Curiosity is what makes us human. It is how we improve our lives, decode the world, and open new doors to understanding. Yet for many, that spark has dimmed – not because curiosity is gone, but because learning new and meaningful things is difficult and time-intensive.
As the cost of necessities like healthcare, education, and housing continue to rise, people feel squeezed, and it gets harder to find the time to learn new skills. The world is full of information, but guidance is scarce. Everyone has curiosity, but not everyone has the tools to learn effectively.
At a16z, we’ve been looking for a team that could change this. One that believes learning is not a luxury, but the foundation for a better future. One that could use AI to lift people up rather than overwhelm them.
Oboe is that team.
Today we are excited to partner with Nir and the Oboe team as they announce their $16M Series A and the launch of the all new Oboe – now available at oboe.com.
Making Structured Learning Accessible to Everyone
The hardest part of learning is the beginning. People know what they want to learn – stock trading, AI fundamentals, the science behind coastal erosion. But they don’t know where to start or what comes next.
Oboe turns that uncertainty into momentum.
Any prompt becomes a structured, chaptered, multimodal course with text, audio, visuals, quizzes, and flashcards. The result is a guided path that lowers the activation energy to learn and makes deep understanding possible for everyone.
For everyday users, this design matters. Learning should feel inspiring, clear, and achievable. The new Oboe delivers that feeling.
The Team We Have Been Waiting For
We have spent years searching for a generalized learning product that could scale globally. It requires rare technical depth and a deep understanding of how people absorb information.
Nir has assembled an exceptional team. In a previous chapter, several members of this founding team helped democratize podcast creation – going on to power a large share of the global podcast ecosystem. This gives them a unique intuition for narrative, product design and distribution. They bring those learnings to Oboe.
Their mission to make humanity smarter is bold, but grounded in rigor. Oboe is not a thin tool. It is a true engine for learning that is personalized, multimodal, and designed with both care and speed in mind.
A New Era of Learning
AI can now create learning experiences that feel personal, patient, and adaptive. Oboe is one of the first consumer products to make this real at scale.
The platform meets people where they are and guides them forward. It restores the spark of curiosity by giving people confidence that they can learn anything when shown the path.
We are proud to partner with Oboe. This is the start of a new era in learning, where curiosity becomes a possibility for everyone.
