Former Google GM and VP Peeyush Ranjan has launched Fermi.ai, an AI-first edtech startup aimed at transforming high-school STEM education across India and the United States.
Headquartered in Singapore, the company is rolling out its learning platform through subsidiaries in both countries, beginning with mathematics, physics and chemistry.
Fermi.ai is built around what the company calls “productive struggle”, a learning philosophy that encourages students to work through mistakes and strengthen conceptual understanding rather than rely on shortcuts. The platform uses AI to analyse how a student arrives at an answer, identifying gaps in reasoning and offering step-by-step guidance instead of direct solutions.
“Students today are getting answers faster than ever, but their understanding is getting weaker,” Ranjan said, who has also served as CTO of Flipkart and held leadership roles at Airbnb. “We built Fermi.ai to support thinking, not replace it, and to give educators visibility into struggles that usually stay hidden.”
The startup has emerged from Meraki Labs, where Ranjan partners with entrepreneur Mukesh Bansal, founder of Myntra. Bansal said Fermi.ai focuses on mapping a student’s thought process rather than solving problems for them. “It’s about showing students how they think, and helping teachers guide them back to mastery,” he noted.
Bansal also launched Nurix, which is another emerging AI startup focused on building AI-native consumer and internet products.
Fermi.ai’s platform is built around four core components: an adaptive real-time tutor that provides pedagogically guided hints, a stylus-first smart canvas designed for handwritten equations and diagrams, a concept-linked question bank aligned with exams such as AP, IB and JEE, and an analytics layer that pinpoints where student reasoning breaks down.
Before its public launch, the company conducted a three-month pilot with 79 students, covering over 15,000 concept tests. According to the startup, students who initially struggled showed an average improvement of 4.68 points by their final attempts, while heavy users demonstrated higher mastery gains and reduced dependence on hints.
The cloud-based platform is currently available for free at fermi.ai, with a dedicated pilot programme for educators launching in 2026.
