Oboe Raises $16M for Generative Learning

In December 2025, the AI education startup Oboe raised $16 million in a Series A funding round. The investment was led by a16z (Andreessen Horowitz), with participation from Eniac Ventures, Haystack, and Offline Ventures.

The company is founded by Nir Zicherman and Michael Mignano, the duo behind Anchor (the podcast creation tool acquired by Spotify). With Oboe, they are applying the same “democratization” playbook to education.

Traditional online learning (MOOCs like Coursera) relies on static, pre-recorded content that is expensive to produce and quickly becomes outdated. Oboe disrupts this by using Generative AI to create personalized, high-quality courses on demand. Users simply type a topic (e.g., “The History of Rome” or “Intro to Quantum Mechanics”), and Oboe generates a complete multi-modal curriculum—including reading materials, audio lessons, and interactive quizzes—in seconds. This shifts education from a “content library” model to a “just-in-time generation” model.

The new capital will be used to scale its engineering team and expand its consumer-facing platform to support more complex, interactive learning formats.

Market Signal

• The “Anchor” Effect: Just as Anchor made podcasting accessible to everyone (powering 80% of new Spotify podcasts), investors are betting Oboe will do the same for course creation. This signals a shift in value from “Content IP” (who owns the video) to “Generation Tools” (who builds the best personalized curriculum).
• Death of the Static LMS: Corporate Learning Management Systems (LMS) are notoriously boring and rigid. Oboe’s “Generative Learning” model threatens incumbents by offering hyper-personalized, engaging content that adapts to the learner’s pace, potentially replacing generic compliance training with bespoke AI tutors.
• Consumer-First EdTech: Unlike most recent EdTech funding which focuses on B2B/Schools, Oboe is a rare B2C bet. a16z’s involvement suggests a belief that AI can finally crack the “Consumer Learning Subscription” code that apps like Duolingo have dominated, but for general knowledge.

Key Details

• Company: Oboe
• Funding: $16M Series A
• Headquarters: New York, NY
• Lead Investor: a16z
• Founders: Nir Zicherman (CEO), Michael Mignano (Anchor Founders)
• Use Case: AI-powered course generation and personalized learning