This chatbot helps you prepare for tests, and it just got funded

A still from the movie Queen.

Premier engineering colleges, top MBA courses, government and banking jobs – an entry to any of those in India can transform a person’s life. And the entry ticket is usually a high score in an admission test.

Hence, a huge test prep industry has grown in the country. Now, with the spread of smartphones and the internet, tech startups are busy moving test preps online with a variety of solutions. Some of the top funded edtech startups are in this business: Toppr, Vedantu, Plancess, Embibe, and Byju’s, which raised US$75 million two months ago in India’s largest edtech funding round.

A newbie gaining traction fast in this space is Prepathon which launched in August last year and claims to have 150,000 users. Today, it announced pre-series A funding from Blume Ventures, a leading Indian early stage VC. The amount invested was not disclosed.

Prepathon wants to personalize test preps with bots. Users of the app create a virtual classroom where a virtual coach responds to queries, provides motivation, and makes learning interactive.

See: 10 top-funded edtech startups in India

Pedigree of founders

Prepathon is the latest venture of Pagalguy, which pioneered an online community in the MBA education space back in 2002. It was founded by Allwin Agnel, right after his graduation from Wharton School. Pagalguy later expanded to banking, engineering, and government services. These communities provide an added dimension to Prepathon.

Technology that allows us to personalize learning at scale using bots will be one of the biggest drivers of innovation in the educational space.

“Prepathon leverages the right mix of community, personalized coaching, and the beginnings of bot technology for interactive learning,” says Karthik Reddy, founder of Blume Ventures.

Prepathon’s Allwin adds: “Technology that allows us to personalize learning at scale using bots will be one of the biggest drivers of innovation in the educational space.”

The head of technology for Prepathon is Sandeep Kalidindi, who has a master’s degree in computer science from MIT. His aim is to build cutting edge tech solutions for personalized learning.

“I met Allwin almost a decade ago and while I knew PaGaLGuY was doing well, we loved his renewed vision for the mobile era,” adds Karthik.