Education Startups funded by Y Combinator (YC) in the San Francisco Bay Area 2024

CodeCombat is a multiplayer programming game for learning how to code. With thousands of schools and millions of students, we are bringing K12 computer science education to everyone, regardless of gender, race, or background. Everyone should have the opportunity to learn. The ultimate goal of CodeCombat is to bring more users into the field of computer programming by making the logic and syntax more accessible and enjoyable to learn. The end game is to educate a whole new generation of computer programmers that started their journey by slaying ogres and defending their castles from oncoming enemy hordes. We teach Python, JavaScript, and other languages directly in the browser. Teachers with no computer science background can get started in five minutes. In a world where all programmers have had to be second-language learners, do you want your students to become native speakers of code? Let's chat about bringing CodeCombat to your school! Find us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/CodeCombat

The Cambly app gives English learners instant 1-on-1 access to friendly native speakers over video chat 24/7. Students get an affordable and convenient way to practice their English and gain confidence. Tutors get to make money helping people from around the world practice English.

Lingt empowers teachers to speak more with their students. Create and manage online speaking assignments for use in the classroom.

Outschool is an innovative education platform that offers a variety of engaging, small-group classes online. Unlike traditional classes, Outschool classes give kids the unique opportunity to explore their interests in-depth via interactive, live video by experienced, independent educators. When Outschool was founded in 2015, homeschoolers were the first to discover our classes, but it wasn’t long before kids in conventional schools began supplementing their education with fun and unique, interest-based classes. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Outschool became vital to families who wanted to keep kids learning, social, and pursuing their passions. Today, Outschool offers more than 140,000 live online classes to more than 1,000,000 learners in 183 countries worldwide.

At Goalbook, we empower teachers to transform instruction so that ALL students succeed. We partner with over 1000 districts across 46 states, working closely with school and district leaders to scale and sustain improved instructional practice. Founded by former teachers and administrators, Goalbook was part of YC Edtech's inaugural class and the first company funded through New Schools'​ Seed Fund, now Reach Capital.

Remind is a communication platform that helps every student succeed. Founded in 2011, Remind allows school and district administrators to reach and engage with their communities and connects educators and families with the tools that help them teach and learn.

Educreations is a community where anyone can teach what they know and learn what they don't. Our software turns any iPad or web browser into a recordable, interactive whiteboard, making it easy for teachers and experts to create engaging video lessons and share them on the web. Students can replay these lessons any time, any place, on any connected device. We're on a mission to dramatically improve student achievement by extending the reach of great teaching.

ClassDojo's mission is to give every kid an education they love. Our flagship communication app has become the world’s largest network serving kids, reaching over 51 million kids, families and teachers in 180 countries every month, entirely through word of mouth. They use it to share the best moments in a kid's day through pictures, videos, messages, and more. ClassDojo has recognized by Forbes, LinkedIn, Inc and Fast Company, and it is a top 100 Y Combinator company.

When we began our first experiments with using Mobile devices a few years ago we were very excited by the possibility of learning in nontraditional manner. The beauty of effectiveness of the iPhone first and the iPad platforms gave shape to our vision of building beautiful apps, designed to build learning for your iPhone, iPod touch and iPad Devices. Each of our apps are extremely easy to use, focus on just one area of learning using interactivity and add an element to fun while learning.

Our mission is to make a positive impact in the world by making education more efficient and effective. We strive to enable educators to do what they do best, teach and inspire. edshelf is a directory of websites, mobile apps, and desktop programs that are rated & reviewed by parents & educators, for parents & educators. We help you find the right educational tools for your specific needs.

Hapara gives teachers and administrators greater visibility into digital learning experiences Our instructional management suite enables teachers and administrators to provide all learners with safe, personalized and visible digital learning environments. Hapara provides educators with unprecedented access and visibility into learner work across G Suite. Hapara Analytics provides objective data about your digital adoption, allowing school administrators to see and evaluate data about learner engagement, collaboration and device usage, going back to the day G Suite was implemented.

