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Top Edtech Startups to Watch (and Work for) in 2023

August 2, 2023
      |      Kieran Ryan
A bunch of masterclass videos

My Background

Hi, I'm Kieran! I worked in startups for five years at On Deck and Wefunder. Some of my favorite things that I've worked on during my career include:

  • Wefunder Workaway: 12 founders working on a new idea, 7 days, 1 mansion in Hawaii. One of the teams we picked raised a Series A from Andreessen Horowitz, and two people who met during the trip got married...
  • On Deck: As employee #15, I contributed to the startup's growth from no revenue to a $20 million run rate in less than a year. I led the team that built the admission infrastructure to support and scale ~20 fellowships for founders, capital allocators, operators, and creators.
  • XX: Worked on a pre-YC accelerator program that invested $125K on an MFN SAFE into 8-10 teams per cohort.
  • ODX: Worked on a $100 million accelerator program that invested $125K for 7% into 100s of startups. We partnered with leaders like Flexport to build vertical industry tracks around supply chain & logistics, etc.
  • Ryan Marketing: Created an influencer marketing startup (2 million+ Instagram followers) during college with my twin brother and realized early that monetization for creators was broken. I learned a lot, and it paid enough to cover my schooling, rent, and meals.

The Methodology

I considered several data points to arrive at the startups selected on this list, including company traction, funding raised, valuation, and investors. From my initial list, I then referenced each startup with my personal network to narrow down the list to the one you see below. I take my credibility seriously, so I do not take any money from startups who want to be included on this list to remain impartial. If you want to understand my analysis of startups and prefer long-form content, read my research on the top startups of 2023 afterward.

Handshake Logo

Handshake

The #1 way students find jobs.

Headquarters

San Francisco, California

Industry

Consumer, Edtech

Founded

2014

Funding

$434 million

Valuation

$3.5 billion

Traction

  • As of June 2023, Handshake has 12 million+ active students, 1,400+ university partners, and 750K+ employers on its platform.
  • In 2021, Handshake reported 1.7 million connections were made between candidates and employers.
Maven Logo

Maven

Live, online courses.

Headquarters

Remote

Industry

Consumer, Edtech, Creators

Founded

2020

Funding

$25.1 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

  • As of May 2021, Maven courses had a ~75% completion rate.
  • Within three months of launching, the company did over $1 million in revenue from four live courses.
  • As of May 2023, Maven has 400+ courses on the platform, including Shreyas Doshi (Managing your PM Career in 2023 & beyond), Anthony Pompliano (Crypto Academy Training Program), and Christine Carrillo (The 20 Hour CEO).
Reforge Logo

Reforge

Online courses taught by top tech experts.

Headquarters

San Francisco, California

Industry

Edtech

Founded

2016

Funding

$81 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

  • As of June 2023, Reforge reports 1,000+ teams use Reforge, including 76% of the Cloud 100. Customers include teams at Adobe, Slack, Atlassian, Microsoft, Canva, and Shopify.
  • As of June 2023, Reforge has 21 courses.
Coursedog Logo

Coursedog

Integrated academic operations platform.

Headquarters

New York, New York

Industry

Edtech

Founded

2018

Funding

$112.7 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

  • As of March 2023, Coursedog has 170+ customers accounting for 1.2 million students, including Columbia University, Union City College, Illinois Central College, Howard University, Weber State University, Brigham Young University, and the University of California.
  • As of May 2023, Coursedog reports partner Universities score them 9.6/10 on quality of support, 9.3/10 on response speed, 9.6/10 on quality of training, and 9.2/10 on user experience.
KiwiCo Logo

KiwiCo

KiwiCo delivers kids' subscription boxes and STEM, STEAM, science and art kits that provide serious fun and hands-on learning.

Headquarters

Mountain View, California

Industry

Consumer, Edtech, DTC

Founded

2011

Funding

$10 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

  • As of May 2023, KiwiCo has shipped over 40 million Kiwi Crates.
  • As of May 2023, KiwiCo has designed 2,000 projects.
  • As of August 2021, KiwiCo has shipped more than 25 million Kiwi Crates to kids in 40 countries.
Outschool Logo

Outschool

Online classes for kids aged 3-18.

