FoondaMate — Reflecting on 2022

We started FoondaMate with the mission to truly democratise access to knowledge and be a gateway to better lives for highly talented individuals who are held back by a lack of access to relevant information.

Having grown up in a rural township in South Africa, and being the only student in my senior year of high-school who had access to a computer, I experienced first hand how transformative access to the right information at the right time can be. In my case this was access to study material and information on how to study further.

When I was in Grade 9, by brother and I decided we didn’t want any clothes for the year, instead we would save up and buy a second hand computer so we could play video games. Little did I know how helpful the computer would be in my high school senior year when I didn’t have textbooks and teachers for maths and physics for half the year. Through the study material I managed to download using the computer, I graduated top of my class, got the best marks in the history of the school, and was the first ever in the history of the school to get accepted into the University Of Cape Town where I studied computer science.

After the University Of Cape Town I was always on the lookout for opportunities to share the information I had on how to go from a class of 70+ students with limited to no textbooks and no teachers for multiple subjects, to the best university on the continent, and ultimately to a life-changing, well-paying first job as a software engineer.

When the WhatsApp API came along in 2020, it provided a unique opportunity to use AI to bring this knowledge and learning to a wider audience on a large scale. With WhatsApp being the most used internet product in Africa and the advancements in AI, this was a no brainer.

By utilising advances in Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing, we were able to automate the categorisation of text data to identify user goals, create custom models to deliver educational materials, simplify the language of these materials, and utilise reinforcement learning to continuously improve the user experience. Additionally, we were able to leverage and refine Large Language Models to deliver relevant search results that stayed within context.

Overall, this technology allowed us to democratise access to knowledge and learning, making it more accessible and personalised for a wide range of users. Tao and myself built the first version of FoondaMate, and within a month of launch had tens of thousands of users.

Upon this initial sign of success, Tao and I set out on a mission to help highly talented individuals access quality study material and knowledge quickly and affordably using AI. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to achieve their full potential, and we are dedicated to being a catalyst for positive change in this regard.

In 2022, we made a giant leap towards our goals, and are very proud of the progress we’ve made — not because we’ve achieved our mission, far from it, but because we’ve now built a solid foundation upon which we can build further.

Stats

• In 2022, users searched for information 19M+ times using FoondaMate,
• and downloaded 7M+ practise question papers, and over 950K study guides.
• We helped students advance their English proficiency 5.5M+ times through machine translation and providing definitions.
• We helped students solve 250k+ maths equations step by step.
• We 4.5x’d our userbase to 1M+ users over the last 12 months.
• We reached 47% penetration for our core userbase in South Africa.
• FoondaMate was used in 150+ countries with South Africa, Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Indonesia being the top markets.
• We did this while spending $0 on marketing.

Beyond homework help and preparing for exams

In 2022, we’ve seen users use FoondaMate to solve other problems in their lives in addition to doing homework and preparing for exams. Initially intended as an exam preparation tool, FoondaMate has evolved into a go-to search engine and reliable companion for various aspects of users’ lives. From writing essays and creating CVs, to navigating the job market, cooking, and staying informed about their favourite sports, FoondaMate has proven to be a valuable resource for our users. In fact, many of those who initially joined FoondaMate for exam prep quickly expanded their use of the platform as a general search engine and life assistant.

To better serve our users, we’ve made a concerted effort to continue improving the quality, lexical simplicity and contextual relevance of our search results and conversations using advances in Natural Language Processing, Machine Learning and generative AI. Our ultimate goal is to be the best “co-pilot” for our users, offering support and guidance for all of their needs, starting with their education. We are committed to continuing to evolve and grow with our users, always striving to be the best resource and companion we can be.

Team

At FoondaMate, we are committed to staying adaptable and resilient. From the beginning, we’ve intentionally kept our team small and agile. Despite our small size, we’ve been fortunate to attract highly skilled and committed team members who have enabled us to achieve a great deal — we’re a team of 10 including founders.

As we move into the next phase of our journey, we are excited to expand our team in order to increase our capacity to build the best “co-pilot” for our users at every stage of their lives. If you know someone who is passionate about education and using innovative technology to make a positive impact and help people succeed, we would love to hear from them!

For more information on the roles we are currently hiring for, please visit our careers page: https://careers.foondamate.com/. All our roles are remote.

What’s next?

As we move into 2023, we are excited to embark on a journey of expansion and growth for FoondaMate. Our goal for 2023 is to become the ultimate “co-pilot” for students in the final stages of primary and secondary school, as well as university students and young professionals. Whether our users are doing homework, preparing for exams, preparing to enter the workforce, applying for college/university, or preparing to succeed in their first job, we are committed to supporting them every step of the way.

In addition to expanding our reach geographically and across user segments, we also plan to increase the number of frontends users can use to interact with Foondamate to provide the best possible experience for our users across multiple segments.

We are excited to be the go to “co-pilot” for users across Africa, South East Asia, and beyond!