Eqvista is excited to share this exclusive interview with Apoorva Bajaj, CFA, Co-Founder and CEO of Edubuk – a visionary entrepreneur redefining the future of education, credentials, and employment through the power of AI and blockchain technology. Edubuk is an AI + Blockchain-powered education-to-employment ecosystem focused on trusted credentials, verified CVs, AI-driven job matching, and emerging technology skills. In this conversation, Apoorva shares the story behind Edubuk’s founding, its remarkable growth trajectory, a landmark $50M investment from Nimbus Capital, and its bold vision to build a global trust infrastructure for the future of work.
The idea for Edubuk was born from observing major global problems simultaneously, challenges Apoorva witnessed firsthand during his years in finance, consulting, and technology. Today, the company stands at the forefront of solving these critical issues at a global scale. Edubuk’s journey also offers a compelling testament to the power of cap table clarity and live valuation tools in high-stakes fundraising. Apoorva highlights that having real-time valuation visibility, a clean cap table, and structured investor data created a much stronger level of confidence during discussions with Nimbus Capital, helping streamline due diligence, reduce friction in negotiations, and allowing conversations to focus more on long-term growth strategy rather than operational ambiguity.
Read on to discover the insights, milestones, and vision of one of the most exciting founders in the global EdTech and Web3 space today.
What was the exact moment that made you decide, “I’m going to build Edubuk”?
The idea for Edubuk came from observing two major global problems simultaneously — the growing skills gap in emerging technologies like AI and Blockchain, and the massive issue of fake or unverifiable credentials. During my years in finance, consulting, and technology, I saw how difficult it was for employers to trust CVs (TruCV) and verify talent efficiently.
The turning point came when we realized blockchain could fundamentally solve trust in education and hiring. It stopped feeling like just a startup idea and became something we genuinely felt needed to exist globally.
Can you briefly explain what Edubuk does and why now is the right time?
Edubuk is an AI + Blockchain-powered education-to-employment ecosystem focused on trusted credentials, verified CVs, AI-driven job matching, and emerging technology skills.
We solve problems around fake credentials, inefficient hiring, skills mismatch, and verification delays. In the age of Generative AI, where even resumes, portfolios, and certificates can be AI-generated or manipulated, trust infrastructure becomes critical. That is why the timing for a platform like Edubuk is extremely relevant globally today.
How has the $50M Nimbus Capital investment accelerated your plans?
The Nimbus Capital investment has significantly accelerated our global roadmap. It allows us to scale our AI infrastructure, expand internationally, strengthen enterprise hiring solutions, and accelerate the launch and ecosystem utility of the $EBUK token.
It also gives us the ability to deepen integrations with universities, governments, and enterprises globally while expanding our blockchain-based verified hiring infrastructure at scale.
What investment thesis resonated most with Nimbus Capital?
The strongest thesis was that Edubuk sits at the intersection of some of the world’s largest opportunities — AI, digital identity, blockchain verification, and the future of hiring.
Nimbus understood that trust and verification will become foundational infrastructure in the AI era. They also saw strong execution capability, global recognition, real-world traction, and our ability to build both enterprise and scalable platform revenue models.
Did the CryptoKnights appearance help fundraising momentum?
Yes, the Crypto-Knights appearance definitely increased visibility and industry conversations around Edubuk. We got an All-Knights deal and raised $2M from international billionaire angel investors and VCs, including Brock Pierce, (the co-founder of USDT, USD pegged, stablecoin), among other Knights including Web3 influencers like Kyle Chasse. As the show will go on OTT Platforms like Amazon Prime, Roku, OSN, & others worldwide, it will help showcase our vision to a much broader Web3 and investor audience globally.
While fundraising is ultimately driven by fundamentals, traction, and execution, the show once it is on air in September 2026, will certainly amplify awareness, credibility, and inbound investor interest leading into the next phase of growth of Edubuk in terms of Revenues, $EBUK Token growth, growth in Private Equity Valuations of Edubuk leading to IPO in next 3-4 years (2030).
Where does Edubuk stand today?
