Honor Education is a San Francisco-based edtech company building a mobile-first, AI-powered learning platform that turns passive online courses into interactive, social experiences. Founded by Joel Podolny, the founding Dean of Apple University, Honor helps universities, enterprises, and nonprofits encode expert knowledge into credentialed programs that learners actually finish - reporting 85% completion rates against a 15% industry average. The company raised a $38M Series A in 2025 and was named to TIME's Best Inventions of 2024.
Formation is a San Francisco–based, A16Z-backed virtual fellowship that trains experienced software engineers to land senior roles at top tech companies. It pairs adaptive AI assessments with one-on-one mentorship from engineers at Meta, Google, Stripe and Airbnb to drill candidates on algorithms, system design and modern AI fluency.
Sophie Novati is the CEO and co-founder of Formation, an A16Z-backed engineering fellowship that helps underrepresented software engineers break into top-tier tech companies. A Carnegie Mellon computer science graduate who rose to staff engineer at Facebook and Nextdoor, she founded Formation in 2019 after recognizing that talented engineers from non-traditional backgrounds were being systematically excluded from elite tech roles. Formation pairs adaptive AI-driven learning with mentorship from senior engineers, and its graduates have landed roles at Meta, Google, Netflix, Amazon, and Dropbox, with an average first-year compensation increase of over $100,000. The company has raised $9 million in funding and Novati credits a 2am chess game with Mark Zuckerberg as one early spark for thinking about business models.
Sue Khim is the CEO and co-founder of Brilliant.org, an interactive STEM learning platform serving over 10 million users in 150+ countries. Born in South Korea and raised in Chicago, she studied mathematics at the University of Chicago before leaving to found Alltuition, a student financial aid startup, in 2009. That team pivoted in 2012 to build Brilliant, which has since raised over $90 million in venture funding and become one of the most widely used platforms for self-paced math and science education. Named to Forbes 30 Under 30 in Education and recognized by Apple as an AAPI leader in tech, Khim is focused on replacing rote memorization with genuine conceptual understanding at global scale.
Afficient Academy is a Silicon Valley ed-tech company that uses a patented AI learning system to help K-12 students master math and English at their own pace. Through a hybrid network of virtual programs and physical learning centers across California, Nevada, and beyond, the company says more than 90% of its students advance a full grade level in 2-5 months with A/A+ results.
Dr. Jiayuan Fang is the Founder and CEO of Afficient Academy, a Silicon Valley edtech company that uses patented AI-driven adaptive learning to help K-12 students advance a full grade level in 2-5 months. A former UC Berkeley PhD and electrical engineering professor turned serial entrepreneur, Fang previously founded Sigrity Inc., which was acquired by Cadence Design Systems for approximately $80 million in 2012. His pivot to education was sparked by his own three children's experience with inadequate after-school tutoring - leading him to build a platform that identifies not just what students get wrong, but why.