Doubtnut, an Indian startup that helps students learn and master concepts from math and science using short videos, has raised $31 million in a new financing round, months after it rejected an acquisition offer from India’s largest edtech firm Byju’s.
The three-year-old Gurgaon-headquartered startup said SIG and James Murdoch’s Lupa Systems led the $31 million Series B funding round. Existing investors Sequoia Capital India, Omidyar Network India and Waterbridge Ventures also participated in the round, which brings the startup’s to-date raise to about $50 million to date.
The Doubtnut app allows students to take a picture of a problem, and uses machine learning and image recognition to deliver their answers through short-videos. These videos offer students step-by-step instructions to solve a problem.
The app supports multiple languages, and has amassed over 2.5 million daily active users who spend 600 million minutes a month on the app, the startup said. More than half of the users have come online for the first time in last 12 months, the startup said.
The startup said it has developed a bank of over 65 million questions in nine languages for students from sixth grade to high-school. Unlike several other popular edtech firms, Doubtnut said its app reaches students in smaller towns and cities. “85% of the current base comes from outside of the top 15 Indian cities, and 60% users study in state boards where typical medium of instruction is the local vernacular language,” the startup said.
TechCrunch reported last year that Byju’s was in < a href="https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/26/indian-edtech-giant-byjus-in-talks-to-acquire-doubtnut-for-more-than-125m/"> talks to acquire Doubtnut for just as much as $150 million . Byju’s later on , lowered its deal offer, and next the two firms ended their describe.
James Murdoch a few weeks back announced he was reuniting with Uday Shankar, an executive who made it easier him build the Murdoch family’s Star business in India, that wasthat’s later sold to Disney. Shankar much better with Murdoch to “accelerate” Lupa’s efforts in India, Murdoch claims last month. Lupa has backed apparently a dozen startups so far, including British isles news aggregator and social practical application DailyHunt.
“Doubtnut is often built with a vision to improve starting to learn outcomes for all students, especially those away from the major Indian cities. We are experts in developing content in vernacular idioms and use technology to create budget friendly solutions for people in this large receiver segment, ” said Tanushree Nagori, co-founder and CEO of Doubtnut, adding,
“We have proven to be pleased to welcome onboard SIG and as well as Lupa; SIG brings in strong experience of investing in ed-tech companies globally moreover Lupa Systems brings unparalleled connection with building world-class businesses and taking high-impact technologies, ” she furthermore.
The startup rumoured it will deploy the fresh capital so as to add support for more language and spread the scope of subjects it then covers today. Doubtnut is also intending introduce paid courses.
