MAU Reaches 13 Million... Over 85% from Overseas
Largest MAU in Vietnam at 4.7 Million, 2.3 Times Domestic
33 Billion Cumulative Searches Last Year, Up 154% Year-on-Year
[Asia Economy Reporter Junhyung Lee] The cumulative number of subscribers to the artificial intelligence (AI) education platform 'Qanda' has surpassed 50 million.
According to Masspresso, the operator of Qanda, the platform recently exceeded 50 million cumulative subscribers. The monthly active users (MAU) number around 13 million. More than 85% of both subscribers and MAU come from overseas. The surge in demand for non-face-to-face education worldwide due to COVID-19 is believed to have led to an increase in users of mobile education platforms like Qanda.
Last year, the country that used Qanda the most was Vietnam, followed by Indonesia and South Korea. Vietnam's MAU reached up to 4.7 million last year, which is 2.3 times the largest MAU in South Korea.
Masspresso began targeting the global market by entering Japan in November 2018. Since then, it has expanded to Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, and currently provides services in about 50 countries. In Vietnam and Indonesia, Qanda ranked third overall in app rankings, surpassing TikTok and Instagram.
Lee Youngwoong, head of the business team at Masspresso's Vietnam branch, explained, "Vietnam is a Confucian country like Korea, and in the 2012 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), it recorded higher math scores than advanced countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom, showing strong enthusiasm for education." He added, "(However) due to income inequality, actual access to education and quality content are concentrated in urban areas or among higher-income groups." Lee said, "Because of this, Qanda, which allows anyone to ask questions about problems without restrictions of time and space, seems to have gained great popularity."
Last year, the cumulative number of searches within Qanda was about 3.3 billion, a 154% increase compared to the previous year. The most searched problem types on Qanda last year were inequalities and inequality functions, systems of linear inequalities, and complex numbers. The grade that searched the most problems was the first year of high school. The company explained that from high school, the difficulty of subjects rises sharply, and with face-to-face classes limited due to non-face-to-face classes, Qanda’s search rate increased to support self-study.
The day with the most active searches last year was November 30. It was the period when students in Qanda’s major countries of entry, including South Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, were preparing for final exams. The most active day of the week and time for searches last year was Monday at 4 p.m. Korean time.
Masspresso, established in 2015, is an edutech startup that has received investments from Google, SoftBank Ventures, and others. The total accumulated investment amount is about 120 billion KRW.
Lee Yongjae, CEO of Masspresso, said, "Despite COVID-19 last year, it was a meaningful year in which 13 million students could continue studying through Qanda every month," adding, "We will continue to achieve educational innovation through various customized learning services such as Qanda tutoring and premium features."
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