Y Combinator is a startup accelerator that provides funding and mentorship to early-stage companies. It offers a program where startups receive guidance from experienced entrepreneurs and investors. The organization helps founders in their business models and develop their products. Y Combinator serves industries such as technology, healthcare, and finance.

Y Combinator

General Catalyst is a venture capital firm that provides early-stage and growth equity investments. The company provides ongoing momentum that accelerates ideas, careers, and companies toward standout success.

General Catalyst

BDMI is a venture capital firm headquartered in New York focused on innovative digital media technologies, products, and distribution channels in North America, Europe and Israel.   BDMI concentrates on early stage investments in the digital media landscape. The company focuses predominantly on Series A and B investments, but also has a seed fund that includes about 20 companies. The initial investment range is from $500k to $3m. We look for opportunities where we can accelerate growth through BDMI’s financial and management resources and close connectivity with one or more Bertelsmann divisions.   With consolidated revenues of over $25 billion, Bertelsmann is an international media company encompassing television (RTL Group), book publishing (Penguin Random House), magazine publishing (Gruner + Jahr), music (BMG) and media services (Arvato) in more than 60 countries. Due to the vast resources of Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA, BDMI is an investor that provides not only capital, but can also support startups by using its network of diverse contacts at Bertelsmann and in the broader media world.

BDMI

GSV Ventures is a global venture capital fund focused on the rapidly growing digital education market from Pre-K to Gray. We back early and late stage entrepreneurs transforming the $7 trillion digital education and future of work sectors. Investments include Coursera, ClassDojo, Degreed, and Guild Education. GSV is also the convener of the world renowned ASU+GSV Summit. The 11th annual summit gathered 35,000 founders, investors, educators, and policy makers from 135 countries.

GSV Ventures

Our Fund is a 100% private closed-end investment fund. Registered in the USA in Wyoming,

RUNWAY Venture Capital

Founded in 2018, Next 10 Ventures is a leading venture group solely focused on the global Creator economy.  The company provides advisory services, invests in early stage startups, and incubates new businesses from their offices in Los Angeles and Singapore.  The team comprises executives, operators and analysts with decades of digital experience from the earliest global disruptors in content, media and commerce.

Next 10 Ventures

GFC Consultoria specializes in providing advice and support to entrepreneurs. Gustavo Carvalho founded it in 2017, with its headquarters in São Paulo in Brazil.

GFC Consultoria

Shrug Capital is a Venture capital firm that invests in consumer-based startups. Shrug Capital was founded in 2018 and headquartered in San Francisco, California.

Shrug Capital

500 Global is a multi-stage venture capital firm with $2.4 billion in assets under management. The firm invests in founders who are building fast-growing technology companies. It focuses on markets where technology, innovation, and capital can generate long-term value and economic growth. 500 Global collaborates with key stakeholders and provides advisory services to governments on fostering entrepreneurial ecosystems to support startups. The firm has invested in over 5,000 founders and more than 2,800 companies across 80+ countries. It has funded over 35 companies valued at more than $1 billion and over 160 companies valued at over $100 million, including those that are private, public, or have exited. The team consists of over 190 members based in more than 25 countries, with experience as entrepreneurs, investors, and operators from leading technology companies.

500 Global

Bossa Invest manages investment portfolios and provides asset management services to clients. It analyzes market trends to inform investment decisions. Bossa Invest serves multiple sectors, including finance, technology, and real estate.

Bossa Invest

Pareto Holdings is an early-stage investment vehicle founded by Jon Oringer and Edward Lando. We execute on dozens of investments per month and are often the first to back exceptional entrepreneurs. We are industry and geography agnostic, and specialize in pre-seeding companies. We’ve made 500+ investments to date. Unlike others, we only invest our own money with a small and mighty team around the world.

Pareto Holdings

Hellosaurus

Hellosaurus is an e-learning platform that offers creative programs, fun activities, and video classes for kids. It offers an interactive video platform for children and specializes in the fields of online portals and the internet.

