Manabie

Manabie (operating as Manabie International) is an education technology company that provides end-to-end digital infrastructure for educational institutions alongside its own online and offline learning services. Its platform is built as composable microservices covering distinct operational domains, and is sold to cram schools, correspondence high schools, vocational schools, English conversation schools and full-time schools.

The product line comprises Manabie LMS, a learning management system that lets schools load and manage their own teaching materials while analyzing student learning status in real time, unifying progress tracking, weak-point analysis and goal management; Manabie ERP, a cloud system for institution-wide administration spanning enrollment, grade and attendance management through accounting and finance; and Manabie Tutor, which uses generative AI to answer student questions in real time around the clock and to generate hints and explanations calibrated to each student's level of understanding. On the consumer side, Manabie B2C Services include Manabie Hub, physical study spaces with coaches and tutors and personalized study plans, and Manabie Class, small-group online tutoring. Earlier consumer and school offerings included Prime+, an online lecture and tutoring package, and School+, a B2B service supporting schools' transition to online learning with consultancy plus a learning management system delivered through the Manabie Teacher app.

The company frames its approach as "Total Education," a philosophy that combines academic foundations with cognitive, creative and emotional skills and awareness of social and environmental issues, delivered through a mix of digital content (videos, study guides, quizzes), coaches and tutors, physical hubs, and community.

Founding story

Manabie was founded in Singapore in 2019 by Takuya Homma and Christy Wong. Homma had previously co-founded the online learning service Quipper, which was acquired by Recruit for $40M, after which he served as Country Manager leading Quipper Indonesia's expansion and growing the team beyond 500 people. Wong, born in Hong Kong and raised in New York, was an investment banker at Goldman Sachs and held senior roles at Hong Kong investment and consulting firms before joining Lazada's founding team in 2012; she later worked with the United Nations Development Programme helping launch a development fund in Indonesia. The founders targeted Vietnam first, citing high technology adoption and household spending on education of roughly 20 percent of income.

Business model

Manabie sells a vertical SaaS platform (LMS, school administration/ERP, and AI tutoring) to educational institutions and educational corporations, with all-in-one functionality including learning management, communication, content management and billing. It also operates direct-to-consumer learning services — physical Manabie Hub study centers and online small-group Manabie Class tutoring — and has run digitized cram schools of its own, notably in Vietnam.

Revenue comes from B2B software for schools and cram schools (learning management, content, communication and billing/administration functions) and from B2C learning services delivered online and at Manabie's own hubs and classrooms.

Traction

Manabie reported approximately 150 members across Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines and Japan, and roughly 30 digitized cram school classrooms in Vietnam serving about 13,000 students. Adoption of its Japanese-market products was described as growing among cram schools, correspondence high schools, vocational schools, English conversation schools and full-time schools.

Latest developments

In April 2025 Manabie announced an approximately 3.3 billion yen (about $23 million) Series B led by JIC Venture Growth Investments, with proceeds earmarked for strengthening academic and school-administration product development for the Japanese market — including accelerating the generative-AI "AI Tutor" to address teacher shortages — and for expanding its products and operating know-how into Southeast Asian markets.