Education Technology · Profile from Education Technology Research Companion
Photomath
The Croatian-built camera calculator that let anyone point a phone at a maths problem and see a step-by-step solution. It grew from a 2014 demo by text-recognition startup Microblink into one of the most-downloaded education apps in the world (220m+ downloads by 2021) and was acquired by Google, which agreed the deal in 2022 and closed it in 2023 after EU review.
At a glance
- Founded
- Launched October 2014 as a Microblink product (Zagreb, Croatia); spun out as a separate company ~2015–16 (verify exact date); incorporated as Photomath, Inc. in the US
- Founders
- Damir Sabol (founder and long-time CEO; co-founder of Microblink)
- Headquarters
- San Mateo, California (legal and commercial HQ), with its main engineering and product team in Zagreb, Croatia
- Ownership / structure
- Wholly owned by Google LLC (Alphabet, NASDAQ: GOOGL) since 2023; previously venture-backed private company
- Leadership (2026)
- Operates inside Google's learning and education organisation; Photomath-specific leadership after the acquisition not reliably tracked (verify)
- Segment and buyer
- Consumer maths help for secondary-school and early-college students and their parents; free app with a paid "Photomath Plus" subscription
- Scale
- 220m+ downloads and ~2bn problems solved per month at Feb 2021 (company); ~300m+ downloads reported by 2022 (verify). Revenue never disclosed; Plus priced at ~$9.99/month or ~$69.99/year (reported 2024)
- Capital raised / valuation
- Series A ~2018 (amount reported ~$6m, verify); $23m Series B (Feb 2021, Menlo Ventures lead); ~$30m+ total. Google acquisition price not disclosed
- Signature moves
- Viral TechCrunch Disrupt London demo (2014); spin-out from Microblink; step-by-step explanations and handwriting recognition; Photomath Plus subscription; $23m Series B during pandemic home-learning surge (2021); sale to Google (announced 2022, closed 2023). Controversies: use for homework cheating, and concerns about reliance on answer apps
7 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
2014
Disrupt Demo Launch
Launch
2015
Spin Out From Microblink
Restructuring (spin-out)
2020
Photomath Plus Subscription
Pricing change (introduction of a paid tier on a free app)
2021
Series B Menlo Ventures
Funding round
2022
Google Acquisition Agreement
Acquisition (sale to a strategic buyer)
2023
EU Clearance and Close
Acquisition (regulatory clearance and completion)
2024
Integration Into Google
Restructuring / post-acquisition integration