Dunce Deals #33 - SOC, Speakwiz, and Readocracy

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

Sorry for being delinquent on Dunce Deals. I took a class a few weeks ago from Sahil Bloom and have been figuring out how to write better threads. Here are a couple that folks have liked:

The current funding market is terrible for founders

How could web3 reshape education

Anyway, I think I can get back in the rhythm of sharing my deals again regularly.

News

Congrats to Outschool on their Series D raise!

This would not normally be news, but I was able to have lunch in person with the founders of Prendea this week. They are an awesome Peruvian team and great to get to spend time in person.

Deals

SOC

Description: SOC connects college students to real-world projects created by companies to gain experience and apply for jobs.

Website: https://studentopportunitycenter.com

Founder: Chris Freire

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisfreire

Email: chris@studentopportunitycenter.com

Stage: Pre-seed

Raising: Yes

Current Dunce Investment: No

Notes: I am a sucker for all things that smell of fellowships. I’m particularly interested in startups trying to get companies to rethink their recruiting funnel around projects that applicants can complete as the first step. SOC is using colleges as their pipeline for applicants and connecting them with companies who want to rethink their college recruiting.

Speakwiz

Description: Learn languages by socializing.

Website: https://www.speakwiz.com/

Founder: Daniel Shnaider

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-shnaider/

Email: daniel@speakwiz.com

Stage: Pre-seed

Raising: Yes

Current Dunce Investment: No

Notes: Another space I love (Hallo especially). Daniel and his brother Michael have the right idea by making Speakwiz a social space with some tutoring and structure. It’s too early to tell if this can turn into a social network for language learning. Somebody is going to pull this off and it will be big.

Readocracy

Description: A tool that motivates you to read more.

Website: https://readocracy.com

Founder: Mario Vasilescu

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariovasilescu/

Email: mario@readocracy.com

Stage: Pre-seed

Raising: Yes

Current Dunce Investment: No

Notes: Like many of you, I was an avid Pocket user for several years. The promise there was that they would save the articles I marked for me, and that just never worked. Their UI also stagnated and they never really got the social part right. Mario is taking a shot at creating the right game and social environment to get people to read more. This is early and he needs to remove about 90% of the text on my homepage, but I’m a big believer in people reading more, so I am rooting for him.

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.

Ender - Minecraft competitions.

Stepful - A career training center for nurses.

Stoa - AltMBA for India.

Kurios - Reforge for LatAm.

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.

I would love for you to follow me on twitter @jwdanner or read my medium posts medium.com/@johnwdanner