Dunce Deals 6/5/20 - Cocoon, ChatClass, Hoot Reading, and XMetryx
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
Cocoon
Cocoon: Financial and Legal Services for Early Childhood
Website: pre-website :)
Founder: Mahima Chawla
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mahima-chawla-4a36a02a
Email: mchawla8@gmail.com
Stage: Idea
Raising: Yes
Dunce Deal: No
ChatClass
ChatClass: english learning through whatsapp
Website: chatclass.ai
Founder: Jan Krutzinna
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jankrutzinna
Email: jan@chatclass.com.br
Stage: Pre-Seed
Raising: Yes
Dunce Deal: No
Hoot Reading
Hoot Reading: Live tutoring for kids learning to read
Website: https://www.hootreading.com/
Founder: Carly Shuler
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlyshuler/
Email: carly@hootreading.com
Stage: Seed
Raising: Yes
Dunce Deal: No
XMetryx
Xmetryx.com: Simple bi-weekly assessment to measure trust among remote team members, presented in a nice dashboard to managers.
Website: xmetryx.com
Founder: Jeb Hurley
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jebhurley
Email: jeb@xmetryx.com
Stage: Pre-seed
Raising: Yes
Dunce Deal: 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.