London-based 5Mins AI has raised $5.7 million (£5 million) in a seed funding round for its AI-powered microlearning platform.
The round was led by AlbionVC with participation from Chalfen Ventures, Portfolio Ventures, Blue Lion Global, Edenred Capital Partners, and several notable angel investors.
Founded by Saurav Chopra in 2021, 5Mins hosts employee training content that staff can engage with in a similar way to how users engage with social media content. It is presented in a similar way to TikTok, with scrolling videos shown with a personalised algorithm.
5Mins’ platform features 15,000+ bite-sized lessons from 150+ educators and coaches worldwide covering 100+ essential technical skills and power skills for the workplace. All lessons are personalised to an individual’s role and needs. Based on a user’s learning interests, the platform then recommends deeper learning options such as courses, books, and coaching through its marketplace.
Saurav Chopra, Founder & CEO of 5Mins, said,
Our mission is to help companies build a learning culture so their people can unlock their true potential and we have come a long way in a short period of time. We are building the first global learning super app that companies of all sizes can use to upskill everyone, improve employee retention and drive innovation.
The company plans to use the funding to enhance its platform capabilities such as skill analytics, API integrations, and the learning marketplace, as well as to increase its global customer base and impact.
Nadine Torbey, Investment Director at AlbionVC, said,
5Mins sits at the crossroads of two massive shifts: employee engagement on one side and ‘TikTokisation’ of everything on the other. The impressive commercial momentum and next-level user engagement the company has been experiencing in a short amount of time is a testament that the market is craving for more personalised, engaging learning tools. Saurav has a lot of experience in the space which makes him uniquely well-placed to disrupt this large broken market. We are so thrilled to be partnering with him and the whole team to achieve this ambitious vision.
5Mins is used by employees in 80+ countries. Since going to market in March 2022, the company claims, more than 100,000 lessons have been watched on the platform and its annual recurring revenue has grown 20x.
