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Medly has raised USD $8 million in seed funding, led by Felix Capital.
Existing investors Eka Ventures and Ada Ventures also participated, alongside several angel investors and a grant from the Department for Education's AI Tutoring Tools Pioneers Programme.
The London education technology company was founded by Dr Paul Jung and Dr Kavi Samra, two UCL medicine graduates who met at secondary school at age 11. Both grew up in low-income households and have said they could not afford private tutoring during school or university, an experience that helped shape the business.
Medly offers an AI tutor focused on exam preparation for students studying for GCSE, IGCSE, A-Level and International Baccalaureate exams. It also runs a separate product for university students.
Since launch, the platform has attracted more than 400,000 users in the UK and grown its user base by almost 600%, according to Medly. Students preparing for exams use the service for about an hour a day on average, with nearly one million messages exchanged daily with its AI tutors.
The product uses a conversational interface to give feedback on answers to practice questions and suggest where students could gain more marks. Medly says the system is based on neuroscience and teaching theory, and includes handwriting recognition for subjects such as maths and chemistry.
Grade claims
Medly says 74% of students who used the platform for GCSE revision improved by at least one grade, while 41% improved by two grades or more. It added that the biggest gains were in Physics and English Literature GCSE, where grades rose by 46% and 43% respectively.
The company is also seeking to build evidence for its academic claims. It has published research comparing its marking performance with human examiners and has completed a randomised controlled trial involving more than 1,000 UK students to test whether the service can raise attainment in lower-performing schools.
This comes as education technology groups face growing scrutiny over the reliability of generative AI in schools. Medly is pitching its product as a tutoring tool built for formal study, at a time when many students already use general-purpose AI assistants for coursework and revision.
The fresh capital will be used to broaden its student base in the UK, expand overseas and deepen its research base. In the US, Medly has launched support for SAT preparation and is developing further exam categories.
Medly was also selected for the Department for Education's competitive AI Tutoring Tools Pioneers Programme, joining a small group of companies developing tools intended to support disadvantaged pupils in England.
Private tutoring remains a large but unevenly distributed part of the education market, with families that can afford it often securing extra teaching outside school. Medly's founders have positioned the business as a lower-cost alternative designed to widen access to one-to-one support.
Dr Paul Jung set out that case as the company announced the round.
"Almost a third of 11-16-year-olds receive some form of private tutoring. For those who can afford it, it's a powerful advantage. For those who can't, it's an equally powerful reinforcer of the status quo.
We've built something to disrupt that. Our custom AI gives every child access to a 24/7 personal tutor that adapts to how they learn and responds to their unique needs. In just one exam season, the majority of students using Medly were able to improve by at least an entire grade - that's a game-changer for young people.
This capital will enable us to support even more students and prove that tailored academic help can come without a premium price tag," said Dr Paul Jung, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Medly.
Felix Capital said the investment reflects its view that education is a significant opportunity for AI-based products, particularly where software can personalise learning at scale.
"Over recent years, we've seen technology create positive changes in people's lives in many ways. Education, in particular, has the potential to fundamentally shape a person's life trajectory for the better, especially with the marginal cost of content creation. We are particularly excited by Medly's mission and track record in providing effective AI-powered exam preparation to hundreds of thousands of young people. We are also deeply touched by Paul and Kavi's personal stories, and impressed by their ability to build and scale Medly into a meaningful platform in such a short period of time," said Angela Chou, Investor, Felix Capital.