10 Minute School Raises $2 Million in Seed Funding from Indian Investor
A screenshot taken from the 10 Minute School website. Photo: Collected
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A screenshot taken from the 10 Minute School website. Photo: Collected
The country’s largest online education institution, 10 Minute School, has raised $2 million in seed funding from Surge, Sequoia Capital India’s rapid scaling program.
This investment makes 10 Minute School the first educational technology (edtech) in Bangladesh to receive funding from Surge.
Speaking to the Business Standard, Ahsan Mahbub, head of public relations and communications at 10 Minute School, said the tech startup plans to use the fund by investing in product development, technology and the talent acquisition.
Founded by Ayman Sadiq and his co-founder Abdullah Abyad Raied in 2015, 10 Minute School’s mission is to democratize education for all in Bangladesh.
Access to quality teachers across the country has been one of the biggest challenges for students here.
Much of the education development is still concentrated around Dhaka and a few other major cities, resulting in poor infrastructure for the rest of the country.
Additionally, the best coaching centers and private tutors are not affordable to the general population due to several socio-economic barriers.
This is where 10 Minute School comes in. This first mobile e-learning platform bridges the gap between aspirations and opportunities by delivering affordable, accessible and highly relevant educational content to 25 million students and students, from college admissions test takers to university and job seekers. , and people looking for specialized training.
Instead of serving out-of-the-box product functionality, the team constantly interacts with its students to understand their pain points in order to create tailor-made solutions.
Students in grades 1-12 can advance their learning using resources such as videos, practice exams, lesson sheets, and notes that have been developed by experts over the years.
Those looking to upgrade in their career have access to various courses like Spoken English, Microsoft Excel, Corporate Training, etc.
2021 marked a year of significant growth for the platform, with over nine million new learners joining the platforms, eight million hours of learning delivered and over 17,000 additional new videos added to its ecosystem of learning.
The app (10ms.app) recently surpassed three million users, making it the largest learning app in the country.
“We have seen unprecedented 12x business growth on our platform in 2021 during the pandemic, and strong validation from our users who have experienced our learning content.
“Having Sequoia Capital India’s Surge join us as our first investor is a very humbling experience for the team, and further validates our vision to democratize access to high quality education for all in Bangladesh. We want to double our growth trajectory this year while creating an unparalleled learning experience for our students,” said Ayman Sadiq, Founder and CEO of 10 Minute School.
The pandemic has boosted online education in Bangladesh, with offline institutions and exams suspended since the start of 2020.
To ensure students can keep learning despite the lockdown, the company has launched some of its first premium courses and books during this time.
Today, the platform has more than 25,000 courses and skills courses prepared by some of the best instructors and professionals in Bangladesh. It offers a personalized learning path for students with the ability to test their learning from a bank of over 50,000 quizzes, additional resources such as flashcards, audiobooks and notes.
In Q1 2022, the company plans to launch live coaching classes for students in grades five through 12, test paper classes for HSC and SSC candidates, comprehensive admissions and BCS programs, a whole host of of interactive academic books for grades 3-12 and 25 most sought-after advanced courses.
The edtech platform sees a huge opportunity to help support the country’s existing education system, which now has 43 million students.
The team also aspires to help improve the skills of its large population of five million young people, which will lead to increased employment and demographic dividends for the country.