Social Emotional and Life Readiness Provider Wayfinder Closes $6.6 Million Series A Round
Led by Long Night Ventures, Investors Include REACH Capital, Evolve Ventures, Not Boring Capital, the Designer Fund and Oregon Venture Fund
Wayfinder, a premier provider of social emotional and life readiness curriculum, today announced a $6.6M Series A funding round led by Long Night Ventures, with participation from REACH Capital, Evolve Ventures, Not Boring Capital, the Designer Fund, and Oregon Venture Fund, among others. Alline Akintore of Oregon Venture Fund will be joining Wayfinder’s board as an observer. Funds from this round will be used to help expand Wayfinder’s world-class programming to millions of students across the world.
A long-time admirer of Wayfinder’s mission, Long Night Ventures founder Tyler Gage explained his decision to lead Wayfinder’s Series A: “It’s rare to find the combination of significant social impact, strong management team, and impressive traction that Wayfinder has. We are excited to support the team’s leadership to bring Wayfinder to more students.”
Wayfinder’s newest Board Observer Alline Akintore echoed this sentiment in her own remarks: “Patrick and the Wayfinder team represent what we look for in an ideal founding team, especially their grit, tenacity, and strong sense of mission. As investors we really value the Wayfinder vision, and we want the next generation to be equipped with the tools to navigate a world that looks very different from the one we grew up in. We believe Wayfinder’s platform holds the key to unlocking that potential.”
Amidst all the adversity of the past year and a half, there is an opportunity to step back and reimagine what it means to equip students with the skills they need to thrive in the 21st century. Thanks to studies like Google’s Project Oxygen, it is becoming increasingly clear that skills like communication, problem solving, empathy, teamwork, and perseverance are absolutely critical for post-secondary success.
In fact, states like Pennsylvania are beginning to articulate a vision for 21st century graduates that puts these skills front and center in their efforts to prepare students for life after high school. To answer this call, Wayfinder is trailblazing a new field in K12 education that incorporates elements of social-emotional learning, career readiness, and purpose education to provide students with the skills and mindsets necessary to thrive in school and in life.
Wayfinder’s curriculum features world-class design, digital and print options, and an assessment tool to provide educators with a real-time view of their students’ progress. Offering both core curriculum and a library of 500+ high-quality, developmentally appropriate activities, Wayfinder has options to meet the needs of every school and district, whether they have five minutes per day or a full block dedicated to Wayfinder.
Wayfinder’s founder and CEO Patrick Cook-Deegan says, “For years, Wayfinder has been a leader in making education more meaningful and engaging for students. Today, there is an urgent need to help students connect to a deeper purpose and build the skills necessary to live a life aligned with that purpose. With this new round of funding secured, we have the team, resources, and vision in place to bring our category-defining curriculum to millions of students around the world at a time when it could not be needed more.”
About Wayfinder:
Wayfinder is the premier Belonging, Purpose and Life-Readiness solution for K12 schools. It was born out of Stanford’s world-famous K12 Innovation Lab and built upon research showing that students’ primary struggle in school is a lack of meaning. Grounded in childhood and adolescent development research, neuroscience, and human wayfinding traditions, Wayfinder’s curricula aim to support students to develop Belonging, Purpose, and 21st Century Skills in schools the world over. As of winter 2021, Wayfinder’s products reach 60,000 students across 34 US states and 15 countries.
Contact Author
MATTHEW WINN
Project Wayfinder
+1 781-974-9976
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