NoRedInk builds stronger writers through interest-based curriculum, adaptive exercises, and actionable data. We're in over 10,000 schools, and students have answered over 2 billion questions on our platform. Based in San Francisco, NoRedInk was founded in 2012 and is backed by top-tier investors, including: True Ventures, Google Ventures, Learn Capital, Kapor Capital, Social Capital and ImagineK12. We are a team of ~50 people with a deep commitment to unlocking every writer’s potential. We have a strong remote culture; many of our jobs are remote-friendly. Check out our current openings at: https://www.noredink.com/jobs

At Informed K12, we’re on a mission to help school district administrators operate efficiently and gain insight into their most critical school business processes. Still today, most school districts have hundreds of mission critical processes that run on paper, making visibility and improvement near impossible. We transform paperwork from a daily stumbling block to a strategic tool. This makes it possible to hire the right teachers faster, manage bus routes for students without permanent housing, ensure teachers get reimbursed and paid on time, and a lot more. We are powering the future of school district operations by helping district administrators drive the systemic change needed to improve productivity, accountability and equity.

Cloud-based web filtering for K-12 Schools | Parental controls for families | Manage screen time. Any device, anywhere. Not only a pioneer, Securly is also one of fastest-growing EdTech companies in Silicon Valley. Maybe even the world. Our ground-breaking tech allows schools and parents to keep kids safe in what is an increasingly digital world. Our goal is not to censor the Internet, but to mitigate the negative effects it can have on children. To us, a safer world for kids is a goal worth having. Our cloud-based web filter keeps students safe, parents in the loop, and school costs down. On top of this, we are paving the way with an AI that alerts parents and counselors to instances of cyberbullying or even self-harm. Our tech can literally save lives. Pretty cool, right? Not many tech companies can say that. From the coders to the engineers to the interns, everyone at Securly is motivated to make the Internet safer for millions of kids and, as a result, make them better digital citizens. That said, we’re always on the lookout for like-minded people to help us expand our ranks. Securly was founded by two network security veterans with a combined 20+ years of security experience. We proudly serve over 1000 school districts and more than 2M students and staff throughout the world.

Accredible is connecting education with economic value. We want hiring to be about what you can do, your skills and potential and we want education to be better at improving careers. Accredible is the industry-leading digital credentialing platform that securely issues, manages, tracks, and verifies over 80 million career-advancing credentials globally. Accredible integrates with learning software, including Canvas, D2L Brightspace, Kajabi, Kryterion Webassessor, Moodle, Thinkific, and more. Over 2,000 leading universities, associations, and technology companies such as Google, Skillsoft, Slack, Junior Achievement USA, Chartered Banker Institute, University of Cambridge, AMPP, Hootsuite, IEEE, Cengage, MIT, Rutgers, UC Berkeley, AMBA, and The Digital Marketing Institute rely on Accredible to create, deliver, and manage digital certificates and open badges.

Students use Kaizena to request feedback on their work from teachers and other students. From hearing yourself play a wrong note on the piano to a baseball coach guiding your swing, feedback is everyone’s fundamental learning process: try, compare, try again. We extend everyone's natural approach to learning into the classroom.

Literably is a literacy assessment system that screens K-8 students for reading difficulties, monitors their progress as readers, and diagnoses skill gaps. Literably's mobile and web apps allow schools to administer assessments online that otherwise are administered manually. As a result, teachers can spend much less time testing and more time teaching.

Plickers lets you poll your class for free, without the need for student devices. Just give each student a card (a "paper clicker"), and use your smartphone to scan them to do instant checks-for-understanding, exit tickets, and impromptu polls. Best of all, your data is automatically saved, student-by-student, at plickers.com.

In Edpuzzle, you can make any video your lesson. We combine simple video-editing tools with powerful analytics so that a teacher can take a video and make it personal, engaging and effective. Together we are building a pool of the best video lessons for the classroom. We are working towards a day where every teacher and student will be just a click away from an excellent online education.

Edoome turns the classroom into an online community, so teachers, students and parents can communicate and collaborate in an easy and secure way. Edoome is a free service where teachers, students and parents can create or join a course to start collaborating, posting assignments, generating online quizzes and sharing files.

Class Central helps learners Find, Plan, and Track their Online Education As the leading aggregator of MOOCs, Class Central presents curated and student-reviewed high quality courses to help learners make informed online learning decisions. With a simple interface and thousands of reviews, we have helped 4 million people decide which online course to take next. According to SimilarWeb, Class Central is the second biggest source of referral traffic to Coursera. We are building an ecosystem to help guide learners towards their educational goals.

Educents is the trusted resource for every child’s education. It is the best place to discover new ways to make learning fun. Find innovative products and ideas created by a community of experts in education. Educents makes it easy to browse, shop, and discover innovative products that get their kids excited about learning. We also provide an incredibly tailored experience for sellers on our platform - helping small businesses gain exposure to new customers & markets, and big businesses scale their distribution even further. At the end of the day, our goal is to make education as affordable and accessible as possible. Since the launch of Educents in April, 2013, Educents has saved educators over $20 million dollars and has helped more than 500,000 teachers, homeschoolers and parents gain access to educational materials all in one place.

