In India, where 250 million students strive to make their mark in an education system often criticized for its rigidity and scale challenges, innovation is not just desirable—it is essential. At the forefront of this transformation is Abhinandan Kumar, Co-Founder of 5ive.ai, a startup reimagining education with AI-driven personalized learning.
Abhinandan’s journey from a successful corporate HR career to education entrepreneur was not a calculated business decision, but one deeply personal. His inspiration stemmed from watching his niece—once a bright student scoring 98% in her board exams—lose interest in science after a disheartening experience in a traditional academic setup. Despite having access to resources and opportunities, the system failed her.
For Abhinandan, this was a wake-up call:
“If you have money, resources, everything, and still can’t get a good education, then I think there is a major problem.”
Bridging the Gap in EdTech
The Indian edtech space is booming, but not without flaws. While digital platforms helped break geographical barriers by bringing star teachers into remote homes, they often leaned heavily on content delivery. Parents, Abhinandan explains, were left unsure whether genuine learning was taking place.
“Edtech became content-heavy. But content is also available freely on YouTube. Why should parents pay for the same thing?”
This observation drove 5ive.ai’s vision: to build AI not as a content distributor, but as a teacher. Unlike traditional models, the platform’s first job isn’t to teach, but to understand the student—their emotions, stress levels, focus, and even interests. Using advanced machine learning and real-time monitoring through a device camera, 5ive.ai adapts lesson delivery to each learner’s style, whether it means explaining chemistry in the style of a Bollywood scene or revisiting a topic multiple times until comprehension is achieved.
The result is a hyper-personalized, one-on-one experience that ensures knowledge transfer, not just exposure to content. As Abhinandan puts it:
“We are not pushing the child to adapt to technology. We are pushing the technology to adapt to the child.”
Early Lessons and Building Trust
Like most startups, 5ive.ai’s journey began with experimentation—and failures. The team initially attempted to replicate a physical classroom environment online, only to find it ineffective. Students became bored, and the adaptive AI loop kept generating new lectures without solving the underlying issue. The breakthrough came when the team realized they didn’t need to imitate classrooms. Instead, they could create a new kind of virtual experience—bite-sized, adaptive, engaging, and stitched together uniquely for every learner.
But innovation alone wasn’t enough. Convincing stakeholders that an AI tutor could be trusted was a major challenge. To build credibility, 5ive.ai adopted a B2B2C model, partnering with schools rather than positioning itself as a competitor. Schools became both validators and collaborators.
“We are building with schools, not against them,” says Abhinandan.
By syncing with school curricula, reinforcing daily lessons, and offering personalized revision modules, the platform positioned itself as a natural extension of the classroom.
Innovation Meets Simplicity
One of 5ive.ai’s most unique elements is its AI-driven video engine that generates long-format personalized lectures—20 to 60 minutes in length—tailored to the student’s preferences. Unlike existing AI video tools that create short clips, 5ive.ai had to push the limits of technology to build this capability.
Yet, Abhinandan is quick to stress that innovation without usability is meaningless. For him, true innovation is inherently balanced:
“If it is not simple and doesn’t solve the problem, it’s not innovation.”
The Business of Education at Scale
“Every edtech is chasing Tier-1 and Tier-2 users. But our focus is to bring a solution for the 230 million students outside of these zones,” Abhinandan explains.
“Culture is not difficult to build if you lead with humanity,” he reflects.
Advice for Founders
“Most products today are built on buzzwords. But if you identify a real problem and solve it, traction will come naturally.”
Looking Ahead
“If AI can help every child learn in the way they want, not the way the system forces them to, then we would have achieved something truly transformative,” he says with conviction.
