Wonderschool, a startup that helps educators set up for-profit preschools in their homes, raised $20m to expand its software platform.
Designed to give educators all the tools necessary to get a school off the ground — helping with everything from licensing, to curricular development, to marketing, to payment processing — Wonderschool takes a 10% share of tuition once school’s in session.
Funding’s cool at Wonderschool
This Series A (headlined by Andreessen Horowitz) brings the company’s total funding to $24.1m. The company, launched 2 years ago, has already launched 140 schools in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
With its new round of funding, Wonderschool wants to match underpaid educators with entrepreneurial directors (or ‘principals,’ as they were known in the Dark Ages).
Good for business, good for teachers
But it’s not just Wonderschool that’s feeling cool. Teachers on the platform have also reported earning 3x as much as they previously earned.
Teachers are underpaid across the school board, but preschool educators are still worst-off — making 48% less than other teachers.
By making it easier for educators to tap into the $25B annual daycare industry, Wonderschool hopes to expand economic opportunities for educators while expanding educational opportunities for students — at least in communities willing to pay extra for cool preschool.