The peer-to-peer platform features the largest searchable database of college and graduate school application files – including essays, extracurriculars, test scores, and advice. The files are all uploaded by college students themselves and displayed in LinkedIn-style profiles. Prospective college students get to read real application examples and connect with the college students behind them. Our revenue-share model offers college students an easy way to make money by passing down their personal application journeys and insights to younger students. For every view their profiles get, they earn a commission. Not only does it bring transparency to the black box of admissions, AdmitSee believes it pays to pay it forward. Our mission is to level the admissions playing field so college is accessible to any student no matter their background. While the platform runs on a subscription service, we offer free access to students who qualify for aid under college readiness programs or those who attend Title I schools. AdmitSee has amassed millions of data points that allow the team to surface admissions insights. Both quantitative and qualitative information can be analyzed to provide big picture admissions trends or personalized recommendations for individual users. The data is applicable not just for students but also for educators and institutional players to better serve applicants. By providing cost-effective, direct access to data-driven peer insights, AdmitSee empowers applicants to improve their application strategies, find trusted peer mentors, and plan for their futures.

Tickle Inc. was one of the first user-generated content companies and one of the first viral media companies, pioneering A/B testing and other growth techniques now followed by much of the industry. It provided quizzes, psychological tests developed by PhD's, social networking, matchmaking, photo sharing, and an ad network called Grapevine. Tickle registered over 150 million people before 2005. Tickle survived the dot-com bubble burst of 2000, raised just one round of $9M, became profitable in early 2002, was acquired by Monster Worldwide in May 2004 for $110M including earnout, and became part of the overall Monster network for 4 years before being shut down by Monster on December 31, 2008.

We believe in applying technology to take away the pain of K-12 operations. This means more time and focus available for students and families. Failing to fill a substitute teacher opening causes teachers, school leaders, and administrators to shuffle around to cover gaps. There's also the time spent on the tedious logistical issues of finding, recruiting, screening, scheduling and paying contract substitute teachers. That's why they introduced SwingSubs: so schools don't have to worry about any of those things and can focus on the important stuff.

Next Tech is an infrastructure and analytics solutions provider dedicated to connecting the dots between the many divisions of the software industry. Our mission is to make it easier than ever to get a highly skilled job in tech, create better software, and build bigger software companies. We provide a variety of products built atop our secure, lightning fast custom computing environments. Hundreds of thousands of people have used hands-on learning experiences, SaaS customer acquisition tools, and raw on-demand computing resources powered by our infrastructure.

Bloom Institute of Technology is a full computer science education that's free until you get a high-paying job. We invest in our students, train them for free, and take a portion of income if they get a job above a certain threshold. If they never make above that threshold or don't get a job in the chosen field, they never pay us a dime.

Pathrise is a career accelerator where you don't pay unless you land a job. Job seekers sign up for Pathrise to get weekly career coaching, access the Pathrise network and use our job search automation software.

We can provide you with the skills, experience and knowledge you need to skyrocket through the ranks of the IT industry faster than anyone even if you have zero experience right now. Our job-ready training program (which is based on our thorough experience working at Cisco, Dimension Data, Arista, etc. and as IT instructors for the U.S. Air Force) and and in-person certification will help you master the most in-demand networking skills in 2-5 months so that you can break into a tech job or get promoted. Additionally, we provide 1:1 live mentorship from some of the best engineers in the world, skills assessment, career guidance and a proven system that can help you prioritize and execute your career plans confidently. Apply to our program here: http://zerotoengineer.com and/or learn more here: http://help.nexgent.com

Juni is a membership-driven learning platform designed to help each student discover and pursue their passions with joy. The company offers award-winning curriculums in Computer Science, Math, and English for students 7-18 taught by near-peer instructors from top universities and access to a global community. Through project-centered courses, best-in-class technology, and the power of community, Juni’s varied learning experiences prepare students for their best future. Juni is backed by Forerunner Ventures, Index Ventures, Y Combinator Co-founder Jessica Livingston, Arielle Zuckerberg, and more. The company is headquartered in San Francisco and was recently featured in Forbes, Fortune, WSJ, Fast Company and TechCrunch.

