Doubt clearing app DoubtNut bags $3.3 Mn from Sequoia's Surge, Omidyar and Waterbridge

Multilingual instant doubt clearing app DoubtNut that recently selected by Sequoia Capital’s accelerator programme - Surge has raised $3.3 million from a clutch of investors including Sequoia, Waterbridge Ventures, Omidyar Network and Japanese mobile gaming company Akatsuki Inc.

Sequoia led the round with Rs 10.64 crore worth investment via Surge Ventures (the investment arm of the new incubation programme) by purchasing 2,524 Pre Series A CCPS worth Rs 2,137.55 each. The Sequoia Capital arm of the VC also invested Rs 7.58 lakhs via 17 CCPS and 1 equity share of the same price.

Water Bridge Ventures followed Sequoia with a Rs 6.79 crore ticket, Omidyar Network invested Rs 4.64 crore. Both the VCs in return got 1,611 and 1,102 CCPS respectively. Mobile gaming company Akatsuki Inc also purchased 338 CCPS and 1 equity share for Rs 1.43 crore.

DoubtNut helps students (classes 6-12, IIT JEE, Bitsat) get answers to math problems in an easy to use format. Student takes a picture of the problem and gets a video explaining the solution. It claims that 90 per cent of its usages driven by students in tier II and III cities.

It’s currently ranked among the top 10 free education apps on the Google Play store in India and claims to have 100,000 videos in its library. Since doubt clearance (especially in maths and science) is one of the teething problems of Indian students, the market for DoubtNut appears to be immense.

While there is no competitor for DubtNut at the moment in India, it looks like a video-centric Quora for maths related problems. The videos are prepared by experts from IIT and other institutions who act as an aid to teachers.

Indian companies selected under Surge programme are becoming a lucrative deal for several early-stage investors. In fact, there has been a talk in the ecosystem that Surge has the potential to disrupt early stage investments. The craze for Surge’s portfolio among others can be gauged from the participation of Omidyar Networks, Waterbridge in this round.

Sachin Bhatia-led Bulbul Shop (also a part of Surge’s first cohort) also raised capital from Leo Leo Capital and couple of angels - Rajul Garg, and Mohana Krishna Lakham Raju.