Happy Holidays from Rethink Education! As the 2024 season comes to a close, we’d like to share an update on what we’ve been working on over the past few months.
Retreat Reflections: What we Learned and Where We’re Going in 2025
Over the last months of 2024, our team has been busy refining our approach, taking time to deeply review our pipeline and portfolio management processes. In October, we gathered in Philadelphia for a retreat focused on team building, thesis refinement, and engaging with local groups – Saxbys, Catalyst @ Penn GSE, Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs, Beyond the Bell Tours, and Spring Point Partners – to explore the intersection of education, innovation, and startups in the city.
Here are the key trends and takeaways in the education space that our team explored during the retreat and will continue to focus on in 2025:
- Education Fundamentals
- The fundamentals still matter: With the U.S. losing ground in literacy, and especially numeracy, ensuring high-quality education remains a priority.
- Technology’s role in education: As budgets shrink across K-12 and higher education, technology will play a larger role in automating administrative tasks, allowing educators to focus on teaching.
- Workforce and Talent Development
- Skills-based hiring: Skills-based hiring is here to stay, but the approach is still evolving. Technology will play a key role in supporting this shift, but we must mitigate bias as we build these systems.
- Better visibility into talent: Companies are eager for quality talent but struggle to identify it internally. AI and skills mapping offer solutions to help organizations unlock this potential.
- Systems and Innovation
- Disrupting outdated systems: Displacing a system of record, even a bad one, is difficult because the costs to the institution can be catastrophic. Smart companies work around these systems, like a strangler fig, positioning themselves to eventually fully displace them, if they play their cards right.
- Human Connection and AI
- Balancing AI and human connection: While we don’t know where exactly we are in the AI hype cycle, we do know that human connection remains essential for mental health and effective learning. Technology should complement, not replace, personal interaction. We should never lose sight of this.
- Impact
- Building the evidence base: As impact investors, we have a role to play in strengthening the evidence base for effective interventions and partnering with value-aligned organizations to help our portfolio demonstrate impact.
Alongside this internal work, we reviewed hundreds of decks and met with dozens of entrepreneurs as we move toward making new investments from our latest fund, which we look forward to sharing more about with you soon.
AI x Education (continued)
As part of our ongoing conversation on the evolving role of AI in education, we continue to host our group discussion series in collaboration with the Robin Hood Foundation. Led by Monique (A.K.A. our resident AI champion), this series aims to bring together industry leaders, educators, and innovators to explore building AI responsibly and its transformative potential for education. In early December, we hosted our third session with Thompson Paine of Anthropic and Matthew Rascoff of Stanford University which explored AI safety and how educators and startups can stay informed about rapid advancements. For Monique’s full recap on the sessions thus far, click here.
Want to learn more or join a future session? Reach out to mmalcolm-hay@rethink-capital.com.
Portfolio Highlights
Ignite Reading closed a $36.75 M growth investment to expand the impact of its online literacy tutoring program in schools across the U.S. We’re proud to participate in this round alongside Goldman Sachs, Owl Ventures, Emerson Collective, and the College Board. The company was also ranked in the top 50 of Newsweeks 100 Most Loved Workplaces 2024.
Degreed announced its partnership with Workera to combine AI-driven skills assessments with personalized learning solutions, helping organizations more effectively identify and address workforce skill gaps. Tune in to listen to the founders of Degreed and Workera discuss.
Craft Education was acquired by Western Governors University (WGU) to help expand its work-based learning pathways and enhance education programs that align with workforce demands.
EnGen more than DOUBLED its reach to adult English language learners across the U.S. and Canada in 2024, serving 45,500 learners and seeing an 114% increase in learners from 2023. So proud to support the work they are doing to power local workforces and economic mobility.
Six of our portfolio companies were selected to the GSV 150 list which recognizes the most transformative private companies in education and workforce innovation. Congrats to: Amira Learning, Degreed, Guild, NewGlobe, Noodle, and Pathstream!