AskMyClass, is a learning assistant that helps teachers save time and enhance learning, using smart speakers like Alexa, and help students get back-on-task quickly and build life skills through classroom management, social-emotional learning, and lesson support.

AnnieCannons (AC) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to training survivors of human trafficking and gender-based violence to be programmers, giving them both the economic and technological empowerment to invent solutions to overcome the hardships they have survived, and the capacity to support themselves and their families.

Outtalent helps top engineers from emerging markets get jobs abroad at companies like Google. We started Outtalent because we believe that talent is equally distributed, but opportunity is not and emerging markets have an exceptional number of great but undervalued engineers. We believe getting a job at one of the world’s best companies sets people on a great path to realize their full potential. Outtalent is funded by YCombinator, world-class venture capital funds, executives from Google and Facebook, and other angel investors who are passionate about our mission. We have already helped software engineers from Russia, Ukraine and Central Asia get jobs at Google, Amazon, Microsoft and many other companies in the US, Canada, and Europe.

Demand Curve gives founders and marketers what they need to help grow their companies. Through courses, playbooks, conferences, masterclasses, and much more. It also has one of the largest communities and newsletters for founders and growth marketers. Bell Curve, our sister marketing agency, has helped some of the top companies including Pilot, Microsoft, Framer, Stacker, Techcrunch, Ancestry, Invoice2go, and Feedly.

we’re the largest place where you give your idea a shot. and, we mean any idea — a hip-hop album, short film, a novel, some indie software, a youtube channel — whatever. no idea is too big or too small. it all starts with nights & weekends. it's six-weeks where you can start any idea from zero on your nights and weekends, and by the end you'll have your first fans, revenue, downloads, whatever. in 2023: - 12M+ ppl saw our content across Instagram and Twitter. - more than 30,000 people joined nights & weekends to work on their own ideas. - 1,000 people flew to meet us and others like them for 3-days. and, we had 1,000 people come out to one of our physical, 3-day events. to get a sense of what this all looks like in practice, see our video for season four [here](https://twitter.com/FarzaTV/status/1719091708775059754). we even built a [physical campus](https://twitter.com/FarzaTV/status/1678561092308705281) for people who want to go full-time on their idea and need place to figure it out -- again, we don't care how big or small the idea is. overall, it's been a journey. so, now what? in 2023, we built up massive distribution. it was all about creating really high-quality content + experiences. but, it was all very one-off. in 2024, we're fully focused on taking all our learnings and building a world class product. a product that can help millions pursue their passions and build their ideas. and, we're looking for talented engineers and designers to help us figure it out.

Jovian is an online university for software development and data science. We offer practical and industry-focused programs that help professionals learn technical skills, build real-world projects, and advance their careers. Students learn practical skills, build real-world portfolio projects, and undergo job readiness training. Our tutors offer 24x7 guidance & mentorship over Slack & Zoom. Students also get access to jobs with 200+ hiring partners.

Careerist is an ed-fintech platform that trains job seekers for tech careers (in QA, Sales, Support & more), finances them and automates their job hunting. Our B2B2C platform aggregates job seekers, tutors and employers – streamlining training and placement. Techcrunch: "Edtech meets SaaS in Careerist’s job placement learning platform. The startup trains job seekers through live and self-paced training taught by third-party tutors. The adaptive learning software is meant to help candidates prep for tech interviews. Once a candidate is well equipped, Careerist uses automation to help them apply for jobs."

PROBLEM 😩 Zoom is great for adults, not ideal to engage an 8 year old online. SOLUTION 🔥 Koala Go, the award-winning interactive platform for online teaching businesses. Learn more at https://teachwithkoala.com/

Clever is a single platform for all of your digital learning programs. Founded in 2012, Clever was started by educators and technology professionals who knew that schools, teachers, and students could all benefit from the amazing learning software that was available, but key challenges stood in the way of accessing the technology. Today, half of K-12 schools in the U.S. use Clever to give students and teachers single sign-on access for any resource or file they need, and to automate software account setup and updates for district administrators. Clever gives teachers time to teach, helps districts be better informed, and makes using applications in the classroom effortless. We are a team of more than 100 people passionate about education. If you feel the same way, you should see our openings at https://clever.com/about/jobs.

Verbling’s mission is to empower people all over the world to become fluent in a foreign language. We use online live video technology to help people develop their skills together with teachers and students on a global scale. The core team is based in San Francisco, California. The teachers and students who make our mission possible are spread across six continents.

