Startup Karnataka Elevate 2023: Grant Winner
Selected from hundreds of applicants across Karnataka as a high-potential, category-defining startup. Received Rs. 18 Lakhs in grant funding from the Government of Karnataka.
Devo Edutech is the parent company behind Hotelwaley, India's first vernacular hospitality skilling platform, training the 40 million frontline workers who run the country's hotels and restaurants.
What We Do
Devo Edutech Pvt Ltd is a DPIIT-recognised startup incorporated in 2022, building the hospitality skilling infrastructure India has needed for decades. Our operating brand Hotelwaley delivers practical, mobile-first, multilingual training to frontline hospitality workers across Tier 2 and Tier 3 India.
Short-form, job-ready modules in English, Hindi, Kannada and six other Indian languages. Built for the mobile-first worker. Immediately applicable on the floor.
Curriculum aligned with FoSTaC, NSDC, THSC, and PMKVY standards. Training that counts toward certification and regulatory requirements.
Platform partnerships with Petpooja, Shiftz, and India's leading hospitality associations, reaching workers through the tools they already use.
Hotelwaley is not just a course platform. It is a category-defining movement to establish what world-class hospitality training looks like for real India.
Credentials
Devo Edutech's approach has been independently validated by India's most respected startup and industry bodies.
Selected from hundreds of applicants across Karnataka as a high-potential, category-defining startup. Received Rs. 18 Lakhs in grant funding from the Government of Karnataka.
Recognised by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade under the Startup India initiative. CIN: U80301KA2022PTC160866.
Competitive scan of global hospitality training platforms including Cornell University, AHLEI, and Typsy confirms that Bharat-first, vernacular, mobile, frontline hospitality training is a structurally unoccupied category.
Active engagement with FHRAI, SIHRA, KSHA, NSDC, THSC, and PMKVY. FoSTaC empanelment process initiated. Advisory network includes senior leaders from Club Mahindra, The Park Hotels, Intellistay, and India's leading hospitality institutions.
Module Preview
The same lesson, delivered in English, Hindi and Kannada. This is what Bharat-first hospitality training looks like. Built for the worker, in the language of the worker.
What housekeeping really means in a working hotel, and why it is the most important room in the building.
Available in 3 languages
Built for the frontline worker, in clear and simple English.
Same lesson, Hindi voiceover. For workers across North and Central India.
Same lesson, Kannada voiceover. For the hotels and resorts of Karnataka.
Why three languages? Because a frontline worker in Belagavi, Bhopal or Bengaluru should not have to learn in a language that is not their own. Hotelwaley is being built in seven Indian languages. Housekeeping is the first module. More are on the way.
The Founder
Founder and Managing Director, Devo Edutech Pvt Ltd

“Sometimes all it takes is vision, leftover tiles, and a lot of guts.”
In the 1990s, Ajay Handa was building a bar inside his family's hotel in Hubli and ran out of money before he could hire a bartender. He drove 400 kilometres to Bangalore, spent days shadowing bartenders at the city's top venues, came back, trained two local boys in everything he had learned, and opened The Zebra Crossing, North Karnataka's first youth nightlife venue.
Three decades later, the same instinct drives Devo Edutech. Ajay identified that 40 million frontline hospitality workers across Tier 2 and Tier 3 India had never had access to practical, vernacular, job-ready training. No one was building for Bharat. So he did.
Ajay brings deep roots in Karnataka's hospitality, logistics, and startup ecosystem. He is a Toastmasters Presentation Mastery alumnus, a Startup Karnataka Elevate grant winner, and a practitioner whose understanding of India's real hospitality industry shapes every decision at Hotelwaley.
Our Brand
India's first vernacular microlearning platform for frontline hospitality workers. Mobile-first. Multilingual. Built for Bharat.
Get in Touch
Whether you run a property, lead an association, or back category-defining infrastructure, we'd love to hear from you.