xQ, an edtech startup has raised $1.4 million (Rs 11.18 crore) in funding from angel syndicate along with a select group of HNI investors which includes senior leadership personnel from Google, Deloitte, Tata 1mg, Axis Capital and photographer Joseph Radhik.
The startup plans to use the funds to expand its reach in schools through its flagship offering – xQ Video Lab.
The Mumbai-based xQ was founded in 2021 by IIM alums Simon Jacob and Kartik Talwar, It teaches children the art and science of video production in collaboration with professional filmmakers, educators and advertising professionals.
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It provides students with access to a well-crafted video-making curriculum, high-end shooting equipment and an e-learning platform that enables them to study and honing their video-making talents at home.
“A first-of-its-kind Video Creators Academy for children, xQ believes that video is the most effective & powerful medium of communication today and it is therefore an essential 21st century skill for kids. “Video is the language of the future”, said, Simon Jacob, Co-Founder & CEO at xQ.
“It is no longer a good-to-have extracurricular activity and if we want to introduce video-creation as a core skill to children at scale, it needs to be a part of the school curriculum”, he added.
The edtech startup has so far educated 6,000 students from eight countries in video making and now aims to train at least one million children by 2025.
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“My favourite part of xQ is the Video Lab. I learned photography and filmmaking entirely by myself on the internet, and I can tell you it wasn’t easy. I’d have loved to know that this is a viable career choice as a kid, and more importantly not have to navigate countless resources on the internet to figure it out on my own. The Video lab is a great way for kids to learn creativity in a structured manner – just like school. Basic skills like problem solving, collaboration, and camera confidence are essential to creating videos, but these skills are often overlooked in our traditional schooling systems and they go way beyond helping creators to contribute to any workplace.” Says photographer Joseph Radhik.
“I am excited about the differentiated approach that xQ has taken in a crowded sector like edtech. Their vision of creating a community where kids learn from each other through video-creation is refreshing and I believe that the e-learning platform they are developing to help students learn video-creation has tremendous potential given the explosive growth of video content in recent years,” said, Tanmay Saksena, Chief Operating Officer at Tata 1mg.
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“4 out of the 5 co-founders’ at xQ have teachers as parents and I believe this drives the team to create products & solutions which have been thoughtfully created for the schooling ecosystem. The fact that they have built an entire team dedicated to developing curriculum projects and to working on teacher training shows that they are genuinely invested in making video-creation accessible to students across different categories of schools,” said, Anand Taparia, Director- Innovation at Colgate Palmolive India Ltd, who has invested in xQ in his personal capacity.
About xQ
In the 21st century, videos have become the most effective means of communication. So it only makes sense to enable our kids to become proficient in the language of videos from an early age. xQ is a young startup with a bold dream of touching at least a million children by 2025 and transform education by teaching video-creation in schools.
xQ video lab is a unique learning space in schools, designed to help kids pick up video-creation skills in a fun, hands-on manner. xQ helps teachers integrate video-making with the school curriculum by making it relevant for every subject. Equipped with state-of-the-art video-making tools, gears and accessories, this is where students collaborate on academic and passion projects, explore new technology, learn to express their ideas in creative ways and eventually become confident communicators for life!