Campus launched a new transfer partnership with Wichita State University, a renowned research institution known for its hands-on approach to education and focus on innovation. This collaboration allows Campus graduates with an AA in Business Administration (who meet WSU’s admission criteria) to transfer seamlessly with guaranteed acceptance. The company also hosted a student business plan pitch competition judged by Campus partner and NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal and others – watch here.
Sora Schools CEO and Founder Garrett Smiley was named to the 2025 Forbes 30u30 list in Education.
Aanaab closed a $7M Series A round to expand its range of digital professional development training programs for teachers into new sectors.
Team Updates
Between the fall conference circuit, thesis building, and leading discussions on key industry topics, our team has been incredibly busy these past few months. Here are some highlights before we silence our Slack notifications for the holidays:
The underhiring dilemma: While often overlooked, underhiring is a surprisingly common mistake, even among the most promising startups. Matt shares insights from his tenure as an investor, outlining some of the root causes of underhiring and offering strategies for effectively recruiting the right talent, especially at the executive level. Read more in on our blog.
EDTECH WEEK: The team exchanged ideas with fellow EdTech innovators on various panels – Matt spoke on commercializing EdTech R&D, Amy discussed investment strategies for sustainable education innovation, and Bridget explored the future of higher education and alternative career pathways.
AI and the future of work: Matt shared with Forbes how prepping the workforce for AI begins with education, stressing the need for educational systems to adapt.
SOCAP stage: Our team participated in SOCAP24, with Matt and Monique speaking on panels about career education, learning and capital, and the role of AI in education. Couldn’t make it? Get on-demand access to stream these conversations.
TIME 2024 Best Inventions: UNICEF’s Child-Lens Investing Framework, a project Rethink Education contributed to, was named to TIME’s 2024 Best Inventions List in the Social Good Category for its commitment to putting child-related considerations at the forefront of investment decisions.
Deep dive into the future of work, education and skills: Amy joined fellow industry professionals on a panel to examine opportunities and risks at the New Private Markets Impact & Transition Investor Summit.
Lifelong learning: Matt has joined Stanford University’s Fellowship on Aging, working alongside an impressive cohort of peers as we deepen our approach to serving an aging population with lifelong opportunities for learning and personal development.
EdTech relationship therapy: Bridget co-authored an op-ed highlighting the need for EdTech companies and educators to improve their collaboration to better address classroom needs.
Accelerate EdTech impact: Rethink Education sponsored a dinner at the 2024 Accelerate EdTech Impact Summit at Stanford University, which brings together 400+ researchers, educators, edtech pioneers, and students dedicated to advancing the future of learning. Monique judged a pitch competition and spoke on a panel about the future of economic mobility and workforce development.
Championing disability advocacy: Matt was featured on NU Advisory Partners’ “10 Leaders Advancing Disability Inclusion & Innovation” list for driving accessible, equitable education solutions globally.
Insightful Articles That Caught Our Eye
- America’s Declining Math Proficiency – The Wall Street Journal
Explores the alarming trend of declining math proficiency in the U.S. schools and the urgent need for revitalizing education systems to address these gaps. Read more.
- The Elite College Students Who Can’t Read Books – The Atlantic
Examines the rising struggles of elite college students with reading comprehension and critical thinking. Read more.
- 2025 Global Education Outlook – Holon IQ
Analyzes key global education trends and challenges shaping the future of learning as we enter 2025. Read more.
- Rethinking ADHD in Education – The Economist
Offers a fresh perspective on ADHD, advocating for a more nuanced approach in education and healthcare. Read more.
2024 Goodreads Wrapped: Our Top Reads and Recommendations
- Born into Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War by Howard W French
- Long Life Learning: Preparing for Jobs that Don’t Even Exist Yet by Michelle Weise
- The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation by John Gertner
- Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain
- The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates
A Look Ahead into 2025
Looking ahead to 2025, we have a lot of exciting things in store – new investment announcements, thesis deep dives, thought leadership, personal milestones (Monique is getting married!), and much more. We’re looking forward to sharing more with you in the coming year and wish you a joyful, restful holiday season and New Year ahead!
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