Dunce Deals 9/11/20 - Supernow, StackRaft, Underpinned, TinyLabs
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).
Thoughts
hope you are having a great week! Sorry for missing a week of deals, but I was taking my daughter to college (WashU St. Louis). Covid travel is not for the faint of heart! K12 is finally starting to slow down a bit as we get into the school year, but there are still some great new founders.
Deals
Supernow
Description: Amazing large and small group classes for kids ages 5-10. Great female founders from Rent the Runway.
Website: campsupernow.com
Founder: Lyndsey Wheeler
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lyndseywheeler/
Email: lyndsey@campsupernow.com
Stage: Seed
Raising: No
Dunce Deal: Yes
StackRaft
Description: Remote engineering opportunities for technical talent around the world.
Website: stackraft.com
Founder: Vartika Manasvi
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vartikamanasvi
Email: vartika@stackraft.com
Stage: Idea
Raising: Yes
Dunce Deal: No
Underpinned
Description: All your freelance admin needs, from finding work, managing work, to getting paid, in one convenient web app
Website: underpinned.co
Founder: Albert Azis-Clauson
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/albert-aziz-656728126
Email: albert@underpinned.com
Stage: Seed
Raising: Yes
Dunce Deal: No
TinyLabs
Description: Small group classes for children in the Philippines
Website: maketinylabs.com
Founder: Erika Pineda
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erika-magdalena-pineda-82a32622/
Email: erika@maketinylabs.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.