Rethink Impact is the largest, US-based impact venture capital firm with a gender lens that invests in female leaders using technology to solve the world’s biggest problems. We believe that the next generation of extraordinary companies (in health, environmental sustainability, education, and economic empowerment) will find success through their relentless pursuit of mission, for the benefit of all communities. We seek mission-driven founders and teams leveraging breakthrough innovations in technology for the benefit of people and planet. Our primary focus is on companies with female CEOs, or in some cases, women in C-level roles (e.g. CTO, COO, CRO, or CFO). We write $2M-$10M checks to lead or co-invest in Late Seed–Series C rounds. We look for companies with $500K-$15M in annual recurring revenue that are on a path to grow to $50M-$100M in the next five years (although, we will invest in later-stage deals where we believe we can have a significant impact and where the company is a fit for our mission more broadly). We have a bias towards capital-efficient, software solutions and marketplaces solving critical problems for businesses (B2B and B2B2C) and, ultimately, the communities they serve. We are actively sourcing investments that are making new digital health and education innovations broadly accessible to improve outcomes and reduce costs, providing tools for individuals and families to move up the economic ladder, and speeding the transition to a more sustainable and resource-efficient economy. We work to actively support our portfolio companies, helping them with everything from their next round of financing to leveraging their mission as a competitive advantage in hiring, growth, and brand building.

Rethink Impact

Bonsal Capital is a mission-driven partnership investing primarily in the Capital Region in technology enabled services in education and workforce. The firm was founded in 1999 by New Enterprise Associates (NEA) cofounder Frank A. Bonsal, Jr and is based in Baltimore, Maryland.

Bonsal Capital

City Light is a venture capital firm that invests early in impactful companies. They partner with experienced teams building category-defining solutions in the areas of education, safety and care, and the environment - where more revenue equals better lives at scale, every time. As one of the earliest and most successful impacts investing firms, City Light has a track record of identifying and scaling impact in ways that build better companies.  The firm was founded in 2004 and is based in New York, New York. Some of its key portfolio investments are 2U (Nasdaq: TWOU), ShotSpotter (Nasdaq: SSTI), Trilogy Education, and Ready Responders.

City Light Capital

Reach supports entrepreneurs that develops technology solutions for challenges across early childhood, K-12, higher education, and workforce reskilling and upskilling. They invest in early-stage tech tools, applications, content, and services to improve educational opportunities for all learners. The Fund also acts as a catalyst, inspiring and enabling traditional and non-traditional investors to provide capital to the fast-growing ed-tech market.

Reach Capital

Red House Education is an early stage social venture capital fund focused on educators and emerging education companies.

Red House Education

Edovate Capital is a seed and early stage venture capital company that invests in the education sector.

Edovate Capital

Gary Community Investments is a financial services company that invests in for-profit and philanthropic solutions for low-income children and their families.

Gary Community Investments

Copper Wire Ventures is dedicated to helping women entrepreneurs find early-stage capital and strategic advice for their companies and technology-driven products or services. We primarily invest in the future of learning, but will consider investments in crossover technology sectors as well. We are committed to supporting entrepreneurs from the start — often coming in as the first investor in a new idea or product launch — and sticking with them as they follow through and bring on new investors. Please get in touch if you are looking to break down the walls of traditional education and venture investment in women-led companies.

Copper Wire Ventures

EveryDay Labs

EveryDay Labs unites behavioral science, data science, and family engagement to reduce chronic absenteeism while empowering educators to optimize student supports districtwide.

<div>Founded in 2015, EveryDay Labs offers research-based communication toolkits backed by behavioral science, data science, and family engagement research, to reduce student absenteeism. These toolkits include webinars and e-books in three categories: family partnerships, attendance, and evidence. Additionally, the company publishes research from nine randomized controlled trials with over 200,000 students on the subjects of student absenteeism and communications to be implemented by the school administration. The company reports that since its launch, it has prevented over 650,000 absences and increased instructional time for students by over 260 million minutes. </div>

Remote learning is driving an education technology revolution.

EdTech: K-12

EveryDay Labs Raises $8M in Series A Funding

<div>
 
 Founded in 2015, EveryDay Labs offers research-based communication toolkits backed by behavioral science, data science, and family engagement research, to reduce student absenteeism. These toolkits include webinars and e-books in three categories: family partnerships, attendance, and evidence. Additionally, the company publishes research from nine randomized controlled trials with over 200,000 students on the subjects of student absenteeism and communications to be implemented by the school administration. The company reports that since its launch, it has prevented over 650,000 absences and increased instructional time for students by over 260 million minutes. 
 
 
 In August 2021, the company raised USD 8 million in Series A funding led by Rethink Impact. The funds will be used to scale the company’s research-based communication tools. 
 
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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.
 
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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. 
 
 
 
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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

EveryDay Labs

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