East Ventures Leads 233 Billion Rupiah Funding for Startup Edtech Geniebook

Startups EdTech from Singapore, Geniebook received series A funding of $16,6 million or around 233 billion Rupiah led by East Ventures through Growth Fund and Lightspeed Ventures Partners. This funding will be used to increase the number of teams.

A number angel investors notables include John Danner (Dunce Capital), Gaurav Munjal and Roman Saini (Unacademy), Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal (Snapdeal), Alvin Tse (Xiaomi), Linh Pham Giang (Hocmai), as well as several senior executives from leading companies in Asia Southeast, like Gojek, Grab, and Shopee is also involved in the funding.

Previously, Geniebook had pocketed a $1,1 million pre-series A funding round in 2019 from Apricot Capital.

For information, Geniebook was founded in 2017 by Neo Zhizong and Alicia Cheong. This platform offers a range of learning products online through personalization by combining blended learning experiences according to student needs. The subjects provided include English, mathematics, and natural sciences (IPA).

The company claims to have achieved more than 2000% revenue growth with a user base of 150.000 in Southeast Asia. Currently, the Singapore-based company will continue to expand its business regionally in Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia.

Geniebook CEO & Co-founder Neo Zhizhong said he would scale the team for a number of strategic positions, from curriculum, engineering, product, to growth to maximize the online learning experience. To date, Geniebook already has 350 employees worldwide.

"We will continue to innovate on existing Geniebook products. For example, GenieSmart or personalized worksheets with AI, GenieClass or teaching and learning spaces through online classes, and GenieAsk which allows students to chat and receive help from experienced teachers online. real time," he said in an official statement.

Geniebook COO & Co-founder Alicia Cheong added, "We are ready to take the leap to the next growth line with the addition of a new team, product innovation, and a strong focus on providing a more personalized learning experience supported by technology.

Meanwhile, East Ventures Managing Partner Roderick Purwana revealed, the platform EdTech play an important role and accelerate the offering of their solutions to users in line with the Covid-19 pandemic situation in its second year. His party also assessed that Geniebook has shown a strong appeal in foreign markets, one of which is Vietnam, which has experienced growth of up to three times compared to last year.

Momentum EdTech

Various player EdTech in South East Asia continue to take advantage of the Covid-19 situation as a momentum to accelerate product and business growth going forward. Especially in Indonesia, face-to-face teaching and learning activities (KBM) in new schools have been opened gradually.

On a separate occasion recently, the Co-founder and Managing Partner of East Ventures Willson Cuaca reveal about how the pandemic has accelerated digital adoption and encouraged investment in Indonesia's digital sector. Healthtech and EdTech are two of the digital sectors that have played a significant role since the pandemic first took place.

This impact is also reflected in the increased services from the East Ventures portfolio, namely Ruangguru with an increase in the number of users up to 50%. In addition, Willson highlighted how the pandemic boosted the investment climate in Indonesia from $3,4 million in 2020 to $4,9 million in the third quarter of 2021.

"This increase was identified because consumer behavior changed to digital-based or online behavior. All investors became more aggressive and optimistic because digital acceleration happened before anything else," said Willson.