SigIQ.ai, an AI-powered edtech startup co-founded by UC Berkeley&rsquo;s Professor Kurt Keutzer and AI researcher Dr. Karttikeya Mangalam, has raised $9.5 million in seed funding to revolutionize personalized tutoring globally. The startup aims to deliver elite one-on-one instruction powered by generative AI&mdash;at a fraction of the cost of traditional human tutoring.
The seed round was co-led by The House Fund and GSV Ventures, with participation from Duolingo, Peak XV Partners, Calibrate Ventures, and General Catalyst India (Venture Highway). Prominent angel investors also backed the round, including Andy Konwinski (Co-founder, Perplexity), Christian Storm (CTO, Turnitin), and professors from leading institutions such as UC Berkeley, MIT, and Princeton.
SigIQ.ai plans to use the capital to scale its flagship products&mdash;PadhAI, focused on India&rsquo;s UPSC civil services exam, and EverTutor, a GRE prep tool for U.S. students. The funds will also be channeled into enhancing its proprietary AI tutoring models and expanding the team.
&ldquo;We are at a pivotal moment in education where modern GenAI can provide a personal 1:1 tutor to every student and reduce the cost of one-on-one learning from hundreds of dollars an hour to the cost of computation,&rdquo; said Dr. Karttikeya Mangalam, co-founder and CEO of SigIQ.ai.
The startup made headlines in June 2024 when its AI-powered tutor scored 175 out of 200 on the notoriously difficult UPSC Preliminary Exam in under seven minutes&mdash;outperforming 1.3 million candidates and setting a national record. Since then, PadhAI has attracted over 200,000 learners, while EverTutor has already surpassed 10,000 users within three months of launch.
SigIQ.ai's technology seeks to solve the "Bloom&rsquo;s Two-Sigma Problem", a reference to the finding that students with personal tutors outperform peers in traditional classrooms by two standard deviations. The platform goes beyond scripted answers, offering adaptive, contextual instruction, real-time feedback, and custom learning paths.
&ldquo;SigIQ.ai isn&rsquo;t just another edtech startup&mdash;they&rsquo;ve demonstrated real mastery by outperforming humans and AI models on one of the world&rsquo;s toughest exams,&rdquo; said Jeremy Fiance, Managing Director at The House Fund.
The company will present the next version of its platform at the ASU+GSV Summit, a leading education and technology conference. Looking ahead, SigIQ.ai plans to expand into high school and university-level curricula, with a global rollout strategy beyond India and the U.S.
Mangalam added, &ldquo;This funding accelerates our mission to democratize elite education, making personalized tutoring accessible to millions of learners worldwide.&rdquo;
&nbsp;
Source : Indian Startup News

SigIQ.ai, an AI-powered edtech startup co-founded by UC Berkeley’s Professor Kurt Keutzer and AI researcher Dr. Karttikeya Mangalam, has raised $9.5 million in seed funding to revolutionize personalized tutoring globally.

AI-Powered Edtech Startup SigIQ.ai Raises $9.5M Seed Funding to Scale Personalized Tutoring Platforms