Nucleos offers an all-in-one service that brings web-based educational content and authorized media to correctional facilities via secure tablets. The company handles security, disables components that could enable prohibited outside communication, and tracks courses and credentials for reentry. Nucleos does not manufacture tablets or create course content, but integrates those elements for facilities and partners with in-person educators rather than replacing them. Authorized media available through its library system includes e-books and movies, and the company says it may offer video calling and messaging in the future. Nucleos emphasizes digital literacy training alongside its tools to help incarcerated people use modern interfaces. The organization recently reclassified as a public benefit corporation and runs a “reentry-as-a-service” program supported in part by public funding such as San Francisco’s "People Over Profits" program. To sustain operations while pursuing more facility deals, Nucleos raised private investment and grants. Nucleos has built an online portal for tablets and computer labs in prisons that offers academic coursework, mental‑wellness content and vocational training with an emphasis on credentials that count toward high school or industry certification. Content from 10 companies is available, covering high‑school credit recovery, literacy, typing and job‑related skills; some programs offer industry‑recognized certifications such as NCCER and OSHA. The platform also tracks inmates’ completed programs and certifications to address frequent transfers between facilities. The company is San Jose, Calif.‑based and was founded in 2017; its software is currently used at one juvenile facility while it is in discussions with community colleges and county and state departments of corrections. Nucleos plans to charge correctional facilities directly for access to its software and is working on a partnership with an online course provider that partners with major universities. The team of five has been funded by friends and family, a Princeton alumni fund, a $225,000 NSF grant and recent investor support.

Total raised

$3M

Funding rounds

2

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

Nov 2023