Interview with Manan Khurma, CEO of Google-Backed Maths Learning Company: Cuemath

Cuemath is the math class you wish you had attended as a child. Among the world’s best online math and coding learning programs for children from K-12, Cuemath works to make learning fun!

We believe that Math takes you anywhere. Math makes you invincible. With the power of math by their side, students can achieve greatness, not only in academics, but in life.

Cuemath’s curriculum covers math visually and focuses on real-world examples rather than abstract theorems. We demonstrate how a concept works, making it super easy for children to grasp concepts deeply and intuitively. Our program contrasts to existing approaches that emphasize memorization and rote mechanics to understand underlying math concepts, and instead gamifies the experience with age-appropriate visuals.

Cuemath is a global EdTech backed by Google and soon-to-be-unicorn. Founded in 2013, Cuemath is present in 20+ countries, including the US, UK, Singapore, Canada, UAE, Nigeria and Egypt and rapidly expanding. Our curriculum, created by experts from Cambridge University and the Indian Institute of Technology, covers grades K-12 and is certified by STEM.org.

We are proud to be one of only 30 EdTech companies in the world – and the only Indian EdTech – to secure a partnership with Google for Education.

We are aligned with 50+ global curricula including Common Core, and Cambridge International Standards; and Alphabet’s independent growth fund, CapitalG, is our largest investor.

Additionally, we have the following industry recognitions too- Ranked as one of the world’s top 50 education companies at GFEL Dubai; Awarded India’s best math program by Ed Tech Review; Certified by Grant Thornton for Cuemath’s students outperforming their seniors- On average, Cuemath 8th graders outperform other 10th graders on standardizes tests like the SAT.
 
 

 

How did you come up with the idea for the company?

 
I fell in love with math as a young school kid, and I started teaching math when I was still a second-year student at college. Over the course of 15+ years, I’ve personally taught math and coding to over 10,000 students. What drives me to build Cuemath – where I still teach daily – is the fact that in tomorrow’s AI world, math and coding proficiency will no longer be optional for our children.
 

How has the company evolved during the pandemic?

 
I originally founded Cuemath as an offline company with tutors teaching in their homes but Covid-19 has seen Cuemath pivot to online.

We have since experienced rapid international growth. In 2021 alone, Cuemath launched in the US (in April) and the UK and UAE (in July).

Currently, with over 10,000 teachers and over 5,00,000 monthly classes, we teach math and coding at the K-12 levels. We are present in over 20 countries including the US, the UK, Singapore, Canada, Nigeria, Egypt, India, and Thailand, and expect to expand to more than 50 countries in the coming year.

We have new offices and teams in the US, the UAE, and Bangladesh. We have grown by a factor of three during FY 20-21 and plan to grow by another factor of three in FY 21-22.

Last week, we announced we are offering our Stem.org-certified curriculum free to all children globally for one year. Our premium curriculum normally costs $299 a year.

Cuemath’s aim is reach a billion children and help solve three of the world’s biggest challenges – which all have potential catastrophic knock-on effects:

First, inequality caused by a lack of education. The World Bank notes >50% of children in lower & middle-income countries do not have foundational math skills by 10 years old. This rises to 90% in low-income nations

Secondly, reducing huge costs of future unemployment / lost earnings – lessening the chance of societal breakdown. The World Bank projects a $10 trillion cost in lost future earnings for children due to the pandemic. 21st century jobs will have math at their core. The WEF’s ‘Future of Jobs’ Report notes the top 10 jobs all need a deep affinity with algorithms and math logic.

Thirdly, saving impoverished governments hundreds of billions of dollars. Governments, globally, are spending exorbitant amounts to catch up in education, when budgets are already stretched by the pandemic.
 

What can we hope to see from Cuemath in the future?

 
We are on our way to becoming a Unicorn, a $1B company by the end of 2022. Having said that, we are expecting to close the fourth funding round by the end of the year (2021) which will be over $100 million. The funds will be used for primarily two functions: for global expansion, and to continue to update and improve the product.

We anticipate continued growth of our global student-base and expect to be in 50 countries by the end of 2021.