Melbourne-based AI education startup Teacher’s Buddy has raised $1.85 million in Seed funding to help address teacher burnout.
The funding round was led by Giant Leap, with participation from Flying Fox Ventures, Co Ventures, Exhort Ventures, Saniel Ventures, and Soul Capital.
Teacher’s Buddy was founded in 2024 by Matt Abraham and Ben Sze, who also co-founded Edrolo—an edtech company that raised $40 million in a Series B round in 2022 and is considered a potential unicorn.
“Teachers are working more than 50 hours a week, with up to a third of that time lost to planning and admin,” he said.
“Teacher’s Buddy aims to reverse these trends by delivering an all-in-one, AI-enhanced workspace designed to lighten the load, foster growth, and unlock every student’s potential.”
More than 12,000 teachers in 130 countries are already using the platform, and the company has signed 15 school partnerships in Australia and New Zealand. The tool has been shown to save teachers about 12 days of work per term—nearly a 20% boost in productivity—by helping with planning, marking, reports, and meeting preparation.
The new funding will be used to grow the engineering and product teams, develop new features, and expand sales efforts in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK.
Cofounder Matt Abraham said the company has big goals for the next year: reaching 30,000 teachers and partnering with 200 schools.
“When teachers are overwhelmed by administrative demands, their ability to focus on students suffers,” he said.
“By applying AI to reduce workload and streamline planning, Ben and Matt are not only improving teacher wellbeing but also enhancing learning outcomes. The rapid adoption of Teacher’s Buddy reflects the urgency of this challenge and the global relevance of their solution.”
“With AI now in our toolkit, we finally have a chance to test those old assumptions and reimagine what it means to support teachers and educate the next generation,” she said.
“What makes this moment special is the team. It’s rare, especially in Australia, to find founders who’ve lived this problem and already built successfully in the same space. This inflection point in technology gives us the chance to back Ben and Matt as they take another run at a challenge they’ve been obsessed with for years.”
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