upGrad Acquires Internship Platform Internshala in Stock-Swap Deal

The acquisition strengthens upGrad’s position across the full career lifecycle connecting education, skilling and employment on a single platform. Founded in 2010, Internshala has built a community of over 34 million registered users and 450,000 employers, with ~3 million active applicants annually.

The platform sees most of its traffic organically and serves students across India, including more than 40% from Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets. With the integration, upGrad reinforces its commitment to building structured ecosystems for learners and employers enabling students to discover internships, build job-ready skills and transition into full- time roles more efficiently.

To fuel this growth, upGrad will invest additional resources to accelerate product innovation, AI-led talent matching and enterprise hiring models with a target to scale Internshala’s ₹45 crore revenue base to ₹100 crore and beyond.

Commenting on this acquisition, Chirag Samdaria, Head Corporate Strategy & Growth, upGrad said “Education and employment in India have operated in silos for too long. This acquisition allows us to strengthen the earliest layer of the career journey - where intent is highest and outcomes can be meaningful. By bridging work opportunities with structured skilling, we are building a more aligned
talent ecosystem for both learners and employers.”

Internshala will continue to operate as an independent brand, led by Founder & CEO Sarvesh Agrawal, leveraging upGrad’s scale, technology and learning ecosystem to expand its offerings and reach.

“This is a very natural partnership where learning meets opportunity. In the last 15 years, Internshala has democratized career start for students. Joining hands with upGrad will allow us to amplify our impact by skilling millions of candidates, offer pre-trained talent to companies at scale and together become the default launchpad for every graduate's career”, added Sarvesh Agrawal, Founder & CEO, Internshala.

Investec acted as exclusive financial advisor to Internshala.

This acquisition marks a key milestone in upGrad’s mission to power India’s skilling economy supporting millions of learners and organisations through career-aligned education and employment pathways.