Artificial intelligence (AI)-based edtech startup Shaktimaan.ai raises $2 million (Rs 16.5 crore) in a seed funding round from startup accelerator YCombinator, Fundersclub, GoodWater Capital along with Misbah Ashraf and Nishchay AG (Jar), amongst others.
The startup will deploy a significant percentage of the fund to build an LLM (language model) trained for different educational use cases. The AI-backed learning platform aims to reach the milestone of serving 100,000 students by December 2023.
Founded by Vimal Singh Rathore and Aseem Gupta, Shaktimaan's current offerings include real-time doubt resolution and personalised feedback, with detailed evaluations of students' handwritten answers. This approach helps UPSC aspirants with targeted assistance and efficient study plans.
“Generative AI can be a game-changer in education, particularly in a nation like ours where quality teaching is often beyond reach. Shaktimaan solves the challenges of affordability and accessibility of quality education in India,” added Rathore, co-founder and chief executive officer, Shaktimaan.
Meanwhile, YCombinator is a startup accelerator that provides seed funding for startups. In 2023, it co-led the $2.5 million seed funding round of the HRtech platform HireSure.ai with Binny Bansal’s Three State Capital. The round also saw participation from San Francisco-based Tribe Capital and Pioneer fund.
Around the same time, the startup accelerator also co-led the $8.3 million seed funding round of proptech startup Landeed along with Draper Associates and Bayhouse Capital and Bengaluru-based fintech startup Gullak's $3 million seed funding round was also co-led by YCombinator as well.