Knowmia is a destination for learning that features short video lessons from great teachers everywhere. We help you to find what you need to succeed in school in a personal, affordable, and time-efficient way. By bringing together a wide range of video lessons and making it easy to find what you need, we help you with challenging topics, prepare you for an upcoming test or new course, and find the right teacher for your style of learning.

Vidcode is computer science courses for tweens and teens. With over three hundred self-guided coding tutorials teens can build their web development skills with Vidcode course tracks. The curricular approach enables students to create video filters, simulations, augmented reality, and other creative projects -- all while learning the fundamentals of computer programming. Founded by female developers and artists, the company was originally built with girls in mind and pays special attention to increasing participation from young women and underrepresented minorities.

To help K-12 educators use data to analyze the past, understand the present, and anticipate the future. THE PROBLEM: K-12 districts collect an enormous amount of student data. Educators now recognize that data can inform decisions that improve student outcomes, but few are equipped to make sense of data in a timely manner. Efforts to be “data-driven” require costly software, time-consuming setup, and extensive training. The resulting reports, which are often complex and outdated, fail to provide the information needed for daily decision-making. WHAT IS LEARNSPROUT? LearnSprout is an online data insights service for K-12 educators. It is the only education analytics solution available that uses live data directly from a district’s student information system. LearnSprout combines assessment results, course grades, and attendance to provide actionable insights into student and school performance. Supported by simple setup, and clear, purposeful design, LearnSprout creates an experience that engages and informs.

Our mission is simple: ensure every student gets a world-class education. Every classroom has students at many different levels. In fact, close to 75% of classrooms have students with reading levels that span across more than four grade levels! Yet, most teachers are only provided with resources that teach one specific level. To overcome this, teachers work nights and weekends to find the perfect piece of content for each of their students. Then, during the day, they work with their classes in small groups so they can personalize their instruction as best they can. Teachers are doing this all on their own and they deserve our help. That’s why, at Freckle, we provide teachers the resources and data they need to teach all of their students at the level that’s best for them.

SchoolMint provides a cloud-based student enrollment and school choice platform to PreK-12 school systems worldwide. Since its founding in 2013, close to 10000 schools have chosen SchoolMint to streamline all aspects of student enrollment - student registration management, application, lottery, and school choice management, and digital forms and document uploads. Available online and on mobile devices, SchoolMint integrates with leading student information systems (SIS) and transforms the end-to-end enrollment experience for school staff and parents. Visit http://www.SchoolMint.com to learn more. SchoolMint is part of the new BV Investment Partners-funded EdTech Platform along with Hero K12.

Py is democratizing access to career opportunities in tech. Our iOS and Android apps have been featured in the App Store & Google Play Store and we've provided millions of lessons and quizzes to our users. We are changing the way that educational content is delivered and modernizing traditional online teaching tools. We launched Py for Work to level the playing field for candidates and empower companies to take a skills-based approach to hiring. Our platform enables companies to assess candidates using real-world assessments, not brain teasers. We’re helping industry leaders like LiveRamp, Amplitude, and Factual approach hiring based on merit, not resume keywords.

We started Mystery.org to create better explanations for every question children have about the world. We began with the 150 most common science questions that children ask teachers. We call this collection Mystery Science. Last year, more than 4 million children used Mystery Science in 50% of U.S. elementary schools. In an industry that is plagued by long sales cycles and high barriers to entry, we’ve sold thousands of schools without a single sales person. We’re backed by a great group of investors including Y Combinator, Learn Capital, and Reach Capital. We’re now moving on to all the other questions children have that they’ll never learn in school. In the last 18 months we received over 500,000 questions from children eager for better explanations of the world. Now we’re creating video explanations for every question. You can think of this like a visual Wikipedia for kids. Our goal is to create a generation of better thinkers. We think this is the most important problem to solve in the world today.

It combines the latest adaptive learning and Natural Language Understanding technology with pedagogical content as well as on-demand human instructors to offer its students affordable, personalized, 1:1 learning. Based in San Francisco, the company was funded by General Catalyst, Y Combinator, Google Assistant Investments Program, and several other investors. Over 800 thousand students have improved their English with Edwin. In early 2020 Edwin merged with MyBuddy.ai. The resulting company kept the name “Buddy.ai”. Headquartered in San Francisco, it focuses on building a virtual English conversation partner for over 500 million children around the globe who are trying to learn English, but can't reach fluency because they lack genuine practice speaking the language. The company doubled down on its mobile app Buddy, the voice-based English tutor for kids, organically combining solutions developed by Buddy.ai and Edwin.