Unstop
Unstop (formerly Dare2Compete) is an India-based early-talent engagement and hiring platform that connects 4.5M+ students and 200+ enterprise employers through gamified competitions, AI-driven recruitment agents, assessments, internships, and jobs.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2017
- HeadquartersNew Delhi, India
- Headcount101–250
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Unstop does
Unstop operates an early-talent engagement and hiring platform that connects students and early-career professionals with employers through gamified competitions, skill assessments, internships, and job listings. Founded in 2016 and headquartered in New Delhi, India, the company is the legal entity FLIVE Consulting Private Limited and was previously branded as Dare2Compete. It is led by founder-CEO Ankit Aggarwal and serves a registered student community of approximately 4.5 million with claimed access to 850 million+ student profiles; the customer base spans 200+ enterprise clients across technology, FMCG, banking, automotive, pharmaceuticals, and consulting.
The platform hosts 27,088+ internships, 77,709+ jobs, 21,341+ competitions, 2,540+ hackathons, 5,606+ quizzes, and 1,712+ scholarships. Its core technology stack is centered on an AI Hiring Agents Suite comprising five specialized agents covering Sourcing, Screening, Assessment, Interview, and Proctoring, supplemented by AI mentor matching across 70+ domains (3,000+ mentors, 350,000+ mentorship minutes), AI Interview preparation, and "Rookie," an AI Copilot embedded in its courses product. The company is ISO 27001 and ISO 9001 certified, and is GDPR and India's DPDP Act compliant.
Unstop's business model is primarily B2B enterprise SaaS, monetizing through employer subscriptions for recruitment, employer branding, and assessment services, supplemented by transactional fees on its opportunity marketplace and competition hosting. The named customer base includes Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Tata Group, KPMG, EY, Tata Steel, Mondelez, PepsiCo, Unilever, Flipkart, Walmart, Reliance, Airtel, ICICI, Axis Bank, Wipro, TCS, Infosys, Hero MotoCorp, Asian Paints, Dr. Reddy's, and TVS Credit. The company remains private and founder-controlled, with a reported headcount of 101–250 employees and total disclosed funding of approximately $5.24M across a 2023 Series A and a 2024 follow-on.
Unstop firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Unstop
- Legal name
- FLIVE Consulting Private Limited
- Website
- https://unstop.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2017
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 101–250 employees
- Short description
- Unstop (formerly Dare2Compete) is an India-based early-talent engagement and hiring platform that connects 4.5M+ students and 200+ enterprise employers through gamified competitions, AI-driven recruitment agents, assessments, internships, and jobs.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Unstop industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Talent Engagement & Early-Career Hiring Platform
- NAICS
- Employment Placement Agencies (561311)
- SIC
- Services-Employment Agencies (7361)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Talent Acquisition (Recruiting) & Applicant Tracking (ATS) (BPACAPAD)
Keywords
Where Unstop is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- New Delhi
- HQ country
- India
- HQ region
- Asia
Offices1 record
Markets served
Unstop business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Client Subscription Plans: Companies and organizations pay subscription fees to access the platform for hosting opportunities, conducting assessments, and recruiting candidates. The privacy policy mentions subscription plans for clients.
- Employer Branding & Recruitment Services: Unstop provides employer branding solutions including hackathons, innovation challenges, and recruitment marketing campaigns to corporate clients, with featured campaigns and case studies showing client engagements.
- Opportunity Monetization: Clients can promote, market, and advertise their opportunities by creating promotional pages, with the ability to monetize opportunities listed on the platform.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Multi-year contract | Enterprise Employer Branding |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels7 records
Unstop product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Unstop is a gamified engagement, hiring, and opportunity-listing technology platform that connects corporate employers and educational institutions with a community of students, fresh graduates, and early-career professionals in India. It sells AI-powered enterprise hiring agents (Sourcing, Screening, Assessment, Interview, Proctoring), employer branding and recruitment campaign services (hackathons, innovation challenges, quizzes, case study competitions), and a consumer-facing marketplace of internships, jobs, competitions, scholarships, mentorship, and AI-powered practice and courses. The legal entity is FLIVE Consulting Private Limited, headquartered in New Delhi, India.
Product overview
Unstop is a gamified engagement, hiring, and opportunity listing platform operated by FLIVE Consulting Private Limited. The platform operates as a marketplace connecting students and early talent with employers through a multi-product portfolio. The core offering includes five AI-powered hiring agents (AI Sourcing, Screening, Assessment, Interview, and Proctoring Agents) for enterprise recruitment, supplemented by a marketplace of opportunities including internships (27,088+), jobs (77,709+), competitions (21,341+), hackathons (2,540+), quizzes (5,606+), scholarships (1,712+), workshops, conferences, cultural events, and college fests. Supporting products include a 1-on-1 mentorship platform (3,000+ mentors), AI-powered practice and coding platform (100 Days of Code, Code Conquest), AI-powered courses platform, employer branding tools (Engage Talent), research publications (Talent Report, Awards, Talent Meet), and community programs (Rewards, Campus Ambassador). The platform's AI agents serve as the primary differentiator, enabling autonomous talent acquisition workflows while the marketplace features drive user engagement and lead generation.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- AI Sourcing Agent AI-powered autonomous agent sold to enterprise employers that automates talent sourcing by matching candidate profiles from a database of 850M+ student and early talent profiles based on job requirements.