<div>Founded in 2019 by James Ruben, Hellosaurus is a mobile app for families with children aged 2 to 8, providing play experiences that support cognitive and social development. The app uses mobile device capabilities such as multi-touch screens, microphones, and cameras to present engaging, immersive, and interactive content. It also provides tools for creators to make interactive videos with whom subscription proceeds are shared. The platform’s first original series and interactive show, The Birthday Show, debuted in May 2020. The app is an ad-free, subscription-based service.</div>

Remote learning is driving an education technology revolution.

EdTech: K-12

Hellosaurus – Next-gen App Evolves How Kids Engage With Online Content

<div>
 
 Founded in 2019 by James Ruben, Hellosaurus is a mobile app for families with children aged 2 to 8, providing play experiences that support cognitive and social development. The app uses mobile device capabilities such as multi-touch screens, microphones, and cameras to present engaging, immersive, and interactive content. It also provides tools for creators to make interactive videos with whom subscription proceeds are shared. The platform’s first original series and interactive show, The Birthday Show, debuted in May 2020. The app is an ad-free, subscription-based service.
 
 
 Since its launch, the company has entered into partnerships with creators (such as Pocket.watch, Cosmic Kids Yoga, Mother Goose Club, and Sesame Workshop) and added interactive elements to its existing series. In May 2021, for the first time, Hellosaurus co-produced an exclusive interactive miniseries for preschoolers (The Wiggles + You) in partnership with The Wiggles. Additionally, Hellosaurus will add interactive elements to some of The Wiggles’ existing signature music videos. The new offerings will be launched throughout 2021. In September 2021, the company partnered with Jake Bazel, a puppeteer from children’s TV show, Sesame Street, to launch an interactive musical called Duncan the Skunk and the Big Costume Trunk on the app. 
 
 
 In November 2020, the company raised USD 3.5 million in seed funding and plans to use the funds for product and team development.
 
</div>

Founded in 2016, BookNook is an online literacy platform designed for learners in grades 1-5. Partnering with school districts and non-profit organizations, the company focuses on human-to-human learning and works with children one-on-one or in small groups, enabling it to gather rich, observational data. As of June 2021, the company partnered with hundreds of schools, school districts, and non-profits across 35 states.BookNook differs from other digital literacy tools by not requiring students to take formative assessments to check for their understanding. Rather, the platform lets teachers record qualitative data on oral fluency, such as whether a student pauses at punctuation marks as they read aloud, or reads in set phrases. Students can also record self-reflections on the platform.In June 2021, the company partnered with MIND Research Institute, a neuroscience and education social impact organization and creator of the PreK-8 visual instructional program ST Math, to deliver a High Dosage Tutoring program (HDT) for math to K-8 students to address unfinished learning. BookNook tutors will deliver tutoring sessions using the ST Math program over BookNook’s synchronous learning platform. The company launched a new teacher application portal at booknooktutor.com in October 2021, giving experienced teachers the opportunity to apply to become BookNook virtual tutors on its platform. BookNook intends to engage 10,000 virtual teachers to support 80,000 students by the end of the 2021-2022 school year.

BookNook

Story2 uses its proprietary Moments Method writing system, its StoryBuilder software, and live online group coaching to help high school students and professionals improve their writing, speaking, storytelling, and collaboration skills.The company aims to help different segments with their specific needs: students with college admission and scholarship essays, professionals preparing for interviews and creating cover letters, and business teams to improve sales, recruiting and company messaging through effective storytelling.Since 2013, Story2 has worked with more than 200,000 individuals in 21 countries with college admission essays, interview preparation, and pitching ideas. The company is expanding into China and India in 2020 and plans to focus on helping science and technology students improve their communication and leadership skills.

Story2

<div>
 
 Vooks offers a subscription-based, ad-free curated library of children's books converted to video with narration and some slow-paced animation, allowing children to read along while watching. Aimed at young children aged 6 months to 8 years, Vooks promotes reading aloud to develop fluency and comprehension. The company was founded by siblings Marshall Bex and Shannon Bex, and Russell Hirtzel, and is reportedly the first-ever streaming service for books with illustrations, read-along text and animations.
 