Headquarters

San Francisco, California

Industry

Edtech

Founded

2015

Funding

$240.2 million

Valuation

$3 billion

Traction

  • As of June 2023, Outschool reported 140,000 live online classes, 1 million learnings, 14 million class hours, and $229 million in teacher earnings.
  • As of June 2023, Outschool’s org for financial assistance, Outschool.org, has delivered $4 million in grants and direct-to-family support and has supported 32,000 learners since 2020.
  • From October 2020 to October 2021, Outschool reported increasing bookings by 1,500%.
Masterclass Logo

Masterclass

Online classes taught by experts.

Headquarters

San Francisco, California

Industry

Edtech

Founded

2015

Funding

$461.4 million

Valuation

$2.75 billion

Traction

  • As of June 2023, Masterclass has reported 180+ instructors and classes on the platform.
  • As of June 2023, Masterclass has distributed Masterclass content to 150,000+ currently or formerly incarcerated individuals and sent 345,000+ free annual memberships to underserved communities and 919 organizations.
Outlier Logo

Outlier

The world’s best online education.

Headquarters

Brooklyn, New York

Industry

Edtech

Founded

2018

Funding

$46 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

  • As of June 2023, Outlier claims students can save between 50%-66% on their college education.
  • As of June 2023, Outlier is not accredited but works with Golden Gate University for Degree+ programs and the University of Pittsburgh for individual courses so that students can earn transferable college credits.
Course Hero Logo

Course Hero

Own the study hour.

Headquarters

Redwood City, California

Industry

Edtech

Founded

2006

Funding

$477.4 million

Valuation

$3.6 billion

Traction

  • As of June 2023, Course Hero reported 100,000+ faculty and 150,000+ educators on the platform.
  • As of December 2022, Course Hero helps 20 million+ students study daily.
  • As of December 2021, Course Hero reported they were profitable and cash flow positive on an adjusted EBITA basis for over five years.
  • As of December 2021, Course Hero gained ~2 million subscribers annually.
Disco Logo

Disco

Unleash the potential of your learning community.

Headquarters

Toronto, Canada

Industry

Edtech

Founded

2020

Funding

$19.7 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

  • Disco customers include Agile Academy, Dribble, Cilar, Monitor Deloitte, allWomen, YSpace, and WeAreNoCode.
  • As of June 2023, Disco claims its product saves customers 100s of hours of managing their community with bots, automation, and bulk actions.
Tutored by Teachers Logo

Tutored by Teachers

High-dosage tutoring.

Headquarters

New York, New York

Industry

Edtech

Founded

2020

Funding

$10 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

  • As of June 2023, Tutored by Teachers reported 10,000+ students on the platform and 1,000+ licensed teachers.
  • As of June 2023, Tutored by Teachers reported 17% average growth in Math standards and 22% average growth in ELA standards for the Los Angeles Unified School District and 20% and 7%, respectively, for Indianapolis Public Schools.
  • Tutored by Teachers, customers include the Los Angeles Unified School District, Indianapolis Public Schools, Gwinnett County Public Schools, Hebrew Public Charter Schools, and United Schools of Indianapolis.
Guild Education Logo

Guild Education

We help employers provide their workforce with tuition-free education, skilling, and career mobility.

Headquarters

Denver, Colorado

Industry

Edtech

Founded

2015

Funding

$643.2 million

Valuation

$4.4 billion

Traction

  • As of June 2023, Guild Education reported a 2.1x increase in retention.
  • Guild Education customers include Walmart, PepsiCo, Taco Bell, Lowe’s, Hilton, Target, Chipotle, Sunrun, Tyson, UCHealth, Waste Management, Discover, and Bon Secours Mercy Health.
Ethena Logo

Ethena

Compliance training for today’s teams.

Headquarters

New York, New York

Industry

Edtech

Founded

2019

Funding

$50.4 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

  • Ethena customers include Zendesk, Figma, Front, Cedar, Pinterest, Carta, and Notion.
  • As of February 2022, 40,000+ employees are on the platform.
BrightChamps Logo

BrightChamps

K-12 learning programs in coding, financial literacy, robotics, and communication.

Headquarters

Paya Lebar, Singapore

Industry

Edtech

Founded

2020

Funding

$102 million

Valuation

~$500 million

Traction

  • As of June 2023, BrightChamps reported 500,000+ monthly classes, 1 million+ users, and a 4.8/5 star global rating.
Photomath Logo

Photomath

Your ultimate math help app.