- AI Screening Agent AI-powered autonomous agent sold to enterprise employers that automates candidate resume screening and initial evaluation using natural language processing and predictive analytics.
- AI Assessment Agent AI-powered autonomous agent sold to enterprise employers that creates, delivers, and evaluates skill assessments and tests for candidate evaluation during hiring.
- AI Interview Agent AI-powered autonomous agent sold to enterprise employers that conducts automated interviews, evaluates responses, and provides hiring insights with multimodal processing of video, text, and structured test inputs.
- AI Proctoring Agent AI-powered autonomous agent sold to enterprise employers that monitors and ensures integrity during online assessments and examinations through computer vision and behavioral analysis.
- Engage Talent (Employer Branding) Employer branding and engagement platform sold to enterprise employers enabling them to host hackathons, innovation challenges, quizzes, and build company pages with access to 850M+ student profiles.
- Unstop Mentorship Platform 1-on-1 online mentorship platform for students and early-career professionals connecting mentees with 3,000+ expert mentors from top companies across 70+ domains, including career guidance, interview prep, MBA preparation, and coding mentorship.
- Internships Platform Internship listing and discovery platform featuring 27,088+ paid, work-from-home, and summer internships across India, filterable by type, location, and role category.
- Jobs Platform Job listing and discovery platform for freshers and entry-level positions featuring 77,709+ job vacancies, including work-from-home and experienced professional roles.
- Competitions Platform Competitive event hosting platform featuring 21,341+ competitions including quizzes, case studies, hackathons, scholarships, workshops, and conferences for students.
- Hackathons Platform Online and student hackathon hosting platform featuring 2,540+ hackathons focused on building, coding, and innovation across various technology domains.
- Quizzes Platform Online quiz and MCQ practice platform featuring 5,606+ quizzes for skills testing and nationwide benchmarking across various subjects and competitions.
- Scholarships Platform Scholarship listing platform featuring 1,712+ merit and need-based scholarships for students in India to support educational funding.
- Practice Platform (AI Mock Tests, AI Mock Interviews, 100 Days of Code, Code Conquest) Coding practice and mock interview platform for students and job seekers featuring AI-powered mock tests, company-specific assessments (TCS, Deloitte, EY, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, IBM), the 100 Days of Code challenge, and Code Conquest for placement preparation.
- Courses Platform AI-powered online courses platform with certificates covering software tools, coding, general aptitude, full stack web development, interview prep, and management, assisted by an AI copilot named 'Rookie'.
Quantifiable outcome
- 87.8% of companies actively hiring according to Unstop Talent Report 2026
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Unstop
Customer profileNamed customers23 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Unstop technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration5 records
AI capability10 records
Feature8 records
Unstop partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
20 partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and minor.
- Coca-Cola India and Southwest AsiaflagshipCoca-Cola India partnered with Unstop for the Mantra Challenge 2026, offering flagship internship opportunities with ₹2.25 lakh rewards and merchandise. This flagship campaign demonstrates deep strategic engagement with pre-placement interview opportunities.
- BOSCH BMU Innovation ChallengecoreBOSCH partnered with Unstop for the BMU Innovation Challenge Cohort 2, engaging students in innovation challenges with potential hiring pathways. Represents core partnership for talent identification.
- American Express Campus Challenge 2026coreAmerican Express runs annual campus challenge with Product Track and Strategy Track, offering pre-placement interviews to top performers through the Unstop platform.
- Google Student Ambassador ProgramflagshipGoogle's Student Ambassador Program collaborates with Unstop for Gemini Lyria music challenges and AI-focused competitions, reaching 55,000+ builders and tech community members.
- AmazonflagshipAmazon runs Hack-on seasonal hackathons through Unstop, with Amazon Hack-on 4.0 being a flagship event. Represents deep engagement with hiring outcomes.
- IIM BangalorecoreIIM Bangalore's Venix 2026 International Business & Entrepreneurship Summit hosted on Unstop, with Young Entrepreneurs Summit and Young Leaders Summit featuring ₹3000 registration fees.
- Avataar.aicoreAvataar.ai co-sponsored the ET GenAI Hackathon 2026, with Co-Founder Gaurav Baid serving on the jury panel. Industry support from AI companies for hackathon ecosystem.
- Mondelez InternationalcoreMondelez runs the TTF (Taste the Future) Innovation Challenge through Unstop for employer branding and innovation engagement.
- TVS CreditcoreTVS Credit runs e.p.i.c (Excellence, Passion, Innovation, Commitment) Season 6 challenge for branding and recruitment through Unstop.
- Tata Consumer ProductscoreTata Consumer Products ran 'Grow beyond better' 2025 innovation challenge for employer branding and talent engagement.
- Asian PaintscoreAsian Paints runs Trail Blazers and Canvas innovation challenges through Unstop for student engagement and branding.
- AirtelcoreAirtel iCreate innovation challenges engage students through Unstop platform for employer branding purposes.
