and tier 3 cities across India - reportedly 85+ institutions and around 120,000 users.
What is the byteXL-Microsoft partnership?
byteXL and Microsoft co-deliver a B.Tech CSE AI/ML specialization on campuses, with Microsoft-certified trainers, Azure and AI certifications, paid internships and placement support.

Profile compiled from public sources. Figures such as user counts, revenue and placements are company-reported or third-party estimates and are approximate. Logo is property of byteXL TechEd Pvt. Ltd.