Math and Puzzle Learning App Matiks Raises $10 Million in Pre-Series A Led by General Catalyst

Indian math and brain-games start-up Matiks has raised $10 million in a pre-Series A round led by General Catalyst, betting that quick, competitive puzzles can win back screen time that is currently going to passive scrolling.

Entrepreneur Ronnie Screwvala joined the round, along with existing investors Info Edge Ventures, Tanglin Venture Partners and Untitled Ventures. The fresh capital takes Matiks’ total funding past $13.5 million, the company said on 26 October 2026.

From mental-math hobby to a 2.2-million-user app

Matiks was started by college friends Sudhanshu Bhatia, Mohan Kumar and Sushant Timmapur. Bhatia, who has a background in competitive mental math, began working on the idea while he was employed at American Express. The team’s starting point was simple: if mental math, puzzles and memory already have competitive communities, they could be made as engaging as sport or short-form entertainment.

The app, live for about two years, has picked up sharply in 2026:

• Daily active users grew from about 22,000 earlier in the year to more than 3 lakh (300,000) by September
• Monthly active users touched 2.2 million in September
• Most players are in India, with early traction in the US, South Korea and Japan
• The company has a team of 41 full-time employees

How the product works

Learners pick from four tracks, Math, Puzzle, Memory and Logic, practise against bots and then duel real players. Challenges, quests, points and streaks are built in to keep users returning for short sessions. Matiks began testing a paid subscription this month that unlocks game analysis, tips, tricks and practice tools, and it also offers in-game purchases such as streak protection and XP boosts.

The start-up has also launched Jelo, an experimental AI-assisted platform where users can build their own games for others to play. Part of the new funding will go into scaling Jelo and expanding into new markets, including localisation for South Korea and Japan.

What the investors see

General Catalyst partner Rahul Humayun pointed to the team’s pace of product iteration and the depth of user engagement as the main reasons for backing the company, calling Matiks’ vision, product and community “truly N of 1” and describing strong power-user behaviour as a leading indicator for monetisation.

Why it matters for digital learning

Matiks sits at the meeting point of gaming and learning. Its pitch, that numeracy, logic and memory can be practised through the same mechanics that make games habit-forming, speaks directly to the foundational numeracy goals set out under NEP 2020 and NIPUN Bharat. At a time when edtech funding in India has become far more selective, a sizeable round led by a global investor for a game-based learning product is a signal that engagement-first, low-cost formats are drawing fresh investor interest. The real test will be whether high engagement can translate into measurable gains in skills and a sustainable subscription business.