Astral, an AI-powered tutoring startup, announced that it has raised $5.5 million in total funding to expand its AI tutor nationwide, according to Refresh Miami.
The latest round was led by Andre Charoo, general partner at MapleVC. Stand Together Ventures Lab, Conversion Capital and Original Capital continued their participation. Shivam Sharma is the company's CEO, and he founded Astral with Chief Product Officer Fhad Sheikh.
Astral's first product is an AI math tutor for kindergarten through eighth grade. Rather than following a fixed textbook, the platform identifies each student's knowledge gaps, learning speed and reasoning patterns, then builds lessons around those needs. The company says thousands of families across more than 33 states use it. The service costs $100 per month, and Astral is approved for Education Savings Account funding in nine states.
Astral also claims students can master grade-level material five times faster per hour of learning than their public school peers. The company did not provide independent research to support that comparison.
The Florida Angle
Astral is headquartered in Miami. Sharma told Refresh Miami that the company has a team of eight, four of whom are based in Miami.
Before Astral, Sharma was the CTO and CRO of product engineering and design agency Lazer. He also has one previous startup exit.