xQ, an EdTech platform which teaches kids the art & science of video creation has raised $1.4 million ( INR 11.18 Crore) through a Gujarat-based angel syndicate along with a select group of HNI investors which includes senior leadership personnel from Google, Deloitte, Tata 1mg, Axis Capital, and award-winning international photographer Joseph Radhik.
The startup will utilize the funds to expand their reach in schools through their flagship offering – the xQ Video Lab. The xQ Video Lab is a space within schools, just like a computer lab or a physics lab, which is dedicated to teaching kids video-creation skills. At an economical cost, xQ offers access to a thoughtfully designed video-creation curriculum, state-of-the-art shooting gear and access to an e-learning platform which allows students to continue learning & practicing their video-making skills at home.
Co-founded by IIM alumni Simon Jacob and Kartik Talwar in 2021 in collaboration with professional filmmakers, educators and advertising professionals, xQ is a first-of-its-kind Video Creators Academy for children. The company believes that video is the most effective & powerful medium of communication today and it is therefore an essential 21st century skill for kids.
Talking about the platform, Co-founder & CEO of xQ, Simon Jacob, said in a press statement:
“Video is the language of the future. 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.”
xQ has built a strong academic team led by an ex-headmistress along with award-winning filmmakers to fine-tune their video-creation curriculum. The team is building a library of over a 1000 video-based curriculum projects where children can integrate video-making techniques like transitions, green screen shooting and stop motion animation into curricular projects for subjects like maths, science, social sciences and English.
Anand Taparia, Director- Innovation, Colgate Palmolive India Ltd, who has invested in xQ in his personal capacity, added:
“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.”
The company claims to have educated over 6,000 students across eight countries in video-making and is now aiming to train at least 10 lakh kids by 2025.
Commenting on the funding, Chief Operating Officer of Tata 1mg, Tanmay Saksena, said:
“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.”
To make learning immersive and personalised through video-creation, xQ is also building a digital learning platform which is designed to be a safe space for children to learn video creation techniques, showcase their videos to students across the globe and learn new skills from each other in the process.
