10 minute school, one of the more popular edtech companies within Bangladesh, has announced raising of a $2Mn seed round through Sequoia India’s Surge. The edtech, which claims to be Bangladesh’s largest learning app, plans to utilise these funds to invest in product, technology, and talent acquisition across both Bangladesh and India.
Bangladesh, among Asian nations, has one of the highest enrolment rates in primary education, largely due to education being compulsory by law, till grade eight. In fact, Bangladesh has achieved near universal net primary enrolment, with approximately 98 percent of children of primary school age enrolling in school. However, despite that success, quality education continues to elude most living beyond few of Bangaldesh’s major cities.
Founded by Ayman Sadiq and Abdullah Abyad Raied in 2015, 10 Minute School is on a mission to democratise education for all in Bangladesh. A critical factor plaguing development of vital educational infrastructure in Bangladesh, is the lack of access to quality teachers for students across the country. Much of the development in education is still focused around the capital, Dhaka and a few major cities, resulting in poor education infrastructure for the rest of the country.
This is where 10 Minute School comes in. This mobile-first online learning platform bridges the gap between aspiration and opportunities by offering up affordable, accessible and highly relevant educational content to 25 million school and college students, university admission test candidates, job-seekers, and people looking for specialised skills training. Additionally, 7 percent of 10 Minute School’s audience is based in India.
As has been the case with most edtechs globally, 10 Minute School too saw widespread adaption during the pandemic. “We have experienced an unprecedented 12x business growth in our platform in 2021 during the pandemic, and our users have also commended the app and its learning content. Sequoia Capital India’s Surge joining us as our first investor has been a very rewarding experience for the team, further validating our vision for democratising access to high quality education for all in Bangladesh. We want to double down on our growth trajectory this year while creating an unparalleled learning experience for our students,” says Ayman Sadiq, Founder and CEO, 10 Minute School.
10 Minute school has 25,000+ classes and skills courses prepared by some of Bangladesh’s best instructors and professionals. It provides a personalised learning journey for students with the opportunity to test their learning from a bank of 50,000+ quizzes and additional resources like flashcards, audiobooks, and notes.
In the first quarter of 2022, the company plans to launch live coaching classes for students from classes 5-12, test paper courses for HSC and SSC examinees, complete admission and BCS programmes, a whole series of interactive academic books for classes 3-12 and 25 more sought-after upskilling courses.
10 Minute School is part of Surge’s sixth cohort of 20 companies that build fresher, smarter solutions to help consumers and businesses adapt to a changing world.
