Riiid is a South Korean Edtech firm that was founded in 2014 and is well recognized for its custom AI Tutor solutions.[1] The company is currently led by CEO Young-Jun Jang and has amassed over 2.5 million users across Japan and Korea.[2][3]
Riiid is headquartered in Seoul and has a subsidiary in the United States. The company rose to prominence in 2016 when it released its Santa for TOEIC app and later with Ednet, a dataset of over 131 million student interactions with 784,309 unique students.[4][5]
Riiid's patented AI accelerates commercialization by maximizing learning and delivering validated results.[6] It proposes a personalized learning path to attain a goal based on massive probability computations at a fraction of the expense of traditional learning.[7]
Riiid was founded in 2014 with the goal of disrupting the education sector by utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) to make learning more convenient by introducing personalized tutors.[8] A year later, Riiid launched the 'Renote!' beta version that was chosen for TIPS Accelerator Investment-Driven Tech Incubator Program for Startup.[9][10]
In 2016, the beta version of 'Santa for TOEIC!' was released, and it received first place in Chosun's 'Mobile Award Korea 2016'. The company also filed a patent for this bespoke user-customized problem-solving algorithm based on machine learning.[11] In the same year, a research paper on machine-learning algorithms by Riiid was accepted to 'NIPS' (top AI conference on a global level.) The company also won first prize in '2016 K-Global@Beijing' held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and KIC China.[12][13][14]
In 2017, Riiid launched 'Santa TOEIC' that soon gained market recognition and won first place in 2017 KQSI (Korea Quality Satisfaction Index), Smart App Awards Korea' and in 4th Industrial Revolution Business Competition held by the Ministry of Science and ICT.[15][16][17]
In 2018, Riiid was listed as one of the 25 Hottest APAC Artificial Intelligence Companies by CIOAdvisor.[18] It also won first prize in the 2018 Korea Innovation Frontier Award' held by Korean Standards Association and in Korea Brand Preference Award' held by Hankyung Magazine. The company also became a Top Paid App In Education on the App Store.[19][20][21]
In 2019, Riiid participated in the AI Summit New York and got featured as a Top 10 Edtech Startup in APAC / Education Technology Insights.[22][23] The company also won first place '2019 MAX Summit Award in Education. In the same year, Riiid launched Santa SAT and Santa TOEIC Japan along with starting a new venture in Singapore.[24][25][26]
In 2020, Riiid received The Minister of Science and ICT Award for excellence in global expansion and an Award for Data Innovation at the 2020 Data Award by Korea Data Agency.[27] The company also received a commendation from the Minister of Science and ICT for its contribution to the development of the ICT venture industry and the 2020 Brilliant People & Brand Awards - Education app was recognized in AI Korea Awards 2020 and. In the same year, Riiid launched Santa Realtor and Ednet, the largest open database for AI Education. It also established a subsidiary - Riiid Labs in the U.S. In 2020, Riiid also started a competition on Google's Kaggle platform with a massive $100,000 prize pool led by Paul Kim.[28][29]
In 2021, Riiid was recognized by CB Insights as a top AI in the Education sector and for being a game-changer when it comes to Intelligent Tutoring.[30][31]
Riiid created a collection of artificial intelligence algorithms that could track student performance, predict student scores, and predict when students were losing interest and on the verge of dropping out. The best selling products by Riiid include:
Riiid TOEIC®, which debuted in Japan in April 2019 and is now available globally, is an excellent learning tool. It uses artificial intelligence to stimulate learning by providing appropriate complexity and quick and accurate score prediction.[32]
Realtor PREP is a mobile learning tool powered by artificial intelligence for the Licensed Real Estate Agent Examination.[35][36] With accurate assessment of the user's level and selected repeat learning, the solution gives the best curriculum to the users.[37][38]
Since its inception, Riiid has raised over $248 million from various investors including SoftBank Vision Fund,[39] Korea Development Bank, NVESTOR, Intervest, and IMM Investment.[40][41]