Today, Edubuk has crossed 100K+ verified profiles and credentials on the platform, alongside partnerships with universities, institutions, enterprises, and ecosystem partners across multiple regions.
We are actively expanding across India, and inking partnerships in Southeast Asia, Middle East, Europe, US and other global markets while continuously scaling our AI-driven skilling and trusted hiring infrastructure.
How is Edubuk generating revenue today?
Edubuk already has achieved $1M+ revenues and is currently operating with a forward revenue projection of approximately $5M. We have in total 7 products in our Neo-Ed ecosystem with 3 major ones being CETA (Certified Emerging Technologies Assessment: Global Gold Standard Assessment for AI & Emerging Technologies), TruCV (100% Verifiable CV on Blockchain), TruJobs (AI Driven TruCV to Job Descriptions Marching tool).
Our revenue model is diversified across B2B enterprise partnerships, university licensing, credential verification solutions, AI-powered hiring tools, skilling programs, SaaS subscriptions, and ecosystem integrations. We have 4 major customer segments: Universities, Employers, Students and Employees. Over time, as our $EBUK Tokens is launched and is well integrated into our Neo-Ed model, its token utility will further strengthen the platform economy around Edubuk.
How important was live valuation and cap table clarity during fundraising?
It was extremely important. Having real-time valuation visibility, a clean cap table, and structured investor data created a much stronger level of confidence during discussions with Nimbus Capital.
It helped streamline due diligence, reduced friction in negotiations, and allowed conversations to focus more on long-term growth strategy rather than operational ambiguity.
How did Eqvista help during this round?
Eqvista helped us maintain clean and transparent cap table management throughout the fundraising process.
As startups scale, investor management and equity tracking become increasingly complex. Having structured, real-time visibility saved significant time during diligence and improved operational efficiency for both internal teams and investors.
Should every Series A+ startup use real-time valuation systems?
Absolutely. As startups mature, institutional investors increasingly expect transparency, governance, and accurate real-time visibility into ownership structures and valuation metrics.
Platforms like Eqvista make fundraising discussions significantly more efficient and data-driven. I believe this will increasingly become standard practice for growth-stage startups globally.
Where do you see Edubuk in five years?
Over the next five years, we see Edubuk evolving into a global trust infrastructure layer for education, employment, and skills verification.
Our vision goes beyond credentialing alone — we aim to combine AI, blockchain, skilling, hiring, digital identity, and tokenized reputation into one intelligent ecosystem that powers trusted talent globally.
Within the next 5 years, ideally over the next 3-4 years or so, we would do an IPO in India and global markets once we achieve the $100M Revenues target.
How will Edubuk compete against giants like Microsoft or LinkedIn?
Large companies validate the market opportunity, but Edubuk’s advantage lies in specialization, speed of innovation, deep blockchain integration, AI-native workflows, and emerging market adaptability.
We are building a highly focused ecosystem around verified talent, trusted hiring, and AI-powered employability. Our ability to move fast, innovate aggressively, and integrate Web3 infrastructure deeply gives us a differentiated positioning.
Importantly, we are already seeing very strong network effects on the platform. Going from 1,000 to 50,000 verified profiles took us nearly one year. However, scaling from 50,000 to 100,000 verified profiles took only around six months. Based on our current trajectory, we believe scaling from 100,000 to over 1 million verified profiles could take just another 4–5 months.
These compounding network effects create a major competitive moat. Once trust infrastructure, verified profiles, institutions, recruiters, and ecosystem participants start interacting within the same ecosystem, growth accelerates exponentially. This is not easy for even large global giants to replicate quickly, because building trust-based network ecosystems requires deep ecosystem integration over time. That gives Edubuk the opportunity to continuously leapfrog ahead through focused execution and rapid adoption.
What advice would you give founders between pre-seed and Series A?
Focus relentlessly on solving a real problem with strong execution and measurable traction. Investors ultimately back clarity, resilience, and execution more than hype.
Also, maintain clean governance, financial discipline, and cap table hygiene from day one — because these things become extremely important once institutional investors enter the picture.
