StayQrious, an edtech startup that focuses on developing STEM and coding fundamentals in young students announced on Tuesday that it has raised $2 Million in seed funding. With this round the company added early stage investors Learn Capital’s dedicated seed fund Learnstart, Draper Associates, Y Combinator, First Principles VC Nitin Sharma, Lavni Ventures and Japan-based Dream Incubator as its backers.

The Bangalore headquartered company plans to utilize the fresh capital to build its product, coach tools and instructional content that will enable its ‘classroom of the future’.

Founded by Anand Srinivas, who has held content head positions at Byju’s and Khan Academy, StayQrious uses social learning as a tool to motivate students to delve deeper into STEM and coding. Speaking about the underlying motivation to establish StayQrious Anand said, “When I went to work in the US, I saw that I could solve a complex physics problem faster than anyone else there but no one had ever asked me in my life "If you had $15M and two years, what ambitious problem will you work on?”.

I realised I had never been trained for such questions. We are spoon-fed and taught to be obedient executors all our life by our education system. …With our own original ideas. I want every child born in India to know that the world is theirs too. And that they have as much right to change it by asking original questions as anybody else out there. I want every child born here to have intellectual bravery more than just exam skills. To confidently take up their role in the world, of changing it. That's the dream".

Founded in 2020, the company had earlier graduated from Y Combinator’s winter batch. StayQrious leverages content from India’s most loved teachers, training and utilizing “learning coaches” for live class moderation, and is building an immersive digital classroom experience. “I believe StayQrious's unique approach to social learning will provide students (and parents) the best experience in strengthening STEM foundations,” said Nitin Sharma, angel investor, First Principles VC in a statement.