“Dragon’s Den” is celebrating its anniversary – the founder show started ten years ago, and season 16 is already underway. Two original cast members returned for the anniversary episode: Frank Thelen and Jochen Schweizer. Together with Carsten Maschmeyer, Judith Williams, and Ralf Dümmel, the two investors from the early days took their seats on the lion’s chairs once more. Before this jury, the startup Rocket Tutor, founded in 2022, pitched its idea. The company started as a university project at TU München.
The founders’ mission: to personalize education through artificial intelligence and make it accessible to every learner. Komaldeep Chahal, Yue Wu, and Lionel Rühlemann have developed a personal AI math tutor that prepares each user individually for their next math exam and the Abitur. The Rocket Tutor AI automatically creates a comprehensive learning plan. During exercises, the AI understands exactly where each individual’s weaknesses lie. This way, the AI tutor can re-explain anything the learner doesn’t understand, provide targeted exercises in real time, and promote competencies.
The user statistics already speak for themselves. Yue Wu explained:
“With our small team, we managed in the first year to have one in every ten Abitur students in Bavaria prepare their math Abitur with us.”
The valuation of Rocket Tutor was correspondingly high. The founding trio offered 4.2 percent of its company shares for 400,000 euros.
Rocket Tutor: Overplaying your hand?
Tech entrepreneur Frank Thelen took a closer look at the technical details using his expertise. Given the edtech’s revenue to date, he considered the valuation far too high. Although he found the product good, he declined to invest. Ralf Dümmel and Jochen Schweizer also refrained from financing. Dümmel pointed to his lack of expertise in the education sector, and Schweizer saw the rapid development in AI as too great an uncertainty factor.
“I think the topic you’re addressing is sensational. Education is the most important issue for our country and I believe for every country. This is an investment in the future,”
praised Judith Williams, but showed no willingness to make this investment himself.
Carsten Maschmeyer was interested in the potential further development of the system. The prospect of making Rocket Tutor accessible to lower grade levels and pursuing internationalization in the medium term appealed to the investor. However, he also considered the valuation unjustified and demanded a higher percentage. His offer: 500,000 euros for seven percent of the shares and voting rights commitment.
After thorough discussion, the founders agreed. According to Wirtschaftswoche, the deal is now finalized. The magazine quotes Lionel Rühlemann:
“We concluded an option agreement with Carsten Maschmeyer immediately after the show. Then we were very busy with the Abitur phase in spring. But in mid-August we went to the notary together and sealed the deal.”
