Brightwheel Raises $10M to Grow Groundbreaking Early Education Platform

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 16, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Brightwheel, the leading provider of management and communication software for early education, announced today it has raised $10 million in new financing. The Series A round  was led by GGV Capital with participation from Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, ICONIQ, and existing investors Eniac Ventures, Golden Venture Partners, Lowercase Capital, Mark Cuban Companies, and RRE Ventures. Angel investors include Adam Grant, April Underwood, Dave Gilboa, Elizabeth & Kevin Weil, Felix Anthony, Scott Cannon, and Tina Sharkey.

Brightwheel is the first all-in-one platform for preschools, childcare providers, camps, and afterschool programs. It combines all the required systems to run a school and business into a single fast and easy-to-use solution that saves both time and money, while improving the educational experience for young students.

The platform has a measurable impact for both schools and families.

Classroom Time Saver
With a few taps, teachers can easily track attendance, conduct assessments, share photos, and gain insights into daily learning. This saves up to one hour per day, giving educators more time to interact with young students and improve the learning experience.

Parent Engagement
Brightwheel provides mobile messaging and real-time updates throughout the day. Parents are better able to engage in their child's development and continue the learning at home.

Robust Business Solution
Running a school and a business is not easy. The brightwheel platform helps administrators manage enrollment and staffing, comply with licensing requirements, and fully automate tuition collection.

"Brightwheel is a very personal product that makes life easier for educators and gives parents a closer connection to their kids," said Dave Vasen, founder & CEO of brightwheel. "We're so proud of the results thus far, and are excited about what this investment means for our schools and families across the globe."

Parents spend more than $50 billion annually on pre-K education, and there are more than 800,000 operators in the US alone. For children, the first few years of life are amongst the most important in terms of brain development and long-term educational outcomes.

"Brightwheel is a game changer for educators and families," said Jeff Richards, Managing Partner at GGV Capital. "Just like our investments in Slack, Zendesk, and Square, brightwheel provides a mission critical service to small businesses that immediately makes an impact on their bottom line. And it delivers something invaluable to parents: the ability to stay close to their child during the day."

The new round of financing will be used to accelerate product development and expand the team.  Brightwheel is already the most powerful cloud-based system in early education and has seen unprecedented growth amongst schools, providers, and camps. This funding will enable a host of new features and a larger Customer Success team to collaborate with schools and educators.

Brightwheel is available for free to schools, childcare providers, and camps across the globe. To learn more, visit www.mybrightwheel.com.

About brightwheel

Brightwheel is the first all-in-one software platform for preschools, childcare providers, camps, and afterschool programs. Brightwheel helps teachers manage their day and communicate with parents, gives parents deeper insight into what their children are learning, and automates the process of managing operations for administrators. The platform has been shown to save teachers and administrators up to an hour per day, while improving parent satisfaction and giving them a closer connection to their child's learning. It is the fastest growing platform in early education, used across thousands of locations globally. Learn more at http://www.mybrightwheel.com/.

SOURCE GGV Capital