Seoul-based edtech startup Mathpresso announced that it has received an investment from Google.
Mathpresso operates its flagship app ‘QANDA’, an AI-powered mobile learning platform for K-12 students. By recognizing text and mathematical formulas in a photo with optical character recognition (OCR) technology, QANDA provides detailed solutions and personalized learning content catered to each user’s level. Since its launch, the app has accumulated over 45 million registered users and 3 billion education data. With the goal of becoming a global ecosystem of all educational resources, Mathpresso launched additional features on QANDA earlier this year, including the Premium subscription model that offers byte-sized video lectures and the Community feature that enhances collaborative learning.
Mathpresso and Google see synergies supporting students’ comprehensive digital learning experiences on a global scale. Over 85% of QANDA’s users reside outside of Korea, with its strongest user bases include Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand. Every day, approximately 10 million photos are uploaded on QANDA worldwide. The platform has a distinctive curriculum categorization system that classifies math problems into chapters, sections, and genres.
“The investment by Google opens up exciting opportunities for Mathpresso and enhances our ability to serve students around the world,” said Soo Nahm, Mathpresso’s Chief Financial Officer. “A laser focus on education has long been considered an important pillar for Korea’s extraordinary economic development, as the nation holds one of the highest levels of educational attainment along with one of the most sophisticated learning systems in the world. Together with the recent Series C funding, this investment will help us accelerate our global market expansion as well as our technological advancement.”
The startup was founded in 2015 by co-CEO Ray Lee and Jake Lee who originally developed QANDA as a 1:1 Q&A service with top university tutors. In 2017, QANDA adopted an AI-based OCR search, which quickly propelled exponential growth among K-12 students. Today, QANDA is used by over 12 million users monthly in over 50 countries and has achieved a top seat position in over 20 countries. In July, Mathpresso announced that it raised $50 million in series C funding from investors including Yellowdog, GGV Capital, Goodwater Capital, and others.
Source: PR Newswire