Headquarters

San Mateo, California

Industry

Edtech

Founded

2014

Funding

$29 million

Valuation

Acquired by Google

Traction

  • As of June 2023, Photomath reported 300 million+ downloads, up from 220 million in February 2021.
  • As of June 2023, Photomath has rated 4.8/5 stars from 646,300+ reviews on the Apple App Store and 4.6/5 stars from 2.96 million reviews on the Google Play Store.
  • As of June 2023, Photomath is available in 200+ countries and 30+ languages.
  • In March 2023, EU regulators cleared Google’s acquisition of Photomath.
Abwaab Logo

Abwaab

Online learning ecosystem.

Headquarters

Amman, Amman, Jordan

Industry

Edtech

Founded

2019

Funding

$27.5 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

  • As of June 2023, Abwaab reported that 1 million+ students have used the platform.
  • As of June 2023, Abwaab reported students saw a 35% improvement in academic performance, a 97% savings in educational expenses, and learned material 2.4x per hour faster.
Buildspace Logo

Buildspace

The place where people build cool shit.

Headquarters

San Francisco, California

Industry

Edtech

Founded

2019

Funding

$10 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

  • As of June 2023, Buildspace’s Discord community has 8,615 members.
  • As of November 2022, Buildspace has 125,000+ customers.
Panorama Education Logo

Panorama Education

A comprehensive, actional view of every student in one system.

Headquarters

Boston, Massachusetts

Industry

Edtech

Founded

2012

Funding

$105 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

  • As of June 2023, Panorama Education has 2,000+ districts on its platform, up from 1,500 in September 2021.
  • As of June 2023, Panorama Education supports 15 million students, up from 13 million in September 2021, and 25,000 schools, up from 23,000 in September 2021.
  • As of September 2021, Panorama Education reported 50 of the country's largest 100 school districts and state agencies on the platform.
  • From March 2020 to September 2021, Panorama Education added 700 school districts to the platform.
  • Panorama Education customers include Everett Public Schools, Ogden School District, Herriman High School, Dallas Independent School District, and the Franklin West Supervisory Union.
ClassDojo Logo

ClassDojo

Where classrooms become communities.

Headquarters

San Francisco, California

Industry

Edtech

Founded

2011

Funding

$191.1 million

Valuation

$1.25 billion

Traction

  • As of June 2023, ClassDojo reports 50 million+ students and parents on the platform.
  • As of June 2023, ClassDojo has rated 4.8/5 stars from 2.7 million Apple App Store ratings and 4.8/5 stars from 834K Google Play Store Ratings.
  • As of July 2022, ClassDojo claims 95% of US schools use the platform.
Juni Learning Logo

Juni Learning

Learning through mentorship.

Headquarters

San Francisco, California

Industry

Edtech

Founded

2017

Funding

$11.3 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

  • As of June 2023, Juni Learning has rated 4.8/5 stars from 327 reviews on Trustpilot.
  • In 2020, Juni Learning delivered 50,000+ classes in a 3-month timeframe.
Curious Cardinals Logo

Curious Cardinals

A network of brilliant college mentors.

Headquarters

San Francisco, California

Industry

Edtech

Founded

2020

Funding

$6.8 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

  • Curious Cardinals did $600,000+ in ARR in its first year of business.
  • As of June 2023, Curious Cardinals has 290 mentors from 39 universities across 8+ disciplines with expertise in 147 topics.
  • As of October 2021, Curious Cardinals reported 3,000+ customers.
Campus.edu Logo

Campus.edu

A community college for the future.

Headquarters

New York, New York

Industry

Edtech

Founded

2016

Funding

$32.6 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

  • As of May 2023, Campus.edu has 850 students enrolled in its Sacramento, California campus.
  • As of May 2023, Campus.edu reported campus professors increased their annual salary by 20% on average.
Primer Logo

Primer

Micro-school K-8th grade.

Headquarters

San Francisco, California

Industry

Edtech

Founded

2019

Funding

$18.7 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

  • As of July 2023, Primer has four campuses across South Florida in Coconut Grove, Liberty City, Miami Health District, and Kendall.

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