← Blog8 March 2019

Strive Math Joins Y Combinator's S21 Batch

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Strive teaches K-12 maths through code via live 1-on-1 online classes. In Strive classes, students code games and visualisations aligned to their school maths syllabus — in the process, kids learn the most valuable skill in the 21st century: coding.

Here are some beautiful projects coded by our very own Strive students.

Spirals animation coded by a Grade 8 student — Spirals — coded by a Grade 8 student. Teaches trigonometry and polar coordinates.

Multiplication Circles animation coded by a Grade 9 student — Multiplication Circles — coded by a Grade 9 student. Teaches modular arithmetic.

Pythagorean Theorem visualisation coded by a Grade 8 student — Pythagorean Theorem — coded by a Grade 8 student.

These beautiful projects illustrate the innate beauty of mathematics and its power to create. However, the picture in schools is starkly different. Students are taught an outdated syllabus that has them doing millions of monotonous practice problems with no connection to the real world. When data scientists, engineers or financial analysts do maths, they use computers — yet in school, students are still calculating by hand. This makes no sense.

Strive's vision is to replace maths education globally. We are creating the content and platform to make students fall in love with maths and actually equip them with the skills needed to thrive in the 21st century.

In line with this vision, we joined the world's most prolific startup accelerator Y Combinator, in their S21 batch.

Y Combinator has invested in startups like Airbnb, Stripe, Twitch and Dropbox, to name a few, with a combined portfolio value of over $300 billion.

YC portfolio companies including Airbnb, Stripe, Twitch and Dropbox — A few of YC's portfolio companies.

The programme was entirely remote, meaning we could attend while staying close to our customers in Singapore. However, the 16-hour time difference had us pulling many an all-nighter to attend the various YC talks and events.

The Strive team watching Paul Graham and Jessica Livingston present at 1am Singapore time — Watching Paul Graham and Jessica Livingston present at 1am Singapore time with our fellow Singaporean batch mates.

We had the privilege of working with some of the world's best entrepreneurs and advisors, including Michael Seibel, Tim Brady, Calvin French-Owen, Harris and Diana Hu. The support YC gave us enabled us to grow 3× over the three-month programme.

To say the past three months have been a rollercoaster and a half would be an understatement — and we're only getting started! We're in the process of closing our pre-seed fundraising round while continuing to hire more teachers and teach more students.

If you're interested in teaching the future of maths as a part-time teacher from the comfort of your home, consider applying as a Strive teacher.

If you're a parent wanting to spark your child's curiosity and empower them for the future, sign up for a free trial class.