Dunce Deals 5/8/20 - Abwaab, Contra, Shoonya, and Ongo
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 two dozen pre-seed investments in the space including Lambda School, where I am on the board, Outschool, Prenda, and Supernow. Before Dunce, I founded three companies, NetGravity (IPO), Rocketship Public Schools (12k students) and Zeal (sold 2018).
Deals
Abwaab
Abwaab - Test prep for middle and high school students, primarily in STEM. Founder was Uber’s former head of Levant/MENA.
Website: https://abwaab.me/
Founder: Hamdi Tabbaa
Email: hamdi@abwaab.me
Stage: Seed+
Raising: Series A soon
Dunce Investment: Yes
Contra
Contra - LinkedIn for skilled freelancers and remote workers. Very cool network where you add people you’ve worked with on projects and new project referrals flow through the network organically.
Website: https://www.contra.com
Founders: Ben Huffman, Gajus Kuizinas
Email: ben@contra.com
Stage: Seed
Raising: Yes
Dunce Investment: Yes
Shoonya
Shoonya - Media rich language learning for young kids.
Website: https://www.shoonyadigital.com/
Founder: Rashi Bahri Chitnis
Email: rashi.bahri@shoonyadigital.com
Stage: Pre-seed
Raising: Yes
Dunce Investment: No
Ongo
Ongo - Platform allowing influencers and creators to make mobile apps creating community for their followers and subscription revenue for the creator.
Website: https://ongo.app/
Founder: Rick Henrikson
Email: rick@ongo.app
Stage: Seed
Raising: Yes
Dunce Investment: No
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
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.