By Adedapo Adesanya

Berkeley-based startup, SigIQ.ai, has emerged from 18 months of stealth with $9.5 million in funding to transform education through personalized AI tutoring that delivers elite-level instruction at affordable cost.

SigIQ.ai’s AI tutor  came into consciousness when it took India’s UPSC civil service exam last June and  achieved the highest score in the exam’s history, beating 1.3 million human candidates in under 7 minutes.

The seed round was co-led by House Fund and GSV Ventures, with participation from Duolingo, General Catalyst India (Venture Highway), Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia India), Calibrate Ventures and angel investors, such as Mr Andy Konwinski (Co-founder, Perplexity), Mr Christian Storm (Co-founder & CTO, Turnitin), Prof. Trevor Darrell (Berkeley AI Research, UC Berkeley), Prof. Jitendra Malik (Berkeley AI Research, UC Berkeley), Prof. Srini Devadas (MIT), Prof. Sharad Malik (Princeton) and others.

According to a statement shared with Business Post, the investment will accelerate hiring top talent, enhancing AI models, and scaling platforms to educational systems worldwide.

SigIQ.ai’s technology directly addresses “Bloom’s Two-Sigma Problem” – the research finding that students receiving one-on-one tutoring perform two standard deviations better than those in traditional classrooms.

According to the company, this educational disparity has persisted for decades, with personalized tutoring remaining a luxury reserved for the privileged few. The company’s revolutionary approach shifts the cost of personalization from human labor to AI computation, making world-class instruction accessible at unprecedented scale.

“We’re 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,” said Dr Karttikeya Mangalam, CEO and co-founder of SigIQ.ai noted.

“We’ve started by first creating a tutor that itself can ace the very exam students are preparing for. This is a necessary step to ensure accuracy and quality in teaching delivered. And will set a new benchmark in personalized education, making the highest-quality education accessible to everyone, regardless of geography or socioeconomic status, at a fraction of the traditional cost,” he added.

The company was founded in July 2023 by Dr Karttikeya Mangalam and Professor Kurt Keutzer, a distinguished Professor in the Berkeley AI Research (BAIR) Lab.

Growing up in Muzaffarpur, Bihar – a region where educational opportunities are limited – Dr Mangalam experienced firsthand the stark divide between small-town India and elite Western academic institutions. After completing his education at IIT Kanpur and then at UC Berkeley, he founded SigIQ.ai to democratize access to world-class education globally.

In just 18 months, SigIQ.ai has launched two products with remarkable traction. PadhAI, focused on UPSC exam preparation in India, has attracted over 200,000 learners in just six months. On June 16, 2024, moments after the actual 2-hour UPSC Prelims exam had finished, PadhAI’s AI tutor solved the entire paper in a live demonstration in under 7 minutes at The Leela in Delhi. It achieved a score of 175/200 – not just the highest score in 2024, but the highest score ever achieved in UPSC prelims history, far exceeding the typical qualifying score of 100/200. This historic achievement was covered by over 70 news outlets across India, including The Hindu and The Times of India.

The company’s newer offering, EverTutor.ai, designed for GRE preparation in the US market, has already gained more than 10,000 users since launching three months ago.

“SigIQ.ai isn’t just a regular EdTech startup — they’ve built an AI system that publicly demonstrated its ability to outperform both humans and leading commercial AI models on one of the world’s most challenging exams. This redefines what’s possible in personalized education,” said Mr Jeremy Fiance, Managing Director of The House Fund.

The company said SigIQ.ai is different from other educational AI tools in its approach to personalization. Unlike basic conversational AI that offers scripted or limited interactivity, SigIQ’s systems are highly interactive, responsive to follow-up questions, and capable of personalized instruction and feedback – not just chat.

Sharing some results, it said the technology replicates the behavior of a real tutor. Students using the platform report a 30-40 per cent increase in effective study hours while improving performance by 18 per cent in the first month, with over 75% feeling more confident tackling difficult topics within just three weeks.

Looking ahead, SigIQ.ai plans to expand its reach with EverTutor, supporting more GRE takers in the upcoming spring and fall and beyond standardized tests, SigIQ.ai envisions a future where their technology transforms education broadly, creating a new era where high-quality learning isn’t limited by geography, language, or economic status.

A new study released by a non-profit firm, SmartStart, has revealed compelling evidence that early learning programmes run in homes and community venues could significantly boost children’s outcomes, even at scale.

The findings underscored the critical role that could be played by accessible, community-based early childhood education in breaking the cycle of educational inequality.

A team of independent researchers found that the proportion of children “on track” increased by a remarkable 20 points from 45% to 65%, while the proportion of those “falling far behind” nearly halved.

