Bhanzu raises $16.5 million from Epiq Capital, Z3Partners and existing investors

Neelakantha Bhanu, Founder and CEO of Bhanzu.

Bhanzu, the global math platform, has raised $16.5 million in its Series B funding round led by Epiq Capital and Z3Partners, the company said in a release on November 11. Existing investors like Lightspeed and Eight Roads also put in money and held on to their stake in the startup.

Moneycontrol was first to exclusively report about Bhanzu’s deal on November 8. While the company did not comment on its valuation, sources had earlier said the company is being valued at $115-120 million, slightly higher than its previous valuation of about $100 million in September 2022.

The company will use the money to expand operations and focus on the US market. “The U.S. math education market has significant potential, but it is dominated by large, billion-dollar companies that have not innovated their curricula or effectively embraced technology. This gap creates a significant opportunity for Bhanzu to revolutionise math education in the US,” said Neelakantha Bhanu, Founder and CEO.

Bhanu founded Bhanzu, a math-learning platform, and is a world record-holder who is known as the “world’s fastest human calculator.”

“From the time we met Neelakantha Bhanu 18 months ago, Bhanzu has evolved into a global math education platform...with the use of advanced AI to shape learning outcomes across geographies. Additionally, Bhanu has built a solid team and a robust business model,” Chinmay Katdare, Partner, Epiq Capital, said.

This will be the first time Epiq and Z3Partners bet on an edtech firm. While Epiq has backed notable startups like Lenskart, Zepto and others, Z3Partners has funded companies like MakeMyTrip, BigBasket and others in the past.

Edtech is back

The edtech sector had appeared to have lost its sheen in India, majorly due to the downfall of Byju’s and the return of offline learning in a post-pandemic setting. The beleaguered startup, once the most valued edtech in the world, has disappointed investors and is close to bankruptcy which had made the entire sector unattractive at one point.

However, the sentiment has improved over the past months.

A slew of edtechs – such as PhysicsWallah (PW), Eruditus, UpGrad – have all raised money in the past few months, as reported by Moneycontrol.

“It was not super easy to raise this round because a couple of big edtechs going down did affect us. In 2020, this deal would be signed in a week’s time but it took us one-and-a-half months now,” Bhanu told Moneycontrol.

“We, however, timed our fundraise. We wanted to go past our competitor’s highest revenue mark and then raise the money because it’ll show our potential to grow.”