BeConfident, a Brazilian AI tutoring platform that serves more than 3 million students across Latin America, raised $16 million to expand operations into Asia and the United States.
BeConfident’s platform connects students with AI tutors through WhatsApp, where they can practice languages and other subjects through conversation.
Amsterdam-based Prosus Ventures led the round. The firm is the venture sleeve of Prosus, a publicly traded Dutch holding company. It holds stakes in several major food delivery and digital payments companies globally, with it’s largest being in Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings, which owns messaging platform WeChat. The venture arm backs earlier stage tech companies in developed and emerging markets.
“As a global investor, we see strong demand for scalable learning solutions worldwide, and our goal is to support BeConfident’s international expansion while consolidating Latin America as a hub for educational innovation with global reach,” said Prosus’s Rafael Barbalat.
AI for education
The World Bank estimates that 79% of students in Latin American countries suffer from learning poverty, defined as children who fall below minimum reading levels or are out of school entirely. That rate jumped from 52% before the pandemic, largely due to the lack of in-person instruction during COVID-19.
AI is now playing a role in closing that gap. BeConfident has reached more than 3 million users and nearly 200,000 paying customers after less than three years since it’s launch. The company generated more than $10 million in annual revenue before raising venture capital.
The company partnered with Stanford University to launch BeConfident Labs, a research unit developing AI models for education.
