Oboe, a learning startup from Anchor co-founders and former Spotify executives Nir Zicherman and Michael Mignano, said today it has raised 16 million dollars in Series A funding. The round was led by a16z, with participation from existing investors Eniac, Haystack, Offline, and Factorial. Several individuals also invested, including Adam D’Angelo, Garry Tan, Lenny Rachitsky, Mati Staniszewski, Mikey Shulman, Jared Hecht, and M.G. Siegler.
The platform officially launched in September. It allows users to define a learning goal and then uses AI to create a personalized course for them. This fundraise comes three months after the app’s launch and a year after the company raised a 4 million dollar seed round.
Zicherman explained that the reason behind the fresh round is to fuel growth at scale. He stated that the company wants to reach billions of people who want to learn about new topics, calling it a very big opportunity. He said they need to execute faster and reach a larger audience to achieve this vision. He added that the team of successful consumer product builders gives Oboe an edge over other startups in the market.
Bryan Kim, a partner at a16z, said he was impressed by how quickly Oboe generates content on a topic without making users wait behind a loading indicator. He explained that the firm has had a thesis around how AI-aided learning can help people explore new topics and had been looking for the right company. After trying Oboe at launch, they loved the product and wanted to back ambitious founders who understood AI and were flexible in adopting different form factors.
The company is making changes to its core course generation experience. Previously, Oboe generated different text and audio formats in various styles and capped course generation based on the user’s payment plan. With the new version, the app first understands a user’s goal and then generates chapters to structure the learning. Other modalities like quizzes now appear seamlessly within the course material. For some courses, Oboe will also generate flashcards.
In terms of audio, the company now generates a podcast for the user and dynamically changes its tone based on the learning material and other signals, instead of forcing a choice between a podcast or lecture format.
Zicherman noted there is high user demand for learning STEM topics, including programming. The startup has worked on sourcing the best material for these subjects. He said the company is taking the approach of a good teacher, deciding the best way for students to learn and designing courses accordingly.
Oboe is revamping its pricing model to give all users unlimited course generation. To dive deeper into a topic, users can pay 15 dollars a month for access to more course chapters. There is also a 40 dollar per month Pro plan, which provides unlimited chapter access and allows users to export or download courses for offline consumption, which is suitable for students who want printouts.
Currently, Oboe offers courses in English, but it aims to reach different parts of the world with localized courses and language support. The platform is available on the web, with mobile support planned for the future.
In recent years, multiple tools have emerged that allow users to enter a prompt to get a podcast episode on a topic. While these are typically one-off generations, Oboe’s approach is to let users dive deeper with structured, chapter-based learning.