Shikho

Shikho is a Bangladeshi EdTech startup founded in April 2019 by Shahir Chowdhury (CEO) and Zeeshan Zakaria (COO). Shikho is focused on making supplementary education more accessible and affordable for Bangladeshi students, with learning material based on the Bangladeshi National Curriculum. The platform uses gamification techniques to keep students engaged and has raised over $5-8 million in venture capital from top-tier global investors.

🚀 Founding Story

Both founders grew up in Dhaka before moving to the United Kingdom for university. Shahir Chowdhury previously worked in finance and business, including as a director at HSBC UK's Private Bank. Zeeshan Zakaria also worked in finance before becoming a mathematics teacher.

Even while working in finance, Chowdhury's goal was to launch a socially impactful business in Bangladesh. He initially looked at fintech because of his career experience, but realized there were already many players focused on financial inclusion in Bangladesh, like bKash. He then started thinking about education — Chowdhury's father is a retired professor and his mother still teaches high school.

By coincidence, Chowdhury worked on a client report about the emergence of Indian and Chinese EdTech startups, like Byju's and Toppr. This inspired him to research the Bangladesh EdTech opportunity: "When I looked at that closely, there was no reason for it not to exist in Bangladesh. From a macroeconomic perspective, you have all the elements you need. You have a very large population, about 165 million people, and half of that is under the age of 25."

Chowdhury reached out to Zakaria to lead Shikho's academic programming, and together they founded Shikho in April 2019.

💰 Investment History

Shikho has raised significant venture capital across multiple rounds:

• 🌱 2020 (Pre-Seed) — $275,000 from LearnStart (the seed fund of edtech investment firm Learn Capital) and strategic angel investors
• 💰 July 2021 (Seed) — $1.3 million co-led by LearnStart (Learn Capital) and Anchorless Bangladesh, with participation from Wavemaker Partners and Ankur Nagpal (founder/CEO of Teachable)
• 📈 March 2022 (Seed Extension) — $4 million led by Wavemaker Partners, with Learn Capital, Anchorless Bangladesh, Vibe Capital, DSG Consumer Partners, and Julian Shapiro
• 💼 November 2023 (Seed) — $900,000 led by Sturgeon Capital, with Black Kite Capital and Goodwater Capital

Total funding raised: approximately $5.2-8 million (sources vary — StartupIntros reports $5.2M across 3 rounds; LinkedIn posts reference $8M total). Shikho is backed by some of the world's most prestigious EdTech and emerging market investors.

📱 Platform & Approach

Shikho is focused on grades 9, 10, 11, and 12, with plans to introduce content for grades 6 up to university level and continuous education. Key features:

• 📚 Bangladeshi National Curriculum — All learning material created by educators and subject experts, aligned to the national curriculum
• 🎮 Gamification — Points, leaderboards, and virtual awards to keep students engaged
• 📱 Mobile App — Available on Google Play and Apple App Store
• 🏫 Physical Learning Centers — In addition to digital platform, opened physical centers for hybrid learning
• 🤖 AI-EdTech — Pioneering local AI-powered education technology

Shikho was created to address the gap in Bangladesh's education system where the best after-school learning centers are concentrated in major cities, leaving rural and small-town students without access to quality supplementary education.

👥 Leadership

• 👨‍💼 Shahir Chowdhury — Founder & CEO
  • Previous: Director at HSBC UK's Private Bank
  • Education: Grew up in Dhaka, university in UK
  • Family: Father is retired professor, mother teaches high school
• 👨‍💼 Zeeshan Zakaria — Co-founder & COO
  • Previous: Finance professional turned mathematics teacher
  • Leads Shikho's academic programming