Moovit Founders Launch AI-Powered Math Tutoring App Targeting Global Education Market
Roy Bik, co-founder of the successful transportation app Moovit, which was sold to Intel's Mobileye for about $1 billion in 2020, has launched a new startup called Vimi focused on personalized math education for children. Inspired by his daughter's struggles with math tutoring, Bik and co-founder Nir Erez developed an AI-driven app that adapts to each child's curriculum, learning pace, and motivation through gamified challenges presented by a friendly octopus character.
Vimi uses advanced AI to provide tailored lessons aligned with school syllabi, aiming to replicate the benefits of private tutoring at a fraction of the cost, $20 per month compared to hundreds of shekels per hour for human tutors. The app has already been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times, generating annual recurring revenue in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, with a recent launch in the US and Australia offering both free and paid plans.
The founders emphasize that unlike general AI tools like ChatGPT, Vimi’s pedagogical AI model is designed to engage children in short, focused sessions that maintain attention and foster positive learning experiences. They collaborate with educational experts, including Harvard lecturer Professor Homan Harouni, to ensure the app promotes deep mathematical thinking and social empowerment rather than rote memorization.
Vimi was founded in 2024 and raised $12 million in its first funding round led by Viola Ventures and BRM Capital, notable for investing outside their usual sectors due to confidence in the founders’ track record. The startup targets parents directly rather than schools or governments, aiming to tap into the $150 billion global private tutoring market. Bik acknowledges the challenge of competing with large language models but believes Vimi’s data-driven, curriculum-specific approach will differentiate it.
The company’s goal is to make personalized, effective math tutoring accessible worldwide, leveraging AI to overcome the shortage and high cost of human tutors, while continuously improving through data feedback loops. Bik expresses enthusiasm for this new venture, comparing it to their earlier success with Moovit and aiming to create significant social impact through education technology.
