Gooroo is a New York-based education technology company founded in 2015 by Scott Lee that pairs students with vetted tutors through personalized matching and pairs that with a library of self-paced online courses and small-group clubs. Built to make one-on-one tutoring affordable and to celebrate individual learning styles, Gooroo grew a network of NYC tutors, ran a 'Gooroo Gives Back' nonprofit arm for underserved students and seniors, and raised roughly $14M across seed rounds. As of 2026 the company paused consumer enrollments while it evaluates a pivot toward trustworthy, accountable AI for learning and student protection.
Toko is an AI-powered English speaking tutor that lets learners hold short, realistic conversations with an AI and get instant feedback on grammar and pronunciation. Founded in 2021 by MIT engineers Jen Liu and Erica Du and backed by Y Combinator (W22), the New York-based app is especially popular across East Asia, with more than 1 million downloads and tens of thousands of five-star reviews.
Mission College is a public community college in Santa Clara, in the heart of Silicon Valley, part of the West