How Skillveri leverages Extended Reality to train blue-collar workers

Extended Reality (XR), typically associated with high-tech industries and gaming, is being redefined by Chennai-based Skillveri. The company is using XR to empower blue-collar workers, offering a ground-breaking approach to skill development in India.

XR is an umbrella term for immersive environments that combine the physical and digital worlds. It includes Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR).

By incorporating XR into training programmes, Skillveri is helping workers in hands-on fields like construction, manufacturing, and maintenance gain practical experience in a safe, controlled environment.

But Skillveri's innovation doesn't stop there. The company is also developing educational models for school children, broadening the scope of XR’s potential to enhance learning across various age groups and sectors.

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The experience

We visited Skillveri’s office in Chennai to get a hands-on understanding of its products, and we were eager to try our hand at welding. Once we donned the VR headsets, we were instantly transported to a virtual steel factory.

Skillveri’s interactive training module guided us through the process, allowing us to choose from various metals and welding guns, while a staff member explained how to initiate the welding process.

When we attempted to fuse metal sheets with our virtual welding gun, we experienced the thrill of MIG welding. We instinctively jerked our hands away as the smoke billowed out, adding to the sense of immersion.

For students

The technology allows us to perform the task in the 'real' world — without the risks.

The team then insisted we try a basketball module, so we put our headsets on once more and found ourselves in a VR world —this time, on the Moon.

This VR module, which lets us play basketball on the Moon, Earth, and Mars, was designed to help students understand how gravity operates in different environments.

The company is expanding its modules into new sectors, including painting and HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) repair, to train employees across diverse industries.

Skillveri's history

Skillveri, launched in 2012, currently serves over 180 industrial customers such as Tata Motors, Hero Moto, and Ambuja Cements with 600 installations across.

The company is also active in the US and Canada, offering educational training solutions to over 70 schools and community colleges in the region. According to Skillveri, its unique value proposition lies in addressing skill gaps among blue-collar workers through its comprehensive training modules.

"The skill level of a workforce in manufacturing directly affects product quality, repair costs, rework, rejections, and downtime. A modernised industrial landscape demands equally advanced skills, and training methods must keep pace. Skillveri's products have proven to reduce rework and rejections on the shop floor by enabling better skill evaluation and training," said Sabarinath Nair, founder and CEO of Skillveri.

While Skillveri has primarily focused on delivering solutions for the manufacturing sector for the last 10 years, the company is looking to expand its product suite into other industries, including healthcare in the near future.

Expansion and fundraising

With its customer base now extending to educational and vocational institutions that offer skill training, Nair notes that the firm is focused on capitalising on this opportunity in the US, where it is receiving positive feedback.

“Our target for the next few years would be to expand our US market to around 10,000 schools. We are also in discussion with partners for further expansion in other geographies like Europe, Middle East, Southeast Asia, etc,” he adds.

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On the fundraising front, Sabarinath said: "In recent years, we’ve focused on establishing strong unit economics while maintaining profitability and sustainability. We are now extending this strategy to expand our presence in North America and Europe. Early next year, we plan to raise funds to accelerate our growth."

Integrating AI with VR

Skillveri is also looking at integrating AI into its VR-powered products. “We are exploring AI integration with our existing products to provide more insightful data to our customers. Through pilot projects, we are mapping skillsets and patterns within customer workforces to predict performance, identify potential errors, and highlight skill gaps when transitioning to new product lines. This will help industries pinpoint areas requiring additional training, identify process adjustments, and minimise delays or inefficiencies in manufacturing,” Nair explained further.

The IIT-Madras-incubated startup competes globally with companies like Strivr, Attensi, and Interplay Learning, among others. With the growing adoption of VR in workforce training across industries, and reports showing that employees trained via VR courses can learn up to four times faster, the company remains optimistic about its growth trajectory.

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According to a report, the India XR market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 32.70 per cent from 2024 to 2032, driven by increasing applications in the education sector.