MagicSchool AI, a platform that offers AI tools for educators, has raised $15 million in a Series A round led by Bain Capital Ventures.
Adobe Ventures and Common Sense Media also participated in the round alongside angel investors, including Replit founder Amjad Masad, Clever co-founders Tyler Bosmeny and Rafael Garcia, and Outschool co-founder Amir Nathoo.
MagicSchool said it planned to used the funding to build its staff and further develop its K-12 products.
The startup’s platform offers teachers AI tools that are designed to help them rewrite texts, adapt material to different grade levels, build lesson plans, create assessments, generate IEPs, summarize text, and provide feedback on student work, among other capabilities.
The company recently launched a student-facing platform that gives students access to AI modules for translating, summarizing, tutoring, and getting feedback on writing and math. The company said its products are aimed at both reducing educators’ workloads and building students’ ability to use AI responsibly.
“With rapid advancements in AI, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform the educational system for the better,” MagicSchool Founder and CEO Adeel Khan said in a statement. “I believe that AI can help fight teacher burnout while simultaneously preparing students for a workforce that will expect AI competencies and skills.”
The company reports more than 3,000 schools and districts use the platform, including Atlanta Public Schools and Seattle Public Schools.
“We were blown away that MagicSchool AI has had such an outsized impact in a short period of time,” Christina Melas-Kyriazi, partner at Bain Capital Ventures, said in a statement.
“AI has a massive opportunity in education — both to alleviate the burden of heavy teacher workloads, and to enable personalized education for every student, and MagicSchool AI continues to innovate and develop new offerings to match the moment for this opportunity.”
Instructure scoops up Scribbles. Instructure acquired student records management platform Scribbles, the companies said Monday.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Salt Lake City-based Instructure, which offers learning management solution Canvas, said it purchased Scribbles from investment firm Alamar Partners as part of the company’s efforts to further build out its credentialing network and tools aimed at student mobility and record transfers.
Scribbles, which is based in Charlotte, N.C., and employs about 35 people, offers software tools focused on K-12 records management, enrollment, and school choice.
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The company isn’t the first Instructure has purchased to build out its records and credentialing capabilities. It acquired credentialing management platform Parchment in February for $835 million.
Scribbles joins Parchment “as a key element of the Instructure ecosystem, bringing enhanced capabilities for credential validation, transfer and storage to the world’s largest credentialing network,” CEO Steve Daly said in a statement.
“By providing enrollment and student transfer solutions, we’ll also help parents, schools and districts seamlessly navigate the pathways that learners and their parents choose,” he added.
Owl Ventures leads Authentica’s $6.2M seed round. K-12 data management software provider Authentica raised a $6.2 million seed round led by ed-tech venture capital firm Owl Ventures, the startup said.
Previous investor EduLab Capital Partners also participated in the round.
Authentica’s platform is aimed at helping K-12 school districts manage, integrate, and protect data. The company said the seed capital will be used to further build out its platform and increase interoperability in the K-12 sector.
“We are thrilled to partner with Owl Ventures as we continue our journey to transform data interoperability in education,” Authentica CEO and Co-founder Russell Long said in a statement, adding that the “experience and expertise from the Owl team” will help it further “expand our solutions designed to transform how the education ecosystem manages their intelligence.”
I believe that AI can help fight teacher burnout while simultaneously preparing students for a workforce that will expect AI competencies and skills.
Owl Ventures Managing Director Amit Patel said in a statement that the firm supports Authentica’s “innovative approach to data management in education,” and that their “commitment to delivering exceptional value aligns perfectly with our mission to invest in companies that are shaping the future of education.”
Raptor Technologies acquires PayK12. School safety software company Raptor Technologies acquired payments and ticketing provider PayK12.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Houston-based Raptor said the purchase of PayK12, which K-12 districts use to digitally manage tickets for events like athletic games and concerts, adds to its administrative offerings for district leaders.
Raptor’s software tools are aimed at helping school and district leaders manage visitors, volunteers, attendance, hall passes, student dismissal, emergencies, and early intervention strategies.
“Combining PayK12’s robust ticketing and payment platform with Raptor’s market-leading visitor safety software supports the needs of our customers who are seeking to expand their campus safety perimeters to include school events of all sizes,” Raptor CEO Gray Hall said in a statement.
In a statement, PayK12 CEO TJ Markland added that by joining Raptor, PayK12 can offer “a robust combination of safety and administrative solutions that empower educators, parents and administrators alike.”
