Mayank Kumar, Co-founder of upGrad, and Ayush Mathur, a former senior executive at OYO, have partnered to launch BorderPlus, a platform that connects blue-collar workers with worldwide job opportunities. 

According to Entrackr, BorderPlus will begin by focusing on Germany's healthcare industry, with intentions to grow into hotel, retail, teaching, construction, logistics, and trucking. The platform also plans to investigate potential in additional nations in the future. 

During his stint as President of OYO Europe, Mathur emphasised labour shortages in Denmark and Germany, particularly in areas such as housekeeping.

Kumar, who left his role as managing director of upGrad late last year, will continue to be involved in the EdTech company's strategic decisions while focusing on this new enterprise.

BorderPlus has already launched its first trial batch of roughly ten candidates and plans to scale swiftly. Initially, training batches will be held once each month. Each programme lasts six to nine months and is delivered in online, blended, or offline forms, with the final portion taking place offline to focus on language study.

According to the company, the first training centre is in Pune, followed by another in Mumbai, with plans to open more locations around India for final-stage training. 

In addition, BorderPlus is developing an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered conversational bot based on OpenAI technology that allows for interactive spoken language practice.