Education is everywhere. Experience isn’t.
That gap is the reason we exist. A degree tells an employer what you studied. It doesn’t show what you can do, how you work with people, or what you’re like when the problem is real and nobody has done it for you.
Excelerate gives learners anywhere in the world a way to build that evidence: real projects, real teams, real deadlines, without paying a fee, moving city, or waiting for someone to give them a first break.
- Founded 2022
- 190+ countries
- Free to every learner
A platform run by people.
Plenty of companies will sell an institution software and leave them to fill it. That isn't what we do. Excelerate designs the experiences, recruits and supports the learners, runs the cohorts week by week, and reports on what happened.
The technology is infrastructure, not the point. What partners are actually buying is the operation.
For learners
Five ways in, free to apply and free to take part, remote from anywhere.
Internships, competitions, workshops, courses and master classes. From high school through to working professionals topping up their skills.
For universities and schools
Experiential opportunities offered under your name, run by us.
Reach learners you would never otherwise meet, without adding campus, staff or agents.
For employers
See candidates work for four weeks before you interview them.
You get a record of what they actually did, not a claim on a resume.
We built the thing we kept wishing existed.
Excelerate started in 2022 with a straightforward observation: the students who get the best first jobs are usually the ones who had access to the best experiences, and access has very little to do with ability.
Bridge the gap
Too many graduates leave with a degree and no direction. We connect what people study to work that actually resembles a job: a live brief, a team, a deadline and someone reviewing what you produced.
Open the door wider
Cost, location and connections decide who gets experience. Removing the fee and the commute removes most of that. Every opportunity on the platform is free, and every one runs remotely.
Make it count for something
Finishing should leave a mark. Learners come away with the work itself, a record of the skills they demonstrated, and, on university-sponsored programs, a scholarship award toward the cost of study.
Explore, engage, express and earn.
Empower learners, institutions and employers by providing transformative experiential opportunities. Unlock doors of access to opportunities for everyone, connecting them to their future careers, aspirations and success. Through a curated and customizable platform, individuals can explore, engage and express their passions while advancing toward their goals.
Explore
Internships, competitions, workshops and courses across every field we can reach.
Engage
With employers, educators and peers on four continents.
Express
Your achievements and progress, on a dashboard you can share with anyone.
Earn
Credentials, badges and scholarships that recognize what you finished.
Universities and employers who put their name on the work.
Every opportunity on the platform is sponsored. A university or a company brings a real brief and funds the program, which is why it stays free for learners.
Saint Louis University sponsors the largest share of the catalog and funds every $1,000 scholarship award on the platform.
Built by someone who spent 25 years on the other side of the desk.
Excelerate is led by Sundar Kumarasamy, Founder and CEO, who spent more than two decades running enrollment and strategy at American universities before starting the company in 2022.
Sundar’s work has consistently challenged the status quo, transforming how institutions think about education, employability, and global engagement.
He has seen the admissions funnel from the inside at three institutions, and the same pattern at each: talented students who never appeared in it, because the experiences that would have made them visible were never available to them. Excelerate is the attempt to fix that at the source rather than at the point of application.
- Earlier careerUniversity of Dayton
Leadership in enrollment & strategy
Part of more than 25 years inside US higher education, building the enrollment and access playbook he would later rethink.
- Earlier careerSaint Joseph's University
Senior leadership, enrollment management
Further leadership across enrollment management, before the move to Northeastern.
- Most recent university roleNortheastern University
Senior Vice Chancellor, Strategic Growth · VP Enrollment Management
Experiential learning and international enrollment strategy at the center of the role, the model Excelerate is now built on.
- 2022 – PresentExcelerate
Founder & CEO
Turning 25 years on the admissions side of the desk into a platform that creates the experiences admissions could never see.
- AlsoCatalystia · Vempower Ventures · Forbes Business Council
Chief Executive · Forbes Council Member
Leading ventures and contributing to the national conversation on enrollment, access and experiential learning.
Where our work has been recognized.
NACE
Excelerate’s internships align with standards of National Association of Colleges and Employers, to deliver top-tier, high-impact experiential learning to everyone around the globe.
Sundar’s work on enrollment, access and experiential learning has been covered in national and higher-education press.
Wherever you’re standing, there’s a door.
Learners join free and start with whatever fits the time they have. Universities and employers start with one conversation.