Anywyse is the leading audio-first learning platform, using AI to create 15-minute audio summaries from textbooks for easy comprehension and retention. By employing proven techniques to enhance learning retention, their innovative audio format turns listening into effective learning, setting a new standard in education. Find out more about their startup journey and check out their live round on Leapfunder.

1. Hi Julien. Thank you for agreeing to do the interview. Tell us about Anywyse and the idea that got it all started.

Thanks for the opportunity to tell you about business. Starting Anywyse was very personal. I felt left behind by an educational system that didn’t cater to diverse learning needs. I worked my way up from the lowest educational tier in the Netherlands to the university level. At 23, cancer put a hard stop to my studies. The treatment battered my cognitive functions (also known as chemo-brain) meaning I couldn’t read or remember well. This made me feel excluded and not smart. Podcasts became my learning life-line, yet they weren’t crafted for effective learning or retention. So, from my hospital bed, I made a pledge: If I recovered, I  would change this for the world. 

Now, fully recovered, I’m not stopping until we have made effective audio learning available for everyone. With Anywyse, we’re building the first audio learning platform allowing you to easily transform any written text into 15-minute didactic audio learning modules. Focusing fully on learning by listening, we aim to be the very best in the audio-learning field. Our content is backed by academic research and optimized with our in-house tooling. Using proven techniques to enhance learning retention, our unique Anywyse format turns listening into learning for the first time. 

2. What problems are you trying to solve? What are the benefits of Anywyse?

The key problem we are trying to solve is the lack of effective audio learning in traditional education and other learning environments. Due to the unavailability of this learning method, learners with different learning styles and needs are not catered for. 

Learning through listening solves challenges that neurodiverse learners (dyslexia/ADHD/ADD) encounter in traditional education. Our recent study conducted at the UvA showed that students with ADHD who used Anywyse for their studies went from failing to passing. This is huge! Next to this, the most important benefit is the increase in motivation we noticed in all students. On average students reported feeling 10% more motivated, which led to increased engagement with their regular study materials and subsequently higher test scores. 

3. You have a live round on Leapfunder. What makes it the right tool for your startup, and what do you expect from the round?

Running a fundraising round can require a lot of paperwork, and paperwork means lawyers and notaries. Leapfunder handles all of this for us, so we can focus on what is most important for us, which is finding the right investors for our company and building our product. 

4. How much growth potential do you see for Anywyse?

Our goal is to reach 100 million learners by 2030. That’s a big goal, but market trends look promising. The podcast market is growing: 500 million people listen to podcasts on a monthly basis to learn. Anywyse plays into this trend by offering a way to easily turn text into audio that follows a didactic script to help the learner remember what they listened to. We envision future learners having access to learning content through books, e-books, and thirdly, audio – enabling them to mix and match what fits their needs. 

There’s a big opportunity for Anywyse in the educational space by providing Wysers next to book chapters and academic articles. Besides education, corporate learning is a huge market as well; with Anywyse, employees and managers can listen to their required company learning content on the go whilst driving to work, or during a walk/coffee break. 

5. What are your plans for the upcoming months? Tell us about your go-to-market strategy and the plan to acquire customers.

We are currently partnering with the largest educational publishers in the Netherlands to transform their content into audio-learning modules. We are in the process of setting up pilot projects with global educational publishers and corporate partners to expand our reach.

The library organization of Flevoland (eight libraries) is currently using our platform to transform their skill-building curriculum into audio-learning modules, and one of the major Dutch insurance providers is going to trial Anywyse by turning their pension learning content into Wysers for their customers. 

In short, we are planning to expand our product to other segments, continue doing academic research into the audio-learning space, and build our product!

Thank you very much for sharing your inspiring story with us. We wish Anywyse the best of luck.

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