Notation Capital is a pre-seed venture capital firm that work with technical founding teams. Notation Capital focus on early-stage technical teams, often pre-market or even pre-product, primarily in New York, and provide capital and support to help go-to-market and scale the company.

Notation Capital

Collaborative Fund is an investment fund that provides funding to companies based on creativity and collaborative consumption. The fund centers around two macro themes which drives business innovation in the coming years: the growth of the creative class and the concept of collaborative consumption. Craig Shapiro founded it in New York in 2010.

Collaborative Fund

Female Founders Fund is an early-stage fund investing in technology companies founded by women. They also invest in e-commerce, media, platforms, advertising, and web-enabled services businesses. Founded in 2014, the fund has built a recognized brand investing in female-run internet and software startups.

Female Founders Fund

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

Draft Ventures is a technology-based investment fund that specializes in early-stage investments primarily in San Francisco, New York, Austin, and Los Angeles. It also provides operational advice and support to its portfolio companies. Draft Ventures was founded by David Rodriguez and Artia Moghbel in 2015. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

Draft Ventures

Advance Venture Partners (''''AVP'''') is a venture capital and growth equity investment firm that combines the disciplined approach of an institutional equity investor with the strategic insights, access and impact of a strategic investor.  AVP invests in early growth stage companies that can benefit from the Firm’s partnership with Advance Publications - one of the world’s premier global media franchises and the owner or substantial shareholder of media and technology businesses such as Conde Nast, Charter Communications, Discovery Communications, Reddit and 1010Data.  AVP invests $10 million to $30 million in each of its investments, and is a hands-on partner to entrepreneurs in growing businesses and building value.  AVP’s investments include Compass, Curology, Farfetch, Gigya, Mediamorph, Nativo, Rent the Runway and Vestiaire Collective.

Advance Venture Partners

Chan Zuckerberg Initiative supports strong, independent leaders from academia and government, as well as the technology and non-profit sectors, to do the work possible. They engage directly in the communities they serve because no one understands their society’s challenges like those who live with them every day. These partners help them identify problems and opportunities, learn fast, and iterate toward their goals for the next century.

Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

Venture fund investing in early stage companies in tech, media, and entertainment

3311 Ventures

V1.VC offers in investing in early-stage internet, B2B software, consumer, financial, crypto, and deep tech businesses. They support aspirational founders as long-term, patient capital partners. Our objective as present and previous operators is to be the investor who is most supportive of a founder.

v1.vc

Eudemian Ventures is a Silicon Valley venture capital firm with a transatlantic footprint investing in US Seed and Series A software startups with the potential to become global market leaders. The firm focus on AI, B2B SaaS, Consumer, Marketplaces, FinTech, and Digital Health software.

Eudemian Ventures

Sawyer

Sawyer connects children, parents, and providers of the best enriching childhood experiences through a suite of industry-leading technology solutions with a goal to ensure every child has the opportunity to discover their own love of learning. Sawyer empowers small business owners, enterprise organizations, non-profits, and traditional educational institutions by streamlining their online registration and booking processes, providing business intelligence tools to drive decision making, and connecting them to a curated community of industry experts, resources, and cutting-edge research to grow their businesses and increase their impact. They help parents navigate the intense, fragmented world of early childhood development by creating tools that help them balance and manage their children’s day-to-day lives, discover a whole world of adventure right in their own neighborhoods, and make booking their next educational experience as simple and accessible as possible. Sawyer is on a mission to change the way the world thinks about learning–that a great education isn’t just about high test scores or a flawless report card, it’s about building the capacity for discovery in children through adventures that delight them today and prepare them for tomorrow.

Sawyer is an online platform in the children's education and activities sector, providing a digital marketplace for parents to discover and book camps, activities, and classes in music, art, dance, theater, STEM, cooking, etc. for their children. The company offers a catalog of virtual and in-person classes for children of all ages. The free or paid classes are taught by professionals. The company's technology makes it easy for parents to find and sign up for activities based on their child's interests, age range, and location.

Remote learning is driving an education technology revolution.

EdTech: K-12

Ann Arbor-based DaySmart Acquires Sawyer in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Sawyer is an online platform in the children's education and activities sector, providing a digital marketplace for parents to discover and book camps, activities, and classes in music, art, dance, theater, STEM, cooking, etc. for their children. The company offers a catalog of virtual and in-person classes for children of all ages. The free or paid classes are taught by professionals. The company's technology makes it easy for parents to find and sign up for activities based on their child's interests, age range, and location.Sawyer's platform also supports small businesses in the education sector by helping them manage their operations and expand their customer base.<a href="https://www.hisawyer.com/for-business/blog/introducing-the-sawyer-childrens-activity-business-2022-trend-report#:~:text=7.2%20million%20bookings">In 2022</a>, Sawyer processed 7.2 million bookings for children's activities and education providers on its platform, reporting a 490% increase in revenue from 2019 to 2022.Key customers and partnershipsSawyer works with over<a href="https://yoobi.com/blogs/news/discover-sawyer#:~:text=working%20with%20over-,300%20education,-providers%20across%20NYC"> 300 education institutions </a>across New York City and Los Angeles. Notable partners include FunikiJam, Treasure Trunk, Puppetsburg in New York City, and Kid Spot and Bietnik in Los Angeles.

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

Sawyer

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