EdTech companies have been taking the world by storm in the past few years, and Kinnu, a London-based generative AI EdTech company, is no exception. The company recently raised an impressive $6.5 million in a funding round led by LocalGlobe (a member of the Phoenix Group) and Cavalry Ventures, with participation from Spark Capital and Jigsaw, and angel investors, including Tom Hulme from Google Ventures, Guy Podjarny of Snyk, and Moonbug Entertainment co-founder Rene Rechtman.
Kinnu was founded in 2021 by Christopher Kahler, Abraham Muller, and Hanna Celina with the mission to give everyone the power to learn anything they want to. The platform uses generative AI in a “three-pronged content creation approach” to create content. Human experts create the course outline or pathway, which is fed into the startup’s “Learning Engine”, which uses large language models like those powering ChatGPT to pick out the main ideas of a subject and turn out relevant revision questions in different formats, such as multiple choice. It can also repackage that information to prevent learners from spotting patterns.
The company is currently focusing on adult enthusiast learners, and its app has over 100,000 downloads, using artificial intelligence to generate tailored learning content for science, history and psychology.
Commenting on the company, Co-founder & CEO of Kinnu, Christopher Kahler, said: “There’s a huge opportunity for AI-powered learning that focuses on accelerating the pace of human learning itself. 10 years ago, online learning experienced a boom because it democratised access to content. The next frontier is democratising access to the mechanism of how we learn, from quantum mechanics and Chaucer to idioms and soft skills adapted to the learner’s own pace and ability. It’s this that excites us.”
Kinnu’s Co-founder, Hanna Celina, added: “Our backgrounds are perfectly complementary. I worked at Google, Futurelearn and Deliveroo and studied at Harvard, so we all bring a unique perspective on the future of learning and how to build it.”
Suzanne Ashman, Partner of LocalGlobe, commented: “We’re on the brink of an enormous transformation in how people learn knowledge and skills. From LocalGlobe’s first meeting with Kinnu’s co-founders, it was clear that their knowledge acquisition and assessment approach could deliver huge leaps forward in learning productivity and give learners more space to focus on applying knowledge. We’re particularly excited about the founder’s approach to AI-driven interdisciplinary learning, allowing people to connect different areas in a way that hasn’t been possible in traditional education institutions.”
Kinnu’s latest funding round brings its total raised to $9 million. This is sure to be welcomed news for teachers, as the EdTech company continues to develop its revolutionary approach to learning that promises to revolutionize the way people learn.
