YZi Labs Leads $11 Million Seed Round in Educational AI Platform VideoTutor

YZi Labs has announced its first AI software investment since expanding its scope earlier this year, leading an $11 million seed round in VideoTutor, an “educational agent” product developed by a 20-year-old AI entrepreneur in Silicon Valley.

The round also saw participation from JinQiu Fund (a ByteDance-affiliated fund) and Baidu Ventures, signaling growing institutional confidence in AI-powered education technology.

Building the Future of Learning

VideoTutor aims to redefine how students learn. The platform combines large language models (LLMs) with a Manim-based animation rendering engine, converting any question into a personalized animated lesson.

Its system can explain complex problems visually and conversationally, producing step-by-step animated tutorials that adapt in real time to each learner’s pace and understanding.

The company describes VideoTutor as an “educational AI agent”, not just a video generator but an interactive teaching assistant that turns questions into lessons on the spot.

Currently, the platform has reached 20,000 global users and has received more than 1,000 API integration requests, a strong indicator of demand from developers and schools looking to embed AI tutoring into their systems.

Kai Zhao: The 20-Year-Old Behind the Vision

VideoTutor was founded by Kai Zhao, a 20-year-old serial AI entrepreneur based in Silicon Valley.

Zhao’s vision is to make personalized education scalable, using AI to transform static video learning into a dynamic, interactive experience.

From day one, he set out to “transform passive watching into interactive mastery,” merging AI reasoning with mathematical visualization tools to make complex subjects more intuitive.

His approach reflects the new wave of AI-native educational tools, platforms designed from the ground up around machine learning, content generation, and real-time adaptability, not retrofitted onto older e-learning models.

VideoTutor’s technology stack integrates a large language model (LLM) for contextual understanding and content generation with Manim, a mathematical animation framework used to visualize equations, geometry, and problem-solving steps.

The result is a real-time teaching engine that creates short, animated lessons tailored to each user’s question.

Instead of searching for pre-made videos, users can simply ask a question, and the system automatically builds a custom tutorial with both narration and animation.

This system bridges a long-standing gap in online education: scalable personalization.

YZi Labs Expands Into AI Software

The $11 million investment marks YZi Labs’ first major move into the AI software space.

Known primarily for its early-stage blockchain and fintech investments, the firm’s expansion into AI signals a broader strategic shift.

“VideoTutor represents the intersection of education, creativity, and generative AI,” a spokesperson from YZi Labs said during the announcement. “Our goal is to back projects that use intelligent systems to empower human potential.”

YZi Labs’ participation also strengthens the company’s positioning in AI-driven consumer applications, diversifying beyond crypto infrastructure into real-world software solutions.

Education Meets Intelligent Design

The partnership between YZi Labs and VideoTutor highlights a growing focus on AI education tools, systems that can scale personalized learning globally without sacrificing quality.

VideoTutor’s platform doesn’t just answer questions; it teaches users how to think through them. By combining LLM-generated explanations with visual learning, it gives students a deeper understanding of complex material.

In a demo, a simple algebra question transforms into a narrated visual animation, the AI breaks down each step, draws graphs, and explains the reasoning in plain language.

This makes advanced learning instantly accessible, even for students without a tutor.

From Seed Funding to Global Reach

With the new $11 million in funding, VideoTutor plans to:

  •  Accelerate product development
  •  Expand its engineering and research teams
  •  Partner with schools and universities worldwide
  •  Enhance its AI models for deeper subject coverage

According to Kai Zhao, the funding will also support the launch of interactive classroom integrations, allowing educators to use AI-generated visuals during live lessons.

Zhao said the company is “building the future of learning, one where AI transforms education from passive consumption to active, personalized discovery.”

YZi Labs’ Broader Investment Activity

YZi Labs has been making quiet but strategic moves across several verticals, including AI, crypto, and prediction markets.

Earlier this quarter, it co-invested in Opinion Labs, a prediction market platform backed by Binance and Amber Group, which raised $5 million to expand its decentralized betting infrastructure.

While the prediction market meta is still emerging, YZi Labs’ involvement shows its growing interest in hybrid AI-fintech models, areas where data, markets, and intelligence intersect.

With VideoTutor, YZi Labs now adds a high-impact education technology investment to its portfolio, complementing its financial and blockchain interests with a long-term AI vision.

The shift toward AI-driven learning tools marks a new phase in global education.

Platforms like VideoTutor remove the limits of geography, cost, and time, providing on-demand, personalized lessons that can reach anyone with an internet connection.

AI tutors are not replacing teachers; they’re amplifying them, enabling educators to serve larger groups with more precision and individualized attention.

As LLMs become smarter and rendering systems like Manim evolve, the gap between human and AI instruction continues to close.

VideoTutor’s system not only explains but also visualizes, turning theory into motion and making learning more memorable.

YZi Labs’ Strategic Timing

For YZi Labs, the timing couldn’t be better. The global appetite for AI-driven educational tools is exploding, with billions of students and professionals seeking flexible, digital learning formats.

By investing early in VideoTutor, YZi Labs positions itself at the frontier of AI education, just as the market begins to mature.

The move reflects the firm’s broader strategy, investing in next-generation infrastructure that brings real-world functionality to AI and Web3 ecosystems.

This isn’t just about funding a startup; it’s about reshaping how learning happens.

As VideoTutor continues to develop, its core focus remains clear, making high-quality, AI-powered learning accessible to everyone.

The next stage includes deeper LLM integration, improved animation realism, and expanded subject coverage, from STEM to humanities.

For YZi Labs, this investment could be the beginning of a larger move into AI consumer products, following the same pattern that once led it to early wins in Web3 ventures.

The educational landscape is changing fast, and with players like VideoTutor, the future classroom might not have four walls at all.

YZi Labs’ $11 million seed investment in VideoTutor marks a pivotal moment for both companies.

For VideoTutor, it’s the capital and credibility needed to scale globally.

For YZi Labs, it’s a milestone, the firm’s first step into AI software, expanding its reach beyond crypto and finance into intelligent learning systems.

A 20-year-old founder, a breakthrough educational AI product, and a seasoned tech investor, together, they’re building what could become the next frontier of education technology.

Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.

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Source: https://nulltx.com/yzi-labs-leads-11-million-seed-round-in-educational-ai-platform-videotutor/