Online skill assessment startup Mettl rolls out automatic invigilation system & English language simulator

Mettl.com, an online skill assessment and testing platform to measure, analyse and improve professional skills, has rolled out a plug-and-play-based automatic invigilation mechanism as well as an English language simulator.

The automatic invigilation (proctoring) system ensures that a candidate will not be able to move away from the test window at any point during the test, which the company claims will reduce cheating to a bare minimum. It also gives the examiner the luxury to monitor the tests taken by candidates in numerous locations effectively from anywhere. This product has various real-time proctoring features like detecting multiple faces while taking the test, recognising the typing pattern while the test is on, and disallowing 'print screen' and 'copy-paste' commands.

With the English language simulator, one can assess writing skills objectively in real time, access the syntax & grammar, as well as gauge the coherence and tone of writing. The company claims that it is already receiving interests from various India-based IT/ITeS companies for the simulator, and is also running a pilot with a few of them.

"The proctoring technology is being used by 25-plus clients across geographies, which include SAP, Capgemini, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies (UPES), and Career Launcher," said Ketan Kapoor, co-founder and CEO of Mettl.

He further mentions that these products have a global value proposition. "English writing simulator is beneficial for any market that has English as its dominant business language. Similarly, the automatic proctoring technology can be used by anyone, who would like to administer a test from a remote location."

Gurgaon-based Mettl Inc. was founded in 2010 by Kapoor and Tonmoy Singhal (COO). While Kapoor is an IIT-Roorkee and IIM-Kolkata alumnus, Singhal is a former student of IIT-Kanpur and IIM-Bangalore. The company's assessment platform is primarily used to screen pre-hires for recruitment (both entry level and experienced profiles). It is also leveraged to gauge existing employees and used for competency tracking/training across aptitude, personality and technical aspects. In addition, job portals, education companies, large publishers, colleges/institutions and training/skill improvement companies are using Mettl to meet their requirements.

The firm currently works with over 250-plus clients including Cognizant, Wipro, Capgemini, HCL, Accenture, Ericsson, Sears, Marico, Wiley, Monster, PwC, Makemytrip, Cleartrip and InMobi. Early last month, the company had opened an office in California, and had appointed Subhash Tantry as its president for the US operations.

In August 2012, Mettl raised $4 million in Series A, led by IndoUS Venture Partners (now Kalaari Capital). Prior to that, it had raised angel rounds from Blume Ventures and other individual investors like Sasha Mirchandani, Puranjaya Singh, Sunil Sharma and Naveen Tewari.