gBETA Social Impact Education Announces Summer 2023 Companies
CHICAGO, Ill. – The American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact and nationally ranked startup accelerator gener8tor have announced the participants selected for the gBETA Social Impact Equity in Education Summer 2023 cohort. This program is focused on bridging equity gaps in education, the Institute’s priority area that aims to increase access to opportunity, social equity and hope for underestimated communities.
The five participating startups are: New York-based platform for vetted classroom content ClassHook; Bethany Beach, Delaware-based writing college essays with students The Collegiate Writer; Cleveland-based science and math content for middle school Cool School Comics; Chicago-based college to careers network REACH Pathways and Miami-based computer science and AI learning Wonderly.
“It is our mission to engage with innovative initiatives that are delivering equity and people-centered solutions to educational disparities. Supporting gBETA Social Impact enables us to provide access to world class mentors that will accelerate the success of these enterprising startup founders,” said Jilly Gokalgandhi, Equity in Education Strategist at the American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact.
gBETA Social Impact is a free, seven-week accelerator that works with tech-enabled startups in the education space for no fees and no equity. Each gBETA program is capped at five companies to ensure meaningful engagement with mentors and other resources. Participants receive intensive and individualized coaching and access to gener8tor’s national network of mentors, customers, corporate partners and investors. The program is designed to help social impact startups gain early customer traction on their product or idea, and establish metrics that can make them competitive applicants for full-time, equity-based accelerators or seed investment.
“Bridging equity gaps in education can be addressed in many areas of the K-12 system by supporting teachers and students where they are today. Each of the startups that we’ve selected brings relevant innovation to the education space. Each one of them is focused on outcomes for students and communities that are truly transformational,” said Zaineb Al-Kalby, gBETA Social Impact Director.
gBETA Social Impact is held each year with a focus on either Equity in Education or Economic Empowerment and Justice Reform, with five companies accepted per cohort to ensure a high level of individualized attention. Startups interested in applying should contact gBETA Social Impact Director Zaineb Al-Kalby at zaineb@gener8tor.com. For more information, visit www.gbetasocialimpact.com.
gBETA Social Impact Summer 2023 Cohort
ClassHook helps K-12 teachers make learning relevant by connecting students’ interests to the curriculum using educational scenes from popular TV shows and movies. ClassHook’s 7,200+ videos are organized by topic, aligned to standards, and accompanied by discussion and engagement tools. ClassHook supports teachers in over 25,000 schools across the U.S. in making learning interactive and has generated over $20,000 in revenue in 2022.
classhook.com | CEO: Alexander Deeb, alex@classhook.com
The Collegiate Writer revolutionizes writing instruction with its flagship product, College Essay App, that guides high school students in writing high stakes college application essays. College Essay App’s groundbreaking curriculum addresses inequitable access to expert writing support in college application essays featuring personalized, engaging bite-sized content, and AI-powered coaching available 24/7. The affordable, research-based platform increases college admission rates while developing lifelong writing skills. The proven curriculum has already empowered 300+ students to write standout essays, with 100% of them getting into at least one of their choice schools in 2021-’22.
thecollegiatewriter.com | CEO: Melanie Obitz-Bukartek, melanie@thecollegiatewriter.com
Cool School Comics breaks down complicated science curriculum for grades 4-9 in a highly visual, easy to grasp format. With Cool School Comics’ low prep, ready-to-go lessons, busy teachers can easily implement an impactful learning tool and reach a wider range of learning skills and abilities. Cool School Comics has generated $25K in lifetime revenue and continues to double revenue year over year.
coolschoolcomics.com | CEO: Laura Balliett, coolschoolcomic@gmail.com
REACH Pathways connects top talent with top opportunities in college or their careers within a virtual world ecosystem. Less like homework and more like a video game, REACH rewards students for finding jobs and completing real-life and in-game tasks. Recruiters access prepared, top-performing, and diverse talent. REACH has been successfully beta-testing with 3,000+ students in 2023.
reachpathways.com | CEO: Brooke McKean, info@reachpathways.com
Wonderly reimagines computer science and artificial intelligence education, focusing on underrepresented groups including girls, as well as Black and Latino populations. Wonderly enables K-12 teachers to lead computer science and AI courses without being subject matter experts. Wonderly delivers educational content in three languages (Spanish, Italian and English), combining instructors and engaging Pixar-style animated videos with a culturally relevant narrative to motivate students to master advanced digital skills. Wonderly implements the solution globally, serving almost 500 students from 11 schools, 6 cities, and 3 countries.
learnwonderly.com | CEO: Leandro Finol, leandro@learnwonderly.com
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About gener8tor
gener8tor’s turnkey platform for the creative economy connects startup founders, musicians, artists, investors, universities and corporations. The gener8tor platform includes pre-accelerators, accelerators, corporate programming, conferences and fellowships.
About gBETA
gBETA accelerates the growth of early-stage companies through its network-driven program. gBETA supports five teams per cohort and requires no fees and no equity. Since launching in 2015, gBETA program alumni have raised $258M+ in capital and created 2,514 jobs across the US and Canada. For more gBETA statistics, visit gbetastartups.com/statistics.
About The American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact
The American Family Institute is a venture capital firm and capacity building partner of choice for exceptional entrepreneurs and organizations who are engaged in an effort to close equity gaps in America. The Institute invests in companies and connects with groups working to provide economic empowerment and justice reform, to build resilient communities, to create healthy youth development and to increase learning and academic achievement. It is based in Madison, Wisconsin and can be found on social media @AmFamInstitute and at its website, www.amfaminstitute.com.
