In a world where flashy Silicon Valley edtech products dominate headlines, a quiet revolution is brewing in the small Indian town of Deoria. At its center is Keshav Kushwaha, a 16-year-old student, self-taught coder, and the unlikely founder of Enthrox, the parent company behind Orbeato AI—a powerful new conversational AI platform designed to transform how students learn in under-resourced schools around the world.
Why This Story Matters Now
The global education system is gasping for relevance in a tech-first world. With AI disrupting every industry, classrooms are struggling to keep up. And while much of the focus remains on high-end urban tools, Keshav took a different route. “I built Orbeato because the system wasn’t working—for me, or for millions like me,” he says.
At just 16, he didn’t wait for reform—he engineered it.
The Problem: A Disconnect Between AI and Real Classrooms
While AI has become mainstream, it’s mostly reserved for premium platforms or elite institutions. Most schools—especially in rural India, Southeast Asia, and Africa—still rely on outdated, rigid methods that fail to engage today’s tech-native students. Keshav saw this gap firsthand as a student. His frustration with boring, inaccessible learning sparked the idea behind Orbeato.
The Product: AI That Understands Students
Orbeato AI is a conversational learning assistant that helps students grasp complex academic concepts through simple, natural language conversations—much like chatting with a friend. But what truly sets it apart is its:
- Offline and low-data capabilities, designed specifically for rural schools
- Multilingual-first approach, tackling India’s linguistic diversity head-on
- Personalized feedback and adaptive learning paths, reducing student doubt-resolution time by 80%
- Focus on education-specific NLP, outperforming tools like ChatGPT and Brainly in academic clarity
It’s not just a chatbot—it’s a full learning ecosystem for places where mainstream tech often fails.
Breaking the Mold: A Teen Founder in Edtech
People don’t expect a global edtech solution to come from a 16-year-old in a Tier-3 town. Nor do they expect it to scale without any VC backing. But Keshav is rewriting those expectations. With over 12,000 active student users across eight schools, and a growing team of four, Orbeato is gaining quiet momentum.
Most users came through word-of-mouth or direct school partnerships, with less than $300 spent on marketing so far. Schools were initially skeptical—a teenager building an edtech product? But outcomes converted even the doubters.
A Movement, Not Just a Startup
Keshav’s ambition goes beyond Orbeato. Under Enthrox, he plans to launch Orbeato Lite in local languages, partner with NGOs and school boards, and expand across Southeast Asia and Africa. The edtech market is forecasted to reach $605 billion by 2027, and even capturing a small slice means tremendous impact.
“Even if we reach just 0.5% of that market,” he says, “we’re looking at a $3 billion opportunity—and millions of empowered learners.”
What the World Should Learn from Deoria
Education challenges aren’t confined by geography. Whether it’s Kenya, Bihar, or Bolivia—students are being failed by legacy methods. Orbeato shows that AI doesn’t have to be expensive, foreign, or complex. It can be local, lightweight, and transformative.
Keshav’s story is a powerful reminder that change doesn’t need permission—or VC funding. It needs vision, grit, and lived experience.
The Road Ahead
- Pre-seed fundraising of $150K underway
- Scaling team to 12 by next year
- Expanding global footprint
- B2B (school partnerships) + freemium B2C model
- Gross margins >75%, with churn <3% monthly
- CAC of just $0.80, LTV $15
And while profitability is still down the road, Orbeato is already proving something bigger: that students can lead the change education desperately needs.
Why Keshav Will Change the World
Because he’s lived the problem. “I didn’t build Orbeato to start a company,” Keshav says. “I built it to survive school.” Now it’s helping thousands of others do the same.
He represents a new generation—AI-native, globally aware, and bold enough to build for the billions left behind.
In a world full of noise, Orbeato is making sure every student has a voice—and an AI that listens.
-Interview conducted By Sandhya Bharti, Deputy editor, Indian Startup Times
