Mathematics remains a difficult subject for many children, as it has for generations. However, with technology and startups addressing this phobia, students now have a variety of resources from which to learn.
Bhanzu, a math edtech startup based in Hyderabad, is another such platform. Bhanzu, founded in November 2020 by the World’s Fastest Human Calculator – Neelakantha Bhanu Prakash – offers online experiential maths learning courses for children aged 5 to 16.
“Through Bhanzu, we aim to eradicate maths phobia and encourage careers in maths and STEM fields among learners from around the world,” Bhanu, who is 22 years old, says of the platform.
The road to entrepreneurship
Bhanu was always fascinated by mathematics as a child. At a young age, his parents introduced him to math puzzles, which allowed Bhanu to break free from the linear way of learning math.
He claims that becoming better and faster at math took a lot of deliberate and consistent practice.
When I first started, I used to compete in Speed Math competitions and was never even in the top ten.” Bhanu recalls, “I had to reflect hard on my failures, hone my skills, and keep showing up every day.”
He was named India’s fastest human calculator at the age of thirteen
At 15, he broke the world record of math legends Shakuntala Devi and Scott Flansburg by becoming the World’s Fastest Human Calculator, thanks to the same ethic of constant practice and constructive reflection. Bhanu’s quest to become the world’s fastest human calculator led to several opportunities.
He says he has traveled to many countries and spoken to students all over the world. That’s when he discovered that math anxiety affects roughly three out of every four children.
Bhanu, an inspiration to many, chose to step outside of his comfort zone to create a cognitive curriculum that will make math more fun and relatable for students.
He performed in over 500 stage shows and successfully conducted over 1,000 classes while pursuing his Bachelor’s degree in mathematics at St. Stephen’s College in Delhi.
Bhanu has spoken to students from Commonwealth countries and audiences from 23 countries.Bhanu has been dubbed the “Usain Bolt of Mathematics” by BBC News and has been invited to speak at TEDx
Talks on multiple occasions.
In 2019, Bhanu formed a small team (the current Bhanzu co-founding team) to test his proprietary maths techniques in various government schools and non-profit organizations. In an attempt to address the problem, the team began implementing these ideas across hundreds of public schools.
The core group
Bhanu is the Founder and CEO of Bhanzu, which has over 200 employees. Prachotan DL, Co-Founder and Head of Business Development; Uday Kiran, Co-Founder and Head of Operations; Krishnakanth, Co-
Founder and Head of Research and Development; and Srinivas Jonnalagadda, Co-Founder and Head of Projects) make up the company’s core team.
Assisting students in overcoming their fear of mathematics
The company claims that its courses help students learn math 4 times faster by instilling organic methodologies in students in significantly less time.
Bhanzu offers online live classes in which students are taught through fun story narratives and engaging activities by a teacher who has been personally trained by Bhanu.
A series of concept modules make up the curriculum. Every module has measurable outcomes in which a child improves cognitive skills, excels academically, and, most importantly, learns relevant math in STEM fields in order to scale the peaks of this rapidly changing world and become a future thought leader.