 
 In February 2020, Vooks raised USD 12 million in Series A funding; however, the investors and purpose of the funding were not disclosed. In November 2020, the company raised USD 21.9 million in equity investments from more than 30 investors.
 
 
 In November 2020, Vooks partnered with United Way of Metropolitan Dallas (UWMD), a community-based, nonprofit social change organization, and Atmos Energy, a natural gas distributor, to provide around 78,000 one-year Vooks subscriptions for children aged 3 to 6 and early education teachers in the Greater Dallas area. The program is funded by a USD 1 million contribution from Atmos Energy, and contributes to UWMD’s Aspire United 2030 education goal of increasing the number of North Texas students reading at grade level by third grade by 50%. Similarly, in March 2021, the company partnered with Reach Out and Read Of Greater New York (ROR GNY), a nonprofit organization of healthcare providers who promote early literacy. The partnership aims to provide more than 75,000 preschool children with one-year Vooks subscriptions starting in March 2021.
 
 
 In July 2021, it was reported that Vooks is offering its service to authors and producers as a way of quickly testing ideas with audiences through simple animated shorts. Thereby, Vooks expands its library of original content while authors and producers get real-time performance data.
 
</div>

Vooks

Xeropan offers an AI-powered, game-based approach to learning English through 14 of the most widely-spoken languages. As of October 2020, the app had more than one million players.

Xeropan

<div>
 
 GoGuardian is a provider of student security software solutions to help educators identify learning patterns, protect students from harmful and distracting content, and support students at risk of self-harm and suicide. As of August 2021, the company had partnered with more than 10,000 schools in the US, covering more than 22 million students.  
 
 
 In November 2020, GoGuardian announced a 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/1863">
 merger with Pear Deck
 </a>
 to deepen the support provided to students and teachers and improve their in-class experience. Founded in 2014, Pear Deck is a student engagement platform that allows teachers to create, edit, and launch multimedia content and formative assessments on students' devices to increase student engagement. At the time of the merger, Pear Deck was used by 8 million educators and students in more than 17,000 schools worldwide. Pear Deck co-founder and Chief Educator, Michal Eynon-Lynch, will join the GoGuardian Board of Directors. In May 2022, the company acquired 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/10683">
 TutorMe,
 </a>
 Zovio’s tutoring services business, for USD 55 million in cash to strengthen its product offering. 
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 In August 2021, GoGuardian secured a USD 200 million investment from Tiger Global Management. The funds will be allocated for product innovation, talent acquisition, and business development. 
 
 
 
</div>

GoGuardian

Businesses providing education delivery solutions such as learning management systems (LMS), and tech solutions for data analytics, administration, and other services to educational institutions.

Businesses delivering curriculum-based learning, particularly relating to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education to educational institutions and individual students.

Mostly for-profit corporations running state-funded, tuition-free schools as an alternative to traditional public schools.

Businesses providing extra-curricular education relating to the arts, hobbies, and life skills, and entities providing college and career guidance.

Businesses delivering English language arts (ELA) education, and language learning and literacy support to educational institutions and individual students.

Platforms providing students with after-school tutoring support on an individual or group basis.

Businesses delivering early childhood education, special education, and social-emotional learning (SEL) programs to educational institutions and individual students.

Entities providing professional development resources and tools for teachers, and those providing testing and assessment solutions to educational institutions and educators.

Platforms providing student-parent-teacher-school communication and networking solutions, and those providing search, reference, and marketplace solutions.

Companies that use GenAI as a core part of their product offering for EdTech: K12 solutions

Uses GenAI to provide interactive AI tutors, create personallized learning pathways,  and gamified learning solutions

Uses AI/ML to create personalized learning plans, adaptive learning platforms, and intelligent tutoring systems

Adaptive learning platforms, personalized learning plans, and AI-powered analytics provide insight into student performance

Learning platforms that promote an inclusive and equitable educational culture for underserved communities

Hellosaurus

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