"I thought it was a coding tool"... All-in-one class platform aiming even for 'hiring'

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"Initially developed for coding education, it has now evolved into an all-in-one platform capable of analyzing and managing learning data across all school classes."

Jeon Jong-hyun of Team Monolith explained this regarding 'Codle (Codle)', a platform used in school coding education. Team Monolith was founded by four co-founders, including Eom Eun-sang (CEO), who is currently serving in the military.

Before founding the company, Jeon (CEO) operated an entrance consulting academy and discovered opportunities in the software entrance consulting market. While helping high school seniors learn coding in a short period to create research papers or project results for application to relevant departments, he found the current business idea.

He said, "At that time, we educated students online and tried various software, but none were satisfactory." He added, "As the number of students increased, management became difficult, and since coding was taught online, it was hard to verify in real-time whether students were keeping up well."

Subsequently, through in-depth interviews with over 100 teachers, he confirmed that public high school information technology classes also faced similar problems. After capturing the demand on the ground, he founded Team Monolith in October 2021 to develop a Python education platform.

Initially, Codle was a tool for Python education, but it has now evolved into an 'all-in-one class management system' capable of conducting various classes beyond coding. Codle's functions are divided into five detailed parts, including a Learning Management System (LMS) and a Content Management System (CMS).

Teachers can combine 15 types of activity modules such as block coding, data analysis, and quizzes to create customized interactive class materials. In particular, by utilizing AI (artificial intelligence), the platform maximizes classroom interaction and management efficiency, allowing teachers to analyze and monitor students' progress in real-time.

Codle's expansion in the public education market is occurring rapidly. Approximately four years after its launch, Codle has been adopted and utilized by a cumulative total of 800 schools. It is explained that nearly half of high schools offering information technology classes are using Codle. Team Monolith is also expanding its scope to include not only middle schools but also the university education market. Notably, Codle is being used for software education for approximately 3,000 to 4,000 new students at Korea University.

Considering school budget issues, Team Monolith initially lowered entry barriers through a basic free model. It is now generating revenue conversion by introducing paid models for specific functions. It is reported that about 30% of schools using Codle have converted to paid revenue and are maintaining it.

Team Monolith operates its business under the vision of "Creating a world where all talents are discovered and utilized." With the goal of utilizing learning data accumulated through Codle as indicators to evaluate students' diverse competencies, it is preparing new items.

Jeon (CEO) said, "When educating, we discover that children have various strengths; I believe the true purpose of class is to quickly identify and nurture these talents." He added, "If there were measurement and recording tools capable of identifying and utilizing individual talents, we judged they could be utilized in various fields."

Team Monolith is conceptualizing a platform that interprets complex process learning data accumulated over a long period using AI and utilizes it as a practical competency evaluation indicator. It plans to use this not as result-oriented indicators like CSAT scores or GPA, but as an AI competency evaluation indicator to establish standards that can connect to the college entrance and corporate hiring markets.

Separately, Team Monolith is also preparing for global expansion beyond the domestic school market, estimated at 100 billion won to 200 billion won. In particular, it plans to focus on the Middle East market, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which mandated AI education in all schools last August.

Additionally, it plans to newly launch a web-based practical platform called 'Jitda (provisional name)' targeting corporate and university AI education events and hackathons. This is a solution that helps even non-developers easily create results using AI on the web without complex environment setup for coding. Beyond simply providing a practice environment, its features include demonstrating completed results on the web before the event via Ministry of Education servers and supporting peer evaluation among participants.

After raising investment in 2022, Team Monolith did not receive external funding due to reasons such as operating profit surplus. However, based on its first-half performance since June this year, it is planning to launch a new investment round. It plans to use the raised funds for further development of existing solutions and the launch of new products, and will also fully invest in scaling up, including global market expansion.

[MoneyToday startup media platform Unicorn Factory]