Ma received a quality education at private schools, but he noticed friends he grew up with didn’t have the same opportunities. Now, he’s working to fix that.
Ma is the co-founder of Numerade Labs Inc., a Santa Monica-based education technology startup that uses artificial intelligence and short-form videos to tutor students.
When a student searches through the company’s 1.2 million videos and interactive lessons by certified tutors — Numerade said the collection is the largest of its kind — the database uses AI to suggest lessons and generate tests for students.
“Going to these private schools really opened my eyes to the discrepancy of access to educational resources, particularly tutoring,” Ma said. “A lot of my friends and peers in my high school years had those resources. Then, I’d come home taking the bus to South Central L.A., and that wasn’t the case for a lot of those students.”
Ma said Numerade started as a “pivot.” Ma and co-founder Alex Lee had another education technology company prior to Numerade called Tutorcast Inc. but found that the price of lessons on the platform was still unattainable for many families.
So in 2017, the duo rolled Tutorcast into Numerade, making it a goal to provide affordable and accessible tutoring to a broader audience. Numerade charges users $9.99 a month or $83 for a year to access lessons.
Since its launch, Numerade has become a hit, attracting more than 20 million students ranging from early middle school to graduate students, Ma said.
“We believe we have a huge opportunity and also responsibility to help close the learning gap caused by distance learning,” he said.
Along with gaining popularity among students, Numerade has recently caught the eye of investors. The company announced July 20 that it had raised $26 million in Series A funding, with investor participation from firms such as IDG Capital, Alumni Ventures Group, Interplay Ventures and Toy Ventures.
As students made their bedrooms their classrooms amid the pandemic, education technology has boomed. According to research firm Grand View Research Inc., the market for education technology in the United States is valued at more than $106 billion in 2021, up 19% from roughly $89 billion in 2020.
Ma said he plans to use the funding to continue toward the company’s aim of closing that learning gap. This will include an aggressive hiring spree of tutors and the continued development of Numerade’s AI tutor technology.
