Zenius began in 2004 as an offline exam-prep operation run by Sabda PS with Wisnu Subekti and Medy Suharta. It coached school leavers for state university entrance tests.
The company then moved its lessons online as concept-first video courses. Investors included Northstar Group, Alpha JWC Ventures, Openspace Ventures and Beacon Venture Capital. A round in March 2022 led by MDI Ventures brought total funding to about $40 million, or Rp 622 billion.
In early 2022 Zenius acquired the tutoring chain Primagama. By December 2022 the platform had more than 16 million users. As edtech funding dried up after the pandemic boom, the company cut more than 200 staff in May 2022, made a second round of cuts in August 2022 and a third in February 2023.
In January 2024 Zenius announced that it was temporarily halting operations, citing operational challenges. Sabda PS is a co-founder of the company, which competed with Ruangguru, Quipper, Pahamify and Brainly.