- EYcoreQuest EY quiz competitions run through Unstop for student engagement and potential recruitment pathways.
- GodrejminorGodrej Consumer Products ran Illuminat-ed hackathon for innovation engagement through Unstop.
- Johnson & Johnson IndiacoreJohnson & Johnson Imagivators Season 3 competition engages students through Unstop for branding and innovation.
- Dr. Reddy's LaboratoriescoreDestination Dr. Reddy's recruitment competition runs through Unstop with hiring outcomes.
- National Highways Authority of IndiaminorRoad Safety Hackathon organized with NHAI for social impact and innovation engagement.
- IIT BombayflagshipIIT Bombay runs Open Source Hackathon and 'Code. Innovate. Impact' challenges through Unstop, showcasing premier institution partnerships.
- Analytics VidhyacoreDataHack Summit 2026 hosted by Analytics Vidhya on Unstop platform for AI and data science community engagement.
- Deconstruct (IIT-alumni skincare startup)minorDeconstruct uses Unstop exclusively to recruit for its Skincare Internship program, offering ₹1 lakh stipends. Unstop serves as the application channel for this opportunity.
Scale indicators13 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Unstop competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- LinkedIn (Microsoft): Global professional network with LinkedIn Jobs, Recruiter, Learning, and AI-assisted hiring features. Competes for the same enterprise early-talent hiring budget globally and increasingly in India, with vastly larger profile data and Microsoft distribution.
- Naukri (InfoEdge): India's dominant job-listing platform operated by InfoEdge, covering fresher through executive roles with employer branding, resume database, and recruitment solutions. A much larger, publicly-listed incumbent competing for the same enterprise employer wallet in India.
- Indeed: Global job search and hiring platform operated by Recruit Holdings. Overlaps with Unstop in fresher/entry-level job discovery and employer hiring products, with deeper global enterprise penetration and a much larger paid marketing budget.
Direct peers
- Internshala: India-focused internship and early-career platform connecting students with internships, trainings, and fresher jobs. Closest direct competitor given India-only focus, overlapping student/employer audience, and direct overlap on internship listings and campus hiring workflows.
- Mercer | Mettl: Online assessments and proctoring platform (owned by Mercer/OLX) widely used in India for campus and corporate hiring. Overlaps with Unstop's AI Assessment and Proctoring agents and is a common alternative in enterprise RFPs.
- iMocha: Skills-testing and AI-powered interview assessment platform serving enterprise and campus hiring in India and globally. Competes with Unstop's AI Assessment and AI Interview agents, especially for IT services and GCC hiring buyers.
- HackerRank: Global skills assessment and developer hiring platform with coding tests, AI-assisted interview, and proctoring capabilities. Competes head-on with Unstop's AI Assessment Agent, AI Interview Agent, and AI Proctoring Agent for enterprise technical hiring.
- HackerEarth: India-origin technical hiring platform offering hackathons, assessments, and AI-powered evaluation for developer and campus recruiting. Directly competes with Unstop's AI Assessment, Proctoring, and Hackathons products and serves the same enterprise customers.
Emerging players
- Cutshort: India-focused tech hiring and professional networking platform using AI for candidate matching and recruiter workflows. Adjacent competitor with partial overlap in early-career tech hiring and AI sourcing capabilities.
- Testbook: India-focused exam preparation and government/competitive test platform with a growing hiring and courses business. Overlaps with Unstop on the student-side mock tests, courses, and aptitude preparation offerings.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks2 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Unstop social profiles
Digital presenceUnstop compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance4 records
Unstop financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Unstop leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Unstop funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds2 records
Investors5 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Unstop M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A1 record
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Unstop
What does Unstop do?
Unstop is a gamified engagement, hiring, and opportunity-listing technology platform that connects corporate employers and educational institutions with a community of students, fresh graduates, and early-career professionals in India. It sells AI-powered enterprise hiring agents (Sourcing, Screening, Assessment, Interview, Proctoring), employer branding and recruitment campaign services (hackathons, innovation challenges, quizzes, case study competitions), and a consumer-facing marketplace of internships, jobs, competitions, scholarships, mentorship, and AI-powered practice and courses. The legal entity is FLIVE Consulting Private Limited, headquartered in New Delhi, India.
Is Unstop a public or private company?
Unstop is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Unstop founded?
Unstop was founded in 2017. It employs 101 to 250 people.
Where is Unstop based?
Unstop is headquartered in New Delhi, India, in the Asia region.
How does Unstop make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Client Subscription Plans are the primary driver. The others are employer Branding & Recruitment Services and opportunity Monetization.
Who are Unstop's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are LinkedIn (Microsoft), Naukri (InfoEdge) and Indeed. Direct peers are Internshala, Mercer | Mettl, iMocha, HackerRank and HackerEarth. Emerging players are Cutshort and Testbook.
Does Unstop have an API?
No public API is recorded for Unstop.
What industry is Unstop in?
Unstop's product category is Talent Engagement & Early-Career Hiring Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPACAPAD, Talent Acquisition (Recruiting) & Applicant Tracking (ATS). Its NAICS code is 561311 and its SIC code is 7361.