Mathpresso, a Korea-based EdTech startup announced that it has received an undisclosed amount of funding from Google.
Mathpresso said in a statement, the funding will help the startup to accelerate its global market expansion as well as its technological advancement.
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.
According to Mathpresso, the startup and Google see synergies supporting students’ comprehensive digital learning experiences on a global scale.
It said, over 85 percent of QANDA’s users reside outside of Korea, with its strongest user bases include Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand.
It also said, approximately 10 million photos are uploaded on QANDA worldwide every day, and 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.
According to him, 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,” he added.
Mathpresso was founded in 2015 by Co-Chief Executive Officer 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.
Since 2015, it has raised over $105 million in total from investors including SoftBank Ventures Asia, Legend Capital, Mirae Asset Investment, GGV, and Goodwater Capital.
Headquartered in Seoul, Mathpresso also has offices in Tokyo, Hanoi, Jakarta, and Bangkok.