Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India : AhaGuru, a pioneer in online learning, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding in a Series A round led by an investment firm managed by Mr. Anand Mahindra’s family office.
AhaGuru, a pioneer in online learning, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding in a Series A round led by an investment firm managed by Mr. Anand Mahindra’s family office. The funds will be used to develop new technology features and online courses for high school students and increase its student base across the country as well as in the Middle East. The funds will also help the company expand its team of expert teachers and mentors.
AhaGuru was founded by Dr. Balaji Sampath and Ms. Gomathi Shanmugasundaram to research and develop solutions to the learning quality problem. AhaGuru’s research into learning gaps has helped it develop unique techniques to greatly improve concept understanding and problem-solving abilities of students. These special techniques in turn leads to AhaGuru students excelling both in competitive exams and school boards. For example, AhaGuru student, Muhender Raj, secured All India Rank 4 in IIT JEE (Advanced) and 100% (percentile) in JEE (Mains) that were conducted last month. Another AhaGuru student, Jay Murekar, ranked TN State First in JEE. Even more impressive than their long list of toppers is the overall performance of AhaGuru students. And while the coaching industry average is less than 20% students clearing JEE, over 75% of AhaGuru students cleared JEE and over 95% cleared NEET in 2020.
This focus on learning quality has helped AhaGuru grow organically in Chennai, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad and Kolkata and the investment from Mr. Anand Mahindra’s family office will help it scale to many more students across more geographies.
Mr. Anand Mahindra says, “AhaGuru stands for making learning easier and understandable by deploying well researched techniques. Their sharp focus on enhancing the quality of teaching Science and Math can help students grasp fundamentals more effectively. I am hopeful that AhaGuru will help Indian students build curiosity and a scientific temper.”
“This funding enables us to launch new courses to help students with their school and board exams. We are also working on several new technology features to make the student learning experience richer. We are investing in Artificial Intelligence to personalize the learning experience for each student. Our predictive learning model, identifies student learning patterns and suggests enhancements that improves success rate of students,” says Dr. Balaji Sampath.
AhaGuru’s Live Online Classes and Recorded Video Courses has been a boon to students preparing for JEE and NEET. These comprehensive courses not only provide clearly presented lectures, but also have lots of video examples that demonstrate how to apply concepts to different problem-situations. Each lesson also includes a large number of practice questions with detailed solutions. The well-researched methodology helps students not only understand concepts deeply but also helps them easily master problem-solving. Students say that AhaGuru’s courses not only builds their concepts and skills, but also gives them a huge confidence booster.
AhaGuru’s online coaching which has been growing steadily over the last few years, has seen a big surge during the Covid pandemic. “The number of students enrolling for both our live online classes as well as our recorded video courses has tripled. Our teams are working overtime to ensure every student is learning well. This investment will help us get more teachers and provide personalized learning support to our students,” says Ms. Gomathi.
Unlike many other players in the EdTech space, AhaGuru does not want to dilute its focus by expanding to lots of different subjects and exams. “We focus exclusively on Science and Math education for middle and high school students. Our team is constantly researching and developing better and better ways to help students master these subjects. Our courses are quite intensive and meant for serious students willing to spend 6 to 8 hours per week for each subject,” says Dr. Sampath. It is this focus on subject mastery that sets AhaGuru apart as a premium player in the EdTech space attracting serious students who want a deep understanding of Physics, Chemistry, Maths and Biology.
