Edtech startup Riiid joins Fast Company's list of most innovative firms

South Korea’s AI education startup Riiid has made it onto Fast Company's annual list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies.

Since 2008, the US business magazine has been announcing a list of companies it deems most innovative. Also on this year’s list are Microsoft Corp. and Space Exploration Technologies Corp., commonly called SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk.

In addition to the World's 50 Most Innovative Companies, 528 organizations are recognized across 52 categories.

“We are delighted to be recognized by Fast Company for our focus on innovation,” Riiid founder and CEO YJ Jang said in a press release. 

The startup’s first product is an AI-powered learning platform that prepares learners for an English proficiency test. The platform garnered more than 4 million users worldwide and reached No. 1 in sales in the education app ranking in South Korea and Japan.

Riiid Tutor, formerly known as Santa TOEIC, provides customized educational content based on evaluating individual users’ English proficiency based on 300 million existing behavioral studies data. 

The company claims its users increase their scores by 165 points on average. A TOEIC score of 900 or more is considered a high mark for most academic and job applications. 

The startup boasts some 200 patents worldwide and15 academic papers on its proprietary AI technology.

FUNDING & EXPANSION

Jang, a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, founded Riiid in 2014. Prior to the edtech startup, he co-founded webtoon startup Tapas with a South Korean business partner. 

A number of venture capital heavyweights have invested in the startup – Korea Development Bank, IMM Investment Corp. and DSC Investment to name a few.

In May 2021, the company raised $175 million in a Series D round from SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2. The accumulated investment amount stands at around 285 billion won.

The fundraising came a month after business analytics platform CB Insight named Riiid as one of the 100 most promising private artificial intelligence companies in the world.

Investors familiar with the startup say its corporate value is nearing 1 trillion won ($810 million.)

Last October, the startup acquired its Japanese distribution partner Langoo to expand its footprint in the archipelago. 

In line with the global expansion blueprint, Riiid is in the process of moving its headquarters to the United States and is seeking legal advice from South Korea’s largest law firm Kim & Chang. 

The company describes its AI adoption as shifting the paradigm in a mostly undisrupted education sector.

“My wish is to develop technology so innovative as to create a shocking disruption in the global education market,” said Jang. 

Write to See-eun Lee at see@hankyung.com
Jee Abbey Lee edited this article.