“World’s fastest human calculator” has raised $15 million to tackle “math phobia”
The recent struggles of Indian EdTech giants like BYJU’s, Unacademy & Vedantu have put a dent in the mighty glory of the EdTech sector in India. From massive layoffs to missing revenue & profit targets, these stalwarts of the Indian startup ecosystem have been scrambling to raise funds in the venture capital winter the entire world is currently witnessing. Apart from these giants, several high profile upstarts, such as Lido Learning, backed by Unacademy’s Ronnie Screwvala, have filed for bankruptcy in recent months. Although the EdTech bubble may seem to have burst already, there are a few exceptions. One such exception is Bhanzu, which recently raised $15 million in Series A funding led by Eight Road Ventures & B Capital. How did Bhanzu buck the trend and gain the trust of investors in these turbulent times? This is the story of how a mathematical prodigy raised $15 million to make kids across India fall in love with math!
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Neelakantha Bhanu is to math & mental calculation, what Usain Bolt is to running! At just 17, he was anointed the fastest human calculator in the world, beating mental calculation legends like Shakuntala Devi & Scott Flansburg. In 2020, Neelakantha won the gold medal for India in the Mental Calculation World Championship organized by Mind Sports Olympiad (MSO). After becoming the “world’s fastest human calculator”, Neelakantha began touring the globe & sharing his knowledge with kids & parents across the globe. While doing stage shows & teaching students in over 20 countries across the globe, he discovered that 3 out of 4 students today have a “phobia” of math. As a self professed “math lover”, the fact was a matter of great concern for him. Thus, he decided to tackle the problem himself & began working on creating a holistic, innovative & experiential math learning platform that could potentially dispel this fear of math amongst school going children.
In 2019, Neelakantha decided to test his proprietary learning techniques among hundreds of local government schools & NGOs in & around Hyderabad. This helped him assess & tweak his learning methods to create a holistic curriculum for his new venture. The present curriculum of Bhanzu focuses on storytelling & conceptual understanding of basic concepts that works for all types of learners. The experiential learning format helps dispel the fear of math amongst kids from an early age. Mathematical anxiety is a common problem across the world, in both children & adults alike. Several studies have been conducted in the field of “math phobia” since the 1950s, when Mary Fides Gough coined the term “mathemaphobia” to describe this anxiety of math amongst many. Instead of using the old rote method of learning which instills this fear of math in kids, Bhanzu aims to get rid of this anxiety & fear of math and inculcate a genuine love for the subject.
Bhanzu courses are priced between INR 14,999 & INR 64,999 targeted towards kids aged between 5 & 16 years. The startup currently caters to over 30,000 students & parents. With increasing demand for its courses, the team behind Bhanzu has grown quickly as well - the team is now 400-member strong. With the latest fundraise, the startup aims to upgrade its tech infrastructure to further enhance the user experience, strengthen its curriculum & grow its team. It's already working on creating in-classroom gamified learning modules with live evaluation & feedback. It’s also working on building a real-time teaching aid for educators to assess their students. Bhanzu is also looking at expanding globally across multiple geographies. It has already started online live classes in multiple countries across South-East Asia & the Middle East and now plans to further scale operations there. The startup is also promoting math as a competitive sport using mini games & booster courses. Neelakantha Bhanu’s dream of dispelling the fear of math across the globe seems to be moving closer to being realized very soon!