Maxme is a global, tech-based training company that delivers human skills-development programs. Using Australian-built software, the company targets students and junior workers. The goal: to help young people thrive in complex, artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled environments.
In 2024, Maxme made India its first step in a program of global expansion. With day-to-day help from Austrade, Chief Executive Renata Sguario is rapidly turning an Australian startup into a tech exporter. High demand and local partnerships in India are fuelling rapid growth.
‘We’ve built a nationwide business in India in just under 2 years,’ she says. ‘Austrade are ‘all-in’ on what we are doing. They have an amazing team of superstars in India that help Australian business succeed. The relationship with Austrade in India has been incredible.’
Developing human skills
Sguario is a corporate transformation veteran, and she founded Maxme in Melbourne in 2019. She had a vision for a digital platform that could help young people develop the non-technical human skills – like communication, creative thinking and resilience – they need to outperform in education and the workplace.
‘Around 70% of the skills we will need in the age of AI are human skills,’ says Sguario. ‘Our learning platform targets the skills young people need during their final years at school, at university and during the first years of work.’
Maxme’s platform deftly combines a smooth interface design, gamified learning and a competitive price point. The latter proved crucial. According to Sguario, affordability is the biggest barrier to rapid uptake of skills-learning programs for young people.
‘We trialled and tested our platform in Australia in 2021,’ she says. ‘As a business, we got going in 2020 just before the pandemic. But I always had India in my sights. I envisaged India as our first overseas market.’
Austrade events help new exporters find their feet
Austrade has played a pivotal role in helping Sguario build a business in India. This includes participation in multiple delegations and curated, in-market visits.
Sguario made her first corporate visit to India in January 2023, on a program to help Australian tech firms explore new markets.
‘I won the Big Leap Accelerator – Stream 2 – and travelled to Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad,’ she says. ‘I was introduced to the Austrade team in each city.’
Maxme has engaged with Austrade since that visit and has been a part of Austrade-led education-focused delegations to India, such as an EdTech mission and the DIDAC mission in 2025.
Austrade event drives connections
Sguario also took part in the Austrade-led Festival of Australia. This series of events took place from November 2024 to June 2025 and showcased Australia’s education offerings in India.
‘The Festival of Australia was an absolutely incredible series of events that were extremely well organised,’ says Sguario. ‘It gave us significant exposure across all major cities in India.
‘The festival also gave us the opportunity to meet potential clients – and the confidence to travel right across the country. I got a taste of what was possible. The connections we made at the festival have triggered several commercial outcomes.’
Maxme’s learning platform is equipping Indian students with the human skills needed to thrive in the workplace.
Setting up in India
During 2024, Maxme developed and implemented a market-entry strategy for India.
‘We ran pilots with schools and universities in India, as well as corporate programs,’ says Sguario. ‘We identified our target market: late secondary school pupils, final-year university students, teachers and early career workers – ideally in their first 3 to 5 years.
Sguario decided that rather than establishing a joint venture, she would prefer to set up her own limited liability company in India. Austrade helped identify possibilities.
‘We wanted to put down roots in India,’ she says. ‘Uttar Pradesh – which is just east of Delhi – offered the incentives we were looking for. And so, we established a company in Noida.
‘Today we have 5 full-time employees in India, and also a 25-strong network of facilitators, which is growing.’
A partner-led market strategy
To succeed, Sguario teamed up with other skills providers. This meant Maxme could form part of a package of skills programs, offered across India.
‘Some of our partners have platforms that promote technical upskilling,’ says Sguario. ‘We complement what they do with the human upskilling element. We’ve made ourselves a natural “bolt on” to what’s already happening.’
Delivery methods are mixed. Sguario says some commercial partners are in-person skills-delivery organisations; others – like Maxme – are hybrid.
‘We’ve succeeded by augmenting what others are already doing,’ she says. ‘We are a program multiplier. We are all part of a sustainable upskilling ecosystem.’
Delivery in major cities across India
To date, Maxme has gained 16 major partnerships. The company runs programs across India, including in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Delhi. Sguario’s ambition is to have 4 million unique users in India by 2030.
‘We have signed multiple MoUs [Memoranda of Understanding] with education institutions in India,’ she says. ‘These are progressing to the implementation stage.
‘Recently, we had a big success with Kings Cornerstone International College in Chennai by delivering a program to a new cohort of students. We have also kicked off programs with Ramaiah Academy, in Bengaluru.’
Austrade support for a nationwide brand
Sguario says Austrade will continue to help Maxme as the company expands.
‘It is incredible: here I am, an Australian in India and new to the market; and here is Austrade, willing to help me 24/7 to succeed,’ she says. ‘Austrade has given me the confidence to take Maxme from one end of India to the other.’
Top tips for exporters
- Commit to in-person visits. This will solidify your product market fit and go-to-market strategy.
- Be curious, patient and ready to lead with a relationship-building approach and mindset. In India, trust in you is a critical success factor.
- Your success will be linked to your partner strategy, Austrade support and boots on the ground.
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