Edtech startup Mindmax raises £3m led by Concept Ventures with Redrice Ventures
This article covers Mindmax, an edtech startup, which has raised £3m in a pre-seed funding round to build an AI-powered tutor aimed at helping professionals pass exams and reskill. The initiative is intended to support professionals pursuing workplace upskilling and reskilling by providing personalised, conversational learning for professional exams.
Mindmax, an edtech startup, has raised £3 million in a pre-seed funding round to build an AI-powered tutor aimed at helping professionals pass exams and reskill. The funding, led by Concept Ventures, will support a conversational platform that personalises lessons, provides real-time visual explanations and aims to reduce what the company calls "cognitive surrender" as AI becomes a more dominant learning tool.
Why it matters
As AI tools become ubiquitous, educators and researchers are warning that easy access can create an illusion of learning and encourage cognitive offloading. That risk matters for the workforce: analysts estimate large numbers of people will need to retrain or upskill over the next decade. Mindmax positions itself as an answer to that problem, seeking to use AI to strengthen human learning rather than replace it.
The announcement is notable because the founding team includes people behind Memrise, a widely used language-learning app, signalling investor appetite for teams with prior product and growth experience in edtech.
Inside the product
Mindmax is built around a conversational AI tutor that lets users interact in real time, interrupt to ask questions, and steer lessons to areas where they’re stuck. Sessions include live visual explanations and illustrations and adapt to a learner’s existing knowledge, goals and preferred learning style. The company frames this approach as designed to mimic a one-to-one tutoring rhythm rather than a passive, search-driven interaction with generative AI.
The product is explicitly targeted at professional exams and workplace upskilling — a market where measurable outcomes and retention matter more than casual engagement. Mindmax argues that making learning interactive and tailored will improve retention and help users translate knowledge into practical skills.
Who are the investors?
The round was led by Concept Ventures, with participation from Redrice Ventures, Daybreak Ventures and Lerer Hippeau. Angel backers include Maria Raga, former chief executive of Depop, and Torsten Reil, co-founder of Helsing. The financing totals £3 million.
Concept Ventures’ lead role brings a track record of backing consumer and product-led businesses; the firm’s partner highlighted the founding team’s prior success with Memrise as a key reason for investment.
In the announcement, Oliver Kicks, Partner at Concept Ventures, said:
Ed and Daniel built something remarkable with Memrise, helping tens of millions of people learn languages. At Mindmax, we're seeing these immense talents unleashed in the agentic AI age. The potential of what they can build is now far greater. The early traction they've seen is testament to this - they have an ability to design and deploy products that deliver learning experiences far superior to anything else on the market. We are very excited to be on this startup journey with them.
The investor group combines early-stage venture firms and experienced operators as angels, reflecting continued interest from edtech investors in personalised, outcomes-focused learning tools.
If you're researching potential backers in this space:
- Explore our list of edtech venture capital firms in the UK
- Browse our directory of edtech angel investors in the UK
Founder perspective
Mindmax was founded by Ed Cooke and Daniel Zohar, who previously worked together at Memrise. Cooke is known for memory techniques — he became a Grandmaster of Memory at 23 and taught methods that featured in Moonwalking with Einstein — and was a co-founder of Memrise, which reached more than 80 million users. Zohar began coding young, founded PicBadges (which reached over 15 million users) and served as Memrise’s chief technology officer.
In the announcement, Ed Cooke, Co-founder at Mindmax, said:
More than a billion people are going to need to change careers or upskill in the next decade. We created Mindmax to help people boost their brains rather than be replaced - and to make that process a pleasure, not a drama. Building an AI platform to counteract the cognitive malaise being induced by AI might sound like an oxymoron, but we’re fighting fire with fire. The AI-induced slide into cognitive offloading couldn’t be worse-timed - it threatens to put us in a risky professional and intellectual position. We want to re-instill confidence in the human mind and make learning fun, effective and tailored to every beautifully unique person out there.
In the announcement, Daniel Zohar, Co-founder at Mindmax, said:
Curiosity has always been the greatest fuel for learning. Which means you need to be able to ask questions. When you’re in a one-to-one conversation with an expert, you’ll ask 20-30 questions per hour. You can’t do that in a classroom. It’s why our approach is so powerful. Ed and I are prime examples of how every brain learns differently. At school, I was a round peg trying to fit into a square shaped system. It was a disaster and I left without qualifications. Too many people think they aren’t smart, when actually they don't have access to the right style of learning for them. In the AI era, that’s a super vulnerable place for people to be. That’s what Mindmax is going to change. It will completely transform how people retain information, build skills, and future proof their livelihoods.
The bigger picture
Mindmax joins a wave of companies attempting to harness generative AI for education rather than cede learning to passive tools. Its focus on conversational tutors and personalised retention maps onto a broader trend toward measurable learning outcomes and workplace reskilling.
For the UK and Europe, the deal is another sign that investors continue to back edtech teams with demonstrable product and user-growth experience. With regulators, universities and institutions scrutinising AI’s effect on learning, startups that can show evidence-backed improvements in retention and skill transfer may find clearer routes to adoption in professional and academic settings.
They've invested in Mindmax
Get to know these edtech investors
| Investors | Investment Focus | Startup Investments | Round Size | Connect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Concept Ventures( ) Concept Ventures is the largest dedicated UK pre-seed fund, focusing on reshapin... London  | ||||
 Redrice Ventures( ) Redrice Ventures is a UK-based venture capital firm specialising in premium cons... London | ||||
 Daybreak Ventures( ) | ||||
 Lerer Hippeau( ) NYC, US  | ||||
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| Angel Investors | Location | Connect | Investment Focus | Startup Investments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Maria Raga | ||||
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*These angel investors have publicly mentioned their interest in angel investing or are members of angel networks. (Last updated: November 2026)
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