Hyderabad education startup Bhanzu raises $16.5mn in funding

HYDERABAD: Hyderabad: Math education platform Bhanzu, founded by world record holder Neelakantha Bhanu, touted as the 'World's Fastest Human Calculator', raised $16.5 million (approx. 139 crore) in a Series B funding round led by Epiq Capital and supported by Z3Partners.The round also saw participation from existing investors such as Lightspeed Ventures and Eight Roads. The Hyderabad-based startup raised $17 million in earlier funding rounds, including $2 million in seed funding in 2021 and $15 million in 2022 via a Series A round.Bhanzu Founder & CEO Neelakantha Bhanu said the latest funding round would support the maths startup's ambitious expansion plans, especially a bigger play in the US market, as well as a deeper focus on AI R&D to launch learning products that are customisable."Securing this new funding is a significant milestone for Bhanzu, not only supporting our expansion but also underscoring our strong market position—with rapid 8x growth and positive cash flow since our last round, and a model that delivers strong value." He pointed out that US math education market has significant potential but is dominated by large, billion-dollar companies that have not innovated their curricula or effectively embraced technology."This gap creates a significant opportunity for Bhanzu to revolutionise math education in the US. Bhanzu's first-principles approach, strengthened by a robust use case of GenAI in education, aims to make math more intuitive and engaging. We are building Bhanzu in India for the world," Bhanu said.Lead investor Epiq Capital's Partner Chinmay Katdare said Bhanzu has evolved into a global math education.