Healthcare workforce mobility platform BorderPlus is preparing to build on its presence in Germany, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Japan as it looks to expand into additional destination markets amid growing global demand for healthcare professionals.
Speaking to The PIE News, Kumar said the company’s long-term roadmap includes the UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, alongside European markets such as Italy, France, Spain and the Nordics, as well as South Korea.
While BorderPlus currently sources talent from India, Brazil and the Philippines, with partnerships in Uzbekistan, Turkey and Egypt, Kumar said the company’s expansion plans are being shaped by rising healthcare workforce needs and ageing populations across many destination countries.
Countries like India and other emerging markets can become a much bigger source of talent for these ageing societies
Mayank Kumar, BorderPlus
The expansion comes as healthcare systems worldwide grapple with persistent workforce shortages. According to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) State of the World’s Nursing 2025 report, the world is projected to face a shortage of more than four million nurses by 2030 despite growth in the global nursing workforce.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has also warned that ageing populations and the retirement of existing healthcare workers are likely to sustain demand across many developed economies.
Kumar believes those workforce pressures are shifting the conversation beyond recruitment towards the language training, licensing support and workforce preparation needed to equip healthcare professionals for international practice, creating a long-term opportunity for countries with younger populations, including India.
“As societies age there is going to be a paucity of talent. Countries like India and other emerging markets can become a much bigger source of talent for these ageing societies,” Kumar said.
“The shortage cannot be solved by just sending nurses abroad. It can be solved if we are building the training, certification, compliance, language and licensing ecosystem. If you do everything and manufacture talent, that’s where India has a strong opportunity to become a talent capital for the global ecosystem.”
BorderPlus operates as a vertically integrated healthcare mobility platform, a model Kumar says was designed to address the fragmented nature of the existing recruitment ecosystem.
“What we noticed when we started BorderPlus was that while everything existed, it was all broken and fragmented,” he said, estimating that candidates often pass through “10 to 50 middlemen” before reaching an overseas employer.
To simplify that process, BorderPlus operates eight training centres – six in India and one each in Brazil and the Philippines – where candidates spend between three and 12 months preparing for international deployment.
Programs combine language learning, workplace communication, cultural awareness, interview preparation, licensing support and basic clinical skills. Candidates also receive coaching in professional etiquette, grooming and practical healthcare procedures at BorderPlus’ six training centres across Pune, Kochi, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Delhi before relocating overseas.
BorderPlus says it has placed more than 500 nurses overseas to date. The company has also raised Rs 60 crore (approximately US$7 million) in funding led by Owl Ventures, although it declined to disclose revenue figures.
Drawing on his experience building upGrad, Kumar said one of the biggest lessons he carried into BorderPlus was that long-term success depends on learner outcomes rather than enrolment numbers.
“One big lesson from upGrad was ensuring that learners achieve meaningful outcomes,” he said. “Even here, outcomes remain the centre point of what we do. We have more people willing to join us than the number we are willing to take because the model only works if candidates achieve successful outcomes.”
It is that emphasis on outcomes, Kumar said, that has shaped BorderPlus’ decision to retain direct control over its training rather than outsource it to external providers.
“We realised that if you don’t control the training, it’s very difficult to manage quality,” Kumar said. “Our focus is to control the training in a very strong and meaningful way.”
Germany remains BorderPlus’ largest destination market, while the GCC and Japan represent newer areas of growth.
Each destination market requires a different operating model, according to Kumar. Germany involves higher language requirements but stronger recruiter-funded economics, while GCC countries require less language preparation and allow faster deployment, although recruiter fees are significantly lower.
“I think Germany is a value market,” Kumar said. “The Middle East is more of a volume market.”
Artificial intelligence is also becoming an increasingly important part of BorderPlus’ training strategy, according to Kumar.
BorderPlus has developed an AI-powered “Nurse Companion” that allows candidates to practise real-world clinical conversations before arriving overseas. Nurses can simulate interactions with patients living with dementia, support grieving family members and rehearse workplace scenarios, including those they may encounter in German hospitals.
“We have trained about 1,000 hours of clinical scenarios,” Kumar said. “When nurses land in Germany, they feel much more comfortable because they have already practised those situations.”
Kumar said the company is also developing AI tools to support documentation and answer workplace questions based on destination-country clinical practices.
Despite its expansion ambitions, Kumar acknowledged that some of the biggest barriers remain outside the company’s control.
Visa processing, documentation requirements and regulatory approvals continue to affect deployment timelines, limiting predictability even after candidates complete their training.
Looking ahead, Kumar believes India’s opportunity extends beyond supplying healthcare professionals overseas to building the capacity needed to prepare them for international careers.
He also sees greater potential for circular migration, with nurses returning after working abroad bringing international clinical experience and best practices back into India’s healthcare system.
“When circular migration happens – where a nurse works in Japan for five years and then comes back, or works in Germany for three years and then returns – they also bring a lot of best practices back to the country.
“As international mobility becomes a more integral outcome for nurses, I think nursing as a profession will become much more aspirational. That’s where a fair bit of focus needs to go on developing the infrastructure and capacity for nursing and allied health professionals overall. Government and private organisations both need to focus on increasing capacity,” said Kumar.
