The edtech startup training AI to talk like your favorite teacher

In India, the first question many families ask when a child finishes 10th grade is not about their career goals. Instead, parents worry about expenses: Can we afford after-class tutoring sessions for the streams they want to pursue?

It is a reality Ritesh Singh Chandel, co-founder and CEO of Indian edtech startup Arivihan, knows well. Growing up, he too saw dreams shaped by budgets rather than interests.

(From left) Arivihan co-founders Sonu Kumar Prashant, Ritesh Singh Chandel, and Rushabh Kothari / Photo credit: Arivihan

Though he chased his love for mathematics by enrolling in the Indian Institutes of Technology and pursuing a career in Bengaluru, he returned to his home city of Indore and saw that the same cycle seems to be repeating for the next generation.

That sparked the idea for Arivihan, an AI-powered personal tutoring platform that costs just US$4 per month.

Founded in 2021 by Chandel, Sonu Kumar Prashant, and Rushabh Kothari, the Indore-based startup is taking aim at the country’s US$6.5 billion after-school coaching industry.

The AI edtech platform offers interactive lessons in Hindi and is working on lessons in Bengali. Students can also pause videos, answer quizzes, and receive tailored explanations based on their responses.

Any questions trigger quick AI-generated tutor videos, which the platform produces in seven to eight minutes.

Now, the firm is building AI avatars of teachers, aiming to completely replace human instructors “within the next three to five years,” Chandel tells Tech in Asia.

The idea has attracted backing. In July, Arivihan raised US$4.2 million in funding from Prosus Ventures, Accel, and others.

The app has an estimated 15,000 monthly active users, according to SensorTower data, which Arivihan says are paid users.

But can AI really replace a teacher in a student’s school journey?

AI enters the classroom

At first, Arivihan targeted only students in Madhya Pradesh who were preparing for their board exam. The team didn’t want to be another edtech firm that would launch across the country, burn cash, and vanish.

Chandel argues that other edtech classes so far resemble one-way broadcasts, with thousands of students watching a livestream but with few chances for real interaction. No one follows up with the students after the session either, he adds.

Can AI win against human teachers?

ChatGPT’s threat looms large