Talent platform Kruu to drop edtech from name, raise $1.5 mn

CHENNAI: Taking a piano into a traditional sabha may not have been the obvious choice for a Carnatic musician. For Anil Srinivasan, that was precisely the point. Two decades ago, he took the Western instrument into a concert ecosystem where it was hardly mainstream. But this unconventional move reflects the disruptive thinking behind his entrepreneurial journey today.

“Any innovation, anything which you are bringing to the world, it does take that time,” Srinivasan said in a recent interaction with

For him, the link between music and entrepreneurship is natural. “The only difference is…the product is you,” he said. Both require understanding the audience, responding to its needs and constantly adapting. “Talent and opportunity meet when it becomes a venture.” That philosophy now underpins Kruu, the Chennai-based talent discovery and assessment platform, which is raising a $1.5-million bridge round, after securing close to $1.6 million so far from marquee investors such as Girish Mathrubhootam, Mithun Sancheti.

A larger $5-million-plus fundraise is planned next year, primarily to strengthen technology and institutional hiring.

Having turned profitable within three financial years, Kruu is looking to build a more sophisticated technology platform to assess human capabilities at scale. “If I want to become the talent discovery and assessment engine using project-based learning, I will have to necessarily invest in technology at a level where it can compete at a world level,” Srinivasan said. AI is now central to Kruu’s next phase. “At a time when the whole world is studying human beings in order to develop AI, I am saying why can’t I use AI to develop the human being?” Srinivasan said. Kruu has more than one million users, including around 200,000 regular users, and works with 648 schools across 13 countries. It has onboarded 127 professors globally, who create real-world problem statements for students.

But Srinivasan is keen to draw a line between Kruu and conventional edtech. “We are not an edtech company. We are a talent discovery and assessment platform,” he said, adding “we are a technology company looking at project-based learning.” The Indian entity, Kruu EdTech Private Limited, is expected to be renamed Kruu Discovery Private Limited soon.

Unlike platforms focused on test preparation, courses and credentials, Kruu puts students through projects that require them to research a problem, develop a solution or prototype and submit it for assessment. The process is designed to uncover capabilities in areas such as research, ideation, problem-solving, engineering and business. The idea stems from Srinivasan’s criticism of an education system dominated by examinations and memorisation. “Every system, irrespective of which country or whichever board... doesn’t test you for who you are,” he said, lamenting “an inherent talent of a child is never actually understood or mapped.”

Kruu’s proposition is to “learn about you while you learn about yourself”, which Srinivasan believes could also address India’s employability problem. “Most of our graduates are not even employable,” he said, arguing degrees and resumes often reveal little about a candidate’s ability to solve real-world problems. Around 45 large industry players are engaging with Kruu as a talent discovery and assessment engine.

The company also plans to use its growing assessment data to develop its own small language model (SLM) focused on problem-solving and talent discovery within two years.