Riiid Secures USD 41.8 Million in Pre-Series D Financing

The company's proprietary AI technology analyzes student data and content, predicts scores and user behavior, and recommends personalized study plans to help students optimize their learning potential.

FREMONT, CA: Leading AI education solutions startup based in Korea, Riiid, secured USD 41.8 million in a pre-series D financing round with investments from state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB), NVESTOR, Intervest as well as from an existing investor IMM Investment. The latest investment round brings the company's total raised capital to USD 70.2 million. The funding represents another significant milestone for the company, highlighting its more than 200 percent annual sales growth and adding over a million cumulative users since 2017.

"Riiid successfully completed domestic funding amid a slower investment environment due to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic and has made significant progress in negotiating with overseas financial investors to accelerate global expansion," said Riiid CEO YJ Jang. "Riiid is already in the process of forming various global partnerships based on its verified AI technology in both academic and commercial markets, and will soon unveil new products and services. We are committed to creating a future for education beyond our imagination through in-depth R&D and commercialization of technology."

The company mainly offers Santa, a mobile test prep application for the popular English proficiency exam, Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC). Santa, which has been used by more than a million students in Korea and Japan, reached No. 1 in sales among education apps in Japan and Korea. The company's proprietary AI technology analyzes student data and content, predicts scores and user behavior, and recommends personalized study plans to help students optimize their learning potential. Santa has proven the efficacy of Riiid'sRiiid's technology. The company is now focused on providing back-end solutions for companies, school districts, and education ministries around the world for a wide range of new learning applications.

"Riiid is establishing a global standard while defining valid technologies and leading researches in the field of AI EdTech," said Intervest Director, Jay Jeon. "At a time when the need for effective remote learning solutions is expanding not only in the education market but also in various industries, the investment was made highly valuing the marketability of Riiid's proven business model in Santa, excellent talent pool, and various global partnerships that are underway based on a scalable technology structure."

Riiid was listed as one of the Top EdTech Startups in APAC by Education Technology Insights magazine in 2019. The company will use the proceeds from the investment round to advance its proprietary deep learning technology that offers personalized test-prep solutions based on precise data diagnosis.