The study’s most striking revelation is the dramatic reduction in the achievement gap between children from low- and high-income households, falling from 25 points to just 6 points. This substantial narrowing represents more than a statistical triumph; it demonstrates a powerful mechanism for social mobility and educational equity.

“These findings show the transformative role that can be played by women living in low-income contexts when they are empowered to deliver early learning programmes in their homes and other community settings. The study therefore has profound implications for policymakers because it shows an affordable, scalable path to early learning for every child,” says Grace Matlhape, Chief Executive Officer of SmartStart. “Accessible, high-quality early learning programmes have the potential to break intergenerational cycles of educational disadvantage, offering children from all backgrounds a more level playing field for future academic and personal success.”

Commenting on the study, Chief Director for Foundations for Learning in the Department of Basic Education, Kulula Manona, observed that “this study shines a light on the incredible potential of our children when provided with the right developmental and learning opportunities. It also underscores the critical role of community-based early learning programmes, and the dedicated practitioners who deliver them, in bridging the early learning access gap”.

Researchers for the study, including Professor Sarah Chapman from University of Cape Town as the principal investigator, used South Africa’s Early Learning Outcomes Measure (ELOM) to track the progress of 551 children in SmartStart ELPs over an eight-month period. The results revealed that the SmartStart cohort outperformed the national Thrive by Five Index benchmark, a monitoring tool developed to track early childhood development progress in South Africa, providing robust evidence that well-designed, community-integrated early learning programmes can deliver scalable and measurable improvements in child development..

“The implications of this study demonstrate that effectiveness isn’t contingent on costly infrastructure and equipment, but on empowering practitioners with the right tools, skills and support. Simple, everyday practices, including nurturing care, lots of talk, and child-centered play, can transform outcomes for young children,” Chapman adds.

“The crucial thing about the SmartStart model is that it honours the inherent strengths of our communities. Our programmes run in homes and community venues, which means they offer an immediate and affordable solution to close the access and quality gaps for excluded children. This underscores the need for governments to establish enabling policy and funding frameworks that recognise and support these practitioners where they are,” says Matlhape.

Celebrating its tenth year of impact, the SmartStart network currently has over 13,000 ELPs serving over 125,000 children, every week. Its network model is deeply rooted in social capital and community empowerment, underpinned by the principle of meeting communities where they are and leveraging their existing assets.

“Today we salute the extraordinary ordinary women across our network who are using simple but transformative practices every day, to create a better future for young children. These women are powerful agents of change, beacons of hope for future generations,” Matlhape emphasises.

“We also salute the dedication of our implementing partners, and the unwavering support of communities who stand united for their children. Their collective efforts show the power of a collaborative implementation model to transcend socio-economic barriers and, ultimately, to bridge the equity gap in early learning.”

By Aduragbemi Omiyale

A strategic partnership has been entered into between Africa’s leading crypto exchange, Quidax, and largest company in the digital asset industry, Tether, to enhance blockchain education in Africa by equipping users with knowledge about Bitcoin and stablecoins, starting in Nigeria and Ghana.

Through this collaboration, Quidax and Tether aim to empower over 15,000 people and businesses with the knowledge to leverage digital assets.

The collaboration will include financial literacy campaigns, thought leadership, interactive workshops, and community engagement efforts designed to equip users with the knowledge to navigate the digital asset ecosystem safely and effectively.

Quidax and Tether are working toward a more inclusive and empowered financial ecosystem in Africa by fostering financial literacy and expanding access to digital assets education.

USDT, a dollar-pegged stablecoin, plays a crucial role in financial inclusion by providing stability amid currency volatility and enabling seamless cross-border payments.

With Africa emerging as a key player in the global crypto economy, this collaboration aligns with the region’s growing demand for digital financial education.

“With rising interest in digital assets across Africa, stablecoins like USDT provide a reliable way for people to store value and conduct business transactions with ease.

“Collaborating with Tether allows us to bridge the knowledge gap and drive broader education of cryptocurrency in a way that benefits everyday people,” the chief executive of Quidax, Mr Buchi Okoro, said.

“At Tether, we are committed to fostering financial education and empowering communities with the tools they need to navigate the digital economy.

“Africa is at the forefront of blockchain adoption, with Ghana and Nigeria among the most prominent emerging markets. Through this collaboration with Quidax, we aim to give individuals and businesses the knowledge to leverage digital assets consciously.

“By collaborating on financial education, we are laying a foundation for a more inclusive and accessible financial ecosystem,” the chief executive of Tether, Mr Paolo Ardoino, stated.