Indian Edtech Startup Doubtnut Raises US$15M From Tencent Others

Doubtnut, a Gurgaon, India-based EdTech platform recently announced that it has raised US$15M funding in a Series A funding round. The funding round was led by Tencent, a Chinese tech giant along with participation from existing investors- AET Japan, Omidyar Network, Sequoia Capital India, and the co-founder of Cure-Fit-Ankit Nagori.

The company was launched in 2017 and caters to students under the K12 program, those studying for the JEE exam, the IIT exam, and the National Eligibility Entrance Test. The Doubtnut app uses image recognition, machine learning algorithms, and natural language processing to offer video-based solutions to students. Tanushree Nagori and Aditya Shankar have founded the company.

Doubtnut- Real-Time Query Resolution

The company operates an app that helps students to learn the concepts of Math and Science using short videos. The students from grade six to high-school can solve and understand science and math problems in their local languages. The app can read questions in 11 Indian languages.

The students can take a picture of their math or science problem and share it with Doubtnut via the app, WhatsApp, or website. Students then receive a short video that explains the working or solution of the problem along with the answer. Doubtnut boasts of over 13 million monthly active users across all platforms. According to the company, more than 85% of the students are from outside the top 10 cities of India. 

This multilingual online educational platform has gained its popularity among the low-income groups, where the demand for low-cost educational services is more. 

The company claims that despite the number of online learning platforms in India, problem-solving still remains the main challenge. Doubtnut works towards solving this problem by offering real-time query solutions to students.

The Road Map

Doubtnut has raised US$18.5M to date. The company closed its pre-series round in March 2019 with Sequoia Capital India’s Surge Program, Omidyar Network India, Waterbridge Ventures, and AET.

The startup plans to use the fresh funding to expand to new towns and cities in India. This doubt clearing app wants to build on its content repository to serve the fast-expanding target audience, strengthen its technology, and to scale its team.