At Maveron, we’ve spent years watching billions flow into K-12 edtech — yet, if we’re being honest, it hasn’t moved the needle on student performance. Just look at NAEP (the Nation’s Report Card): reading and math scores got a small boost in the early 2000s, then largely plateaued or dipped after 2013.
Plenty of edtech players have tried to “fix” the system, but very few have hit real venture-scale outcomes. Even the best-known exits show how tough it is working within K–12:
- Limited budgets: Teachers are underpaid and schools pinch pennies, so new tech rarely gets the funding it needs. Teachers Pay Teachers built a massive user base but ultimately sold for a modest sum — proving big adoption alone doesn’t guarantee venture-scale outcomes.
- Bureaucratic barriers: Nearpod sold for $650M in 2021 after spending years battling slow procurement cycles and limited upsell opportunities. Even strong products hit red tape when districts are the buyers.
- Fundamental inefficiencies: Simply layering new software on top of an outdated classroom model rarely moves the needle. Archipelago Learning’s $291M acquisition highlighted how little teachers will actually use digital tools — capping both impact and revenue.
Sure, there’s a wave of AI-driven edtech solutions (Magic School AI, Brisk Learning, School AI, etc.), but they still face the same hurdles: restricted budgets, slow procurement, and a system that hasn’t fully embraced even basic tech. Slapping “AI” onto a broken model doesn’t magically fix it.
What Works? Building from the Ground Up.
From our vantage point, the real wins in education and childcare happen when you reinvent the entire experience. Look at Stride (worth $6B), Bright Horizons (approaching $8B), or the University of Phoenix (once over $10B) — they didn’t just add software; they created entirely new models that parents and students embraced right away.
We believe the next generation of billion-dollar companies will follow their lead by:
- Capturing high revenue per student: If you offer more than just curriculum — think education plus childcare — you can earn thousands per student each year, instead of $50–$100 for a per teacher software license.
- Selling directly to parents: Bypass the bureaucratic district sales process and go straight to the families who want and will pay for better options.
- Scaling in a capital-light way: Use existing facilities (e.g. homes, community centers) and coordinate everything via tech, so you can expand quickly without massive up-front costs.
- Leveraging AI for real efficiencies: Make AI the backbone — personalizing learning, scheduling staff, and automating operational tasks — rather than a bolt-on feature. Done right, AI should cut costs and boost results.
Put simply, we see tomorrow’s category-defining companies moving beyond the tired “edtech vendor” label. They’ll look more like tech-enabled schools and microschools, childcare providers and full-featured AI-centric curriculum providers — reinventing both the experience and the economics, and creating brands that parents genuinely love (and pay for).
The chart below highlights the power of these high revenue per student models in terms of their ability to build big businesses without needing millions of students. The chart highlights revenue potential per student today, not inclusive of new products and services in the future.
Lando: The First Proof Point of Our Thesis
When we first met Lando’s founders, Felix and Blake, back in early 2023, we saw they had a big vision for after-school care. Felix — who’d already built immersive, hands-on learning experiences at Osmo and museums — wanted to turn “babysitting hours” into enrichment that kids couldn’t wait to attend. Blake, drawing on his operational background from Instawork (and a Stanford MBA), had the playbook to scale that vision from one city to many.
Parents want more than a safe daycare after the final bell, they want something their kids will get excited about. Lando sessions are each full-on classes — across subjects like coding, robotics, art — not just supervised playtime. And because they offer entire classes, Lando can charge upwards of $2,000 per student per year. They capture a much larger share of a parent’s willingness to pay, since they deliver tangible value (learning outcomes) on top of care.
But what really stands out is Lando’s tech-enabled, marketplace-like model that enables them to scale quickly, city-by-city. Unlike traditional childcare providers (Bright Horizons, KinderCare) that pour money into new facilities and slog through district negotiations — Lando launches in new cities rapidly with a low capital investment and light footprint. Like DoorDash or Uber, they leverage existing infrastructure (school campuses for space) and a flexible labor force (part-time instructors) then coordinate it all with technology.
The backbone of Lando is their AI. It connects new instructor onboarding, curriculum delivery, even real-time coaching in the classroom. Since their instructors don’t need advanced qualifications, they can keep costs down — around $12–$20 an hour for parents — while kids are highly engaged and learning effectively. The result is a scalable, capital-light operation that delivers consistent quality across regions.
What’s Next for Maveron
Lando is just the beginning. Our conviction at Maveron is simple: parents aren’t just looking for a slight improvement — they’re clamoring for a total reimagining of how their kids spend time after the final bell. That’s why there’s never been a better window to build the next category-defining company in education.
If you’re a founder who wants to reinvent how children learn — not by layering tech onto the same old system, but by creating entirely new models — we want to hear from you. We’re excited to back founders ready to leave outdated approaches behind and redefine what’s possible in education.
If that’s your vision, let’s connect. We’d love to turn it into reality together.
