Co-founder of his latest offering Newton School of Technology (NST, estb. 2023), Bengaluru-based serial entrepreneur Siddharth Maheshwari is also the co-founder of Newton School digital upskilling platform (NS, estb. 2019.) Currently, the Newton School offers graduates and working professionals an AI-driven and industry-focused online course on data science to prepare them for best careers in technology.

Since it was established six years ago, Newton School has placed over 4,500 aspirants in over 800+ tech companies including Google, Target, Epsilon, Jio, Lenskart, Razorpay, Flipkart, Zomato, Deloitte, Meesho and Target.

Newspeg Last September (2024), Newton School subject matter experts staged a ten-day AI-focused training and hackathon for young scientists/students of Bengaluru’s Indian Space Research Organisation. The training focused on subjects such as fundamentals of Machine Learning (types of ML, regression, and clustering techniques), time series analysis (ARIMA, decomposition, and smoothing methods), advanced AI concepts (neural networks, CNNs, RNNs, and Transformers), AI product development, AI policy and ethics and applications of AI in space research.

History. Born and raised in Gwalior, as a class X student of ECS School, Maheshwari was already running a tech blog and his own development studio. This early success gave him financial independence, allowing him to pay for his own education and gadgets, reinforcing his understanding of self-sufficiency and technology’s transformative power. Later while pursuing computer science engineering at the premier IIT-Roorkee (Uttarakhand), he actively participated in coding groups and campus clubs. Also driven by a strong passion for mentorship, he often travelled to nearby schools in Roorkee to teach programming.

In 2013, Maheshwari joined InMobi, an Indian multinational technology company, as a software development engineer, acquiring critical industry experience in scalable technology. Two years later, he quit corporate life and decided to go solo. Along with an acquaintance from IIT-R, Maheshwari co-founded Flicksup, a content discovery platform. Though it didn’t scale, it strengthened his data-driven decision-making approach. In 2017 together with IIT-Roorkee batchmate, Nishant Chandra, he launched Bolo initially as a learning and mentorship program. As they worked closely with students, they shifted focus to education mentorship laying the foundation for Newton School in 2019 by raising over $30 million (Rs.259 crore) from Steadview Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, RTP Global, Kunal Shah, and Gaurav Munjal. This helped Newton School to scale fast, integrate AI-driven learning tools, and build strong industry partnerships, and later establish Newton School of Technology four years later.

Direct talk. “Over the years I realised that the real problem wasn’t just about delivering quality content, it was about addressing the structural inefficiencies in Indian education. From the time I was a student, I have discerned how Indian students had to succeed despite the system, not because of it. Even at IIT Roorkee, learning was mostly theoretical with little focus on real-world applications. This realization led me to rethink how learning should be designed to guarantee real-world success and Newton School was born. At its core, the school is all about teaching problem-solving by engaging with real-world projects and industry mentorship instead of outdated textbooks,” says Maheshwari.

“Given that traditional universities were too slow to update their curriculums, professors lacked industry experience, and graduates struggled to find jobs, we soon developed Newton School’s neo-university model to bridge the gap between education and industry, ensuring students graduate with real-world skills and not just degrees. Furthering our vision, Newton School of Technology (NST) – with affiliations from Rishihood University, Sonipat and DY Patil University, Pune — was born in 2023 to offer class XII school-leavers a 4-year residential industry-integrated computer science engineering program focused on AI, Machine Learning, and data science,” he adds.

Course (annual) fees: Rs 225,000 

NST tuition fees (annual): Rs. 6 lakh

Future plans. Maheshwari has ambitious plans for both his schools. “For Newton School, our goal is to shift towards AI-powered upskilling, developing more AI-driven learning products to enhance personalized education and job readiness. For NST, we plan to scale the program while maintaining a strong focus on real-world projects, global tech exposure, and structured mentorship,” says Maheshwari

Paromita Sengupta (Bengaluru)