Founders: Deepak Joy Cheenath (left) and Ankit Gupta (right)
Venture Name: Quizizz
Product Description:
Quizizz is an online game-based learning platform that is similar to other game-based learning tools, like Kahoot, but offers some key features that stand out for both teachers and students. In the creation of quizzes, teachers can select from pre-made questions that other teachers have uploaded publicly on the Quizizz website. This feature is one step up from duplicating a pre-made quiz; it allows teachers to handpick question from multiple sources and shorten the time needed to create their desired product. As well, the competition model of Quizizz puts the focus on the students rather than the teacher. Students answer questions at their own pace on their own devices; instead of waiting for everyone in their class to answer the same question, which is what would happen if a PowerPoint or Kahoot were used, every student sees the questions on their own devices and sees everyone’s progress on the leaderboard projected at the front from the teacher’s dashboard. Other features include being able to assign quizzes for homework and providing practice quizzes for students to use as review. Teachers can also organize students into classes and track their students’ progress on their Quizizz teacher account. After raising over $3 million USD in their first round of funding in 2018, Quizizz now has over 20 million users worldwide and continues to see growth.
Founders’ Biographies:
Deepak Joy Cheenath and Ankit Gupta co-founded the game-based learning platform, Quizizz in 2015. Both Cheenath and Gupta were working in Information Technology sectors of the corporate world before quitting their jobs and focusing on becoming edtech creators. Their passion was in education and games, so they put these elements together and created Wizen World, an avatar-based math game, in 2013 as a two-man team. While this game picked up steam in the education sector, they could not keep up with the need for new content; instead of giving up, they innovated and created Quizizz in 2015 to provide teachers with the tools to create their own content. While their current staff is small, with less than 20 people (including software engineers, developers, and designers), they have plans to grow Quizizz further financially by developing their “free-for-all” model into a “freemium” model that would offer paid services (e.g., self-study features). Although this tool could be used for other ventures such as corporate training or marketing campaigns, Cheenath and Gupta are adamant that the main focus of their work is in education and making their platform as accessible as possible.
Personal Reflections:
The drastic shift from working in the corporate world to the world of indie development is a tumultuous one. While it is inspiring to see two people, who have ideas and skills to make a positive impact in education, see their work come to life, it is also important to factor in the lucrative nature of any venture. While the initial stage of their product and services are based on a not-for-profit model, they will need to incorporate for-profit features to ensure returns to their investors. Although I am still hesitant in starting my own ventures, I am now more aware of the value and potential of edtech start-ups and will consider more rationally and seriously their needs for investment.
References:
Livemint Article: https://www.livemint.com/companies/start-ups/why-us-kids-are-raving-about-an-indian-quiz-app-11577627216897.html
Quizizz Angel List: https://angel.co/company/quizizz
