Indonesia’s Zenius bags $20m, appoints former Gojek exec as CEO

Indonesia-based edtech startup Zenius Education today announced that it has secured US$20 million in a series A funding round led by Northstar Group, along with participating investors Kinesys Group and Beenext.

It also announced the appointment of former Gojek chief operating officer Rohan Monga as its new CEO. Former Zenius CEO Sabda PS will now serve as the startup’s chief education officer.

Zenius CEO Rohan Monga (left) and chief education officer Sabda PS / Photo credit: Zenius

The startup plans to use the new funds to further boost its growth, develop its technology, and expand its services all across Indonesia.

Founded in 2004, Zenius provides online learning solutions, with a focus on understanding concepts and scientific reasoning. It wants to help Indonesians develop a competency in deep understanding via scientific inquiry and not just memorization.

Its main product, an online learning website, contains more than 80,000 learning videos and practice questions for elementary and high school levels, which have all been adapted to the national curriculum. It claims to have served over 12.8 million users throughout 2019.

Recently, Zenius launched the Zenius App, an application-based online learning platform that is already available on Google Play and the App Store.

The company is up against local players such as Ruangguru, which raised around US$150 million last year in a funding round led by private equity firm General Atlantic and GGV Capital. The round is said to be one of the largest funding rounds for an edtech company in Southeast Asia.