Instant live tutoring startup Filo has raised $23 million in Series A funding led by Anthos Capital, in yet another indication of the ongoing fundraising spree in the online education space driven by the massive growth witnessed during the pandemic.
The funding round also saw participation from existing investor Better Capital along with GSV, Sapling Capital and individual investors such as DoorDash's Gokul Rajaram, Kabbage cofounder Rob Frohwein, Loft founders Mate Pencz and Florian Hagenbuch and Dutchie cofounder Ross Lipson.
The startup plans to use the funds raised for product development, foray into new categories, expanding its team and scaling its tutor base across the country.
Started by Imbesat Ahmad, Shadman Anwer and Rohit Kumar, Filo helps students connect to tutors for one-on-one live video sessions to clear concepts, solve problems, and prepare for examinations apart from getting help with notes and homework. It claims to connect students to tutors in under 60 seconds round the clock.
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The Gurugram-based startup caters to students from grades 8 – 12 as well as those preparing for entrance exams such as ACT, JEE, NEET, and SAT. Once a student shares a query, Filo's algorithm matches it to a tutor on the basis of over 18 predictors like the difficulty of the question, pace preference of the student, language localisation, tutor preferences built over time, and target exam/curriculum among others.
Filo founders - Rohit Kumar, Imbesat Ahmad, Shadman Anwer
"One of the biggest challenges that students face in their journey are learning gaps which become visible when they are attempting to solve problems on their own. Quick resolutions at this time, when they are fully involved, smoothen their path extensively" said Filo CEO Imbesat Ahmad.
The company claims to currently have more than 350,000 monthly active users and a base of over 40,000 tutors on the platform, clocking more than 5 million minutes of live video classes every month. It is currently present in 15 countries.
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In the next 12 months, it plans to onboard over 200,000 tutors across India and conduct 2 million live classes on a daily basis.
Filo had previously raised $2 million seed funding and an undisclosed pre-seed funding from Better Capital while it was in stealth mode.
"(Filo's) ability to effectively and seamlessly match teachers and students in a matter of seconds we believe to be unmatched in the market today and is a use case that can extend globally. We're thrilled to partner with Imbesat and the Filo team" said Anthos Capital investor Annie Luchsinger.
