When SigIQ.ai AI tutor took India’s notoriously difficult UPSC civil service exam last June, it didn’t just pass – it achieved the highest score in the exam’s history, beating 1.3 million human candidates in under 7 minutes.
Today, the Berkeley-based startup emerges from 18 months of stealth with $9.5 million in funding to transform education through personalized AI tutoring that delivers elite-level instruction at the cost of computation, not hundreds of dollars per hour.
The seed round was co-led by House Fund and GSV Ventures, with participation from Duolingo, General Catalyst India (Venture Highway), Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia India), Calibrate Ventures and angel investors, such as Andy Konwinski (Co-founder, Perplexity), Christian Storm (Co-founder & CTO, Turnitin), Prof. Trevor Darrell (Berkeley AI Research, UC Berkeley), Prof. Jitendra Malik (Berkeley AI Research, UC Berkeley), Prof. Srini Devadas (MIT), Prof. Sharad Malik (Princeton) and others.
This investment will accelerate hiring top talent, enhancing AI models, and scaling platforms to educational systems worldwide.
SigIQ.ai’s technology directly addresses “Bloom’s Two-Sigma Problem” – the research finding that students receiving one-on-one tutoring perform two standard deviations better than those in traditional classrooms.
This educational disparity has persisted for decades, with personalized tutoring remaining a luxury reserved for the privileged few. The company’s revolutionary approach shifts the cost of personalization from human labour to AI computation, making world-class instruction accessible at unprecedented scale.
Dr. Karttikeya Mangalam, CEO and co-founder of SigIQ.ai, a UC Berkeley AI PhD mentored by computer vision pioneer Prof. Jitendra Malik, said:
“We’re at a pivotal moment in education where modern GenAI can provide a personal 1:1 tutor to every student and reduce the cost of one-on-one learning from hundreds of dollars an hour to the cost of computation.
“We’ve started by first creating a tutor that itself can ace the very exam students are preparing for. This is a necessary step to ensure accuracy and quality in teaching delivered. And will set a new benchmark in personalized education, making the highest-quality education accessible to everyone, regardless of geography or socioeconomic status, at a fraction of the traditional cost.”
The company was founded in July 2023 by Dr. Karttikeya Mangalam and Professor Kurt Keutzer, a distinguished Professor in the Berkeley AI Research (BAIR) Lab who has published six books, over 250 refereed papers, and helped launch twelve startups.
SigIQ.ai’s origin reflects its mission. Growing up in Muzaffarpur, Bihar – a region where educational opportunities are limited – Mangalam experienced firsthand the stark divide between small-town India and elite Western academic institutions. After completing his education at IIT Kanpur and then at UC Berkeley, he founded SigIQ.ai to democratize access to world-class education globally.
In just 18 months, SigIQ.ai has launched two products with remarkable traction. PadhAI, focused on UPSC exam preparation in India, has attracted over 200,000 learners in just six months.
On June 16, 2024, moments after the actual 2-hour UPSC Prelims exam had finished, PadhAI’s AI tutor solved the entire paper in a live demonstration in under 7 minutes at The Leela in Delhi.
It achieved a score of 175/200 – not just the highest score in 2024, but the highest score ever achieved in UPSC prelims history, far exceeding the typical qualifying score of 100/200. This historic achievement was covered by over 70 news outlets across India, including The Hindu and The Times of India.
The company’s newer offering, EverTutor.ai, designed for GRE preparation in the US market, has already gained more than 10,000 users since launching three months ago.
“SigIQ.ai isn’t just a regular EdTech startup — they’ve built an AI system that publicly demonstrated its ability to outperform both humans and leading commercial AI models on one of the world’s most challenging exams. This redefines what’s possible in personalized education,” said Jeremy Fiance, managing director of The House Fund.
What differentiates SigIQ.ai from other educational AI tools is its approach to personalization. Unlike basic conversational AI that offers scripted or limited interactivity, SigIQ’s systems are highly interactive, responsive to follow-up questions, and capable of personalized instruction and feedback – not just chat.
As a result, this technology replicates the behaviour of a real tutor. Students using the platform report a 30-40% increase in effective study hours while improving performance by 18% in the first month, with over 75% feeling more confident tackling difficult topics within just three weeks.
Looking ahead, SigIQ.ai plans to expand its reach with EverTutor, supporting more GRE takers in the upcoming spring and fall. The company will be present at ASU+GSV to demonstrate the newest developments in both platforms.
Beyond standardized tests, SigIQ.ai envisions a future where their technology transforms education broadly, creating a new era where high-quality learning isn’t limited by geography, language, or economic status.
Ultimately, the team is set on proving that elite education doesn’t have to be scarce – it can and must be universal.
