THE EARLY BIRD GETS THE WORM. And these early-childhood learning tools got the grants. Last week, NewSchools Venture Fund awarded $1.5 million total in grant funding across 15 startups and nonprofits creating educational products for children in grades PreK to second grade. Awardees range from fledgling startups like Brightwheel and WriteReader, to decades-old nonprofits including MIND Research Institute, Reasoning Mind and Waterford Institute.
The full list:
- AppleTree Institute for Education Innovation
- Brightwheel
- CodeSpark
- Cognitive ToyBox
- Family Engagement Lab
- Kaymbu
- Learning Genie
- Mawi Learning
- MIND Research Institute
- Sparkler
- Peekapak
- Reasoning Mind
- Teachley
- Waterford Institute
- WriteReader
Each of the winners will receive $50,000 to $150,000, depending on their product development stage. One of them, Peekapak, used the funds to further development of a social-emotional learning game for children.
The awards come as a part of NewSchools’ Early Learning Challenge, a six-month virtual accelerator program that also offers remote mentorship, product feedback and research partnership. Previous challenges covered science, middle- and high-school math, special education and supports for English language learners.
