Sortmyprep Founders Ananya Aryaman And Naman Raise $350,000 For AI Exam Prep

Sortmyprep, the BITS Pilani-backed AI education startup founded by Ananya, Aryaman and Naman under ZKAP Edtech Service Pvt Ltd, has raised about $350,000 in pre-seed funding. The round gives the young company fresh capital to build out its vertical AI platform for school exam preparation, expand curriculum coverage and push further into Indian and international markets. The round included Boman Irani, chairman of Rustomjee Group and Rustomjee International School, Sameer Mehta, co-founder of boAt, Subrat Pani, co-founder of OneAssist, Rohini Kasturi, CEO of HG Insights, and Ranjit Pawar, APAC head at London Stock Exchange Group.

The founder story matters because Indian edtech is no longer rewarded for growth slogans alone. After the correction in the sector, students, parents and investors are looking for products that solve a real learning problem without depending on heavy discounting or constant paid acquisition. Sortmyprep is trying to position itself inside that narrower and more demanding space. Its flagship product, Sorty, is described as a curriculum-aligned conversational AI tutor that offers personalised learning, adaptive study plans and round-the-clock doubt resolution.

The company says the fresh capital will go into AI infrastructure, curriculum expansion and growth across more education boards. In school exam preparation, a wrong answer or weak explanation is not a harmless product bug. It can affect a student's confidence and preparation schedule. The founders therefore need to show that Sortmyprep can combine generative AI with subject discipline, reliable pedagogy and clear guardrails around exam syllabuses.

The investor mix also gives the startup a useful signal. BITS Pilani's incubator PIEDS had already backed the company, while the new round brings in operators and business leaders from education, consumer technology, enterprise data and financial markets. That network can help with school access, institutional credibility, customer acquisition and future fundraising. But it also raises expectations. A school-focused AI tutor must win trust from parents and educators, not just early adopters comfortable experimenting with new tools.

Sortmyprep's next test will be whether it can grow without losing quality. The company has said it serves students in more than 15 countries, which suggests demand beyond a single board or geography. International curriculum coverage can be attractive, but it adds complexity across standards, assessment styles and local expectations. If the founders can turn the pre-seed round into stronger product reliability and measured growth, Sortmyprep could become a useful example of the new Indian edtech playbook: smaller, AI-native, founder-led and focused on specific learning outcomes.

The competitive context is unforgiving. Students already have access to free search, video lessons, group chats and general AI tools. Sortmyprep has to justify why a dedicated exam-prep tutor is better than stitching those options together. Its strongest answer will be structure: syllabus alignment, adaptive planning, reliable explanations and a product that remembers where a learner is weak.