Participated · Series A · Jun 2024

Founded in 2023 by former school leader Adeel Khan, MagicSchool integrates large-model capabilities into K-12 workflows to help teachers prepare lessons, create differentiated assignments, grade writing to state standards and provide student-facing tools like algebra tutoring and writing feedback. The platform supports integrations with common school systems such as Google Classroom, Canvas, Schoology and Microsoft, and offers a free tier, paid teacher subscriptions and enterprise deployments priced for schools and districts. MagicSchool has expanded into district use, counting partnerships with major systems including Denver Public Schools, Broward County and Hillsborough County, and reports that about one in five U.S. children attend schools partnered with the company. The startup launched MagicSchool Labs to enable natural-language queries and analysis of school data and continues to add managed student-facing tools for districts. As of the latest reporting the platform has roughly 8 million registered educators and has seen revenue grow about threefold year-over-year. The company plans to continue investing in product, engineering, school partnerships and product safety as it scales district deployments.

Participated · Series A · Sep 2023

Ello is a subscription-based AI reading coach for kindergarten through Grade 3 that uses proprietary child speech recognition to listen to kids read aloud, correct mispronunciations, and apply phonics-based strategies. The tablet app delivers five hand-selected books each month and charges $24.99 for the first child with additional kids at $12.49 per month. The coach waits until a child finishes a page before offering instruction, includes a tappable help icon, and layers gamification with points redeemable for toys and prizes. The company claims its speech models outperform OpenAI's Whisper and Google Cloud's speech API and reports 10,000 families on the platform and more than 300,000 books read. On the roadmap Ello is adding smartphone support, integrating generative AI, testing a German version, and building a classroom product while running pilot programs with about 30 schools mostly in San Francisco and New York.