Ambitio raises $2 million in funding to help Indians study in top universities abroad

AI-powered admissions startup Ambitio has raised $2 million in a seed funding round led by BLinC Invest, with participation from Ritu Bapna (Co-founder, Impetus), along with a few soonicorn founders and angel investors from the UK and India.

Founded in 2022 by IIT-BHU graduates Dirghayu Kaushik and Vikrant Shivalik, Ambitio claims to be India’s first AI-driven admissions platform. It combines intelligence from past applicants with insights from alumni experts to offer students a highly personalized admissions experience.

Leveraging millions of data points

Ambitio leverages over 10 million data points to generate intelligent, tailored insights for each student, while also providing access to admission experts for one-on-one guidance. The startup, which has no university partnerships, said it is focused solely on helping students gain admission to top institutions worldwide.

"Students spend more than 300 hours just researching and applying to their target universities," says Dirghayu Kaushik, Co-founder and CEO of Ambitio.

"The entire admissions process is a maze, especially for international applicants. The market is crowded with biased consultants pushing students toward their partnered universities. Information online is scattered and unreliable. Ambitio brings reliability and expertise in a personalized fashion, improving your odds by more than 5-fold to get into top universities," Kaushik added.

Investing in technology

With its latest funding round, Ambitio plans to invest in technology to enhance the student experience and expand its distribution channels. Over the next two years, the startup aims to help more than 500,000 students access global education.

Ambitio said it uses AI to analyze more than 1 million successful applications, creating personalized strategies and matching students with the best-fit universities based on real admission data.

The startup also highlighted its proprietary matching algorithm, which it says is trained on more than 50,000 university programs. It pinpoints schools that align with a student’s academic achievements, career goals, and interests, which leads to higher acceptance rates, better opportunities, and a smarter path forward.

"Our students have secured admits in top colleges like Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, and Oxford, and dozens of top universities. There is a science to cracking such top admits, I can say that with utmost confidence. At Ambitio, we believe we have cracked a code that actually works for every student," said Vikrant Shivalik, COO and Co-Founder.

"It’s all about strategy—building a profile that stands out, making the right choices, and getting every detail right. We built Ambitio to give students the best shot at their dream schools, based on merit, and not partnerships," he added.