Dunce Deals #28 - Netzun, GoSchoolBox, Coursello, and syndicate for TinyCare
Hi, I'm John Danner, Managing Director of Dunce Capital. Dunce Deals is my look at the most interesting deals and news from edtech and the future of work. In the last four years, I have made over three dozen pre-seed investments in the space including Lambda School, Outschool, GetSetup, and Maven. Before Dunce, I founded three companies, NetGravity (IPO), Rocketship Public Schools (12k students) and Zeal (sold 2018).
Thoughts
This week was the GSV conference. It’s the main conference in edtech and the future of work and the only one I go to every year. This one was special because it was just awesome to get to see so many people face to face. I have not met a quarter of my founders in person because of Covid, and got to check a bunch of those off! And just getting out in a large group felt great (once we got through proving we were tested/etc.) I really do hope for everyone’s mental health that there is more not less of this in the future.
This week I wrote a piece about one of the things I spend too much time pushing my k12 founders on, how to be student-first instead of parent-first.
Syndicates
I’m happy to say after just a week, the Getsetup syndicate is fully funded. It’s nice to have our first syndicate be such a success, and Getsetup is an amazing company.
This week we have two syndicates. Warning that we let in a bunch of other angels this past week beyond Dunce Deals readers, but you get to hear about this first, so if you are interested, go ahead and take a look.
First, we have a follow-on syndicate for TinyCare, who is closing their Series A with Acme Capital and has been kind enough to give Dunce Deals syndicate a slice. I have worked with Michael, the founder of TinyCare, since before day one, and was first check. They are pioneering micro-daycare in apartments and homes in urban areas. They’ve grown 10x during Covid and are executing very well.
Second, we had a lot of interest in lancify a couple of weeks ago in Dunce Deals, so we put together a syndicate for those of you who want to get in early. As a reminder, lancify trains people in white collar new economy gigs like making Shopify sites and gets them started on finding gigs.
Deals
Netzun
Description: Microlearning in LatAm
Website: www.netzun.com
Founder: Juan Carlos Solidoro
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsolidoro/
Email: jcsolidoro@netzun.com
Stage: Pre-seed
Raising: Yes
Current Dunce Investment: No
Notes: If you are wondering if you accidentally went to the Crehana website, I was too. These guys are Peruvian like Crehana, and while much smaller have built a solid profitable business and raising at a reasonable valuation.
GoSchoolBox
Description: A SaaS platform for your organization to manage thousands of live learning streams.
Website: https://goschoolbox.com/
Founder: Parsa Rezvani
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/parsa-rezvani-85319aa6
Email: parsa@tutorfly.org
Stage: Pre-seed
Raising: Yes
Current Dunce Investment: No
Notes: Parsa is one of my favorite young founders. He previously founded Tutorfly, a tutoring network. That helped him figure out what a company doing tutoring might need in a SaaS platform. This is in the same space as Virtually, Epihub, Class.com and probably forty other companies. This may also smash up against the Cohort-Based Course world of Maven and many others. And just one more piece of bad news - Parsa is still juggling selling both to school districts and normal companies. I doubt that’s one company in the end. All of that said, he is superhuman in his hustle and determination, and very very smart. If you like to bet early on people, talk to him, and you will see.
Coursello
Description: Small-group, online, dual enrollment courses for high schoolers
Website: www.coursello.com
Founder: Eric Westendorf
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-westendorf-0393bb
Email: ewestendorf@gmail.com
Stage: Idea
Raising: Not yet
Current Dunce Investment: No
Notes: You can thank me later if you didn’t know Eric, the founder of LearnZillion, is starting a new company. Enough said.
Here is the complete list of Dunce Investments:
Mystery Science - purchased by Discovery Education 2020
Swing - on-demand talent for the education market
Epic! - the best children’s books digitally for every classroom and every home
Kunduz - the leader in test prep for Turkey
Erudifi - loans for students going to vocational schools and higher ed in SE Asia.
Outschool - the best marketplace of live small classes for your k-12 student
Juni - Coding, Math, and English instruction 1-1 and small group
Lambda School - teaching students to code and get jobs in great companies
LingoKids - English learning for young children
Padlet - a modern document creation and sharing platform
TinyCare - micro-daycare centers
SV Academy - teaching students tech sales and getting them jobs in great companies
Sora - a better high school, completely online
Prenda - micro-schools to unlock your child’s talent
CoLearn - K-9 virtual unschooling that’s better than free.
Galileo - the first online world school
Beanstalk - live classes for young children
GetSetup - live social network for seniors
Primer - live academic and social network for homeschoolers
Contra - social network for freelancers
Fourthrev - run digital bootcamps for universities focused on in-demand job skills
Marketerhire - marketing experts from that you can rent
Abwaab - the best test prep platform in MENA
Supernow - live classes and clubs for elementary and middle schoolers
Maven - the leader in cohort-based courses
Prendea - live classes and social network for students in LatAm
Kritik - peer grading for higher ed
Major League Hacking - hackathons and fellowships for university students
Reforge - live classes on Growth for upskilling professionals
Synthesis School - learn problem-solving by playing video games
AI Camp - AI for ages 13-18 from Stanford pHDs.
Bindr - Silent study groups online.
The Explanation Company - Google for kids.
Omella - payments for schools, non-profits, and small businesses.
Geniebook - a personalized learning platform for Singapore and Vietnam.
Hallo - cohort-based language learning.
StudyStream - Silent study groups online.
CoLearn - K-9 virtual unschooling that’s better than free.
This newsletter is not an offer to sell securities nor a solicitation of an offer to buy any security. I am not acting as your financial advisor and I urge you to consult your own advisors before making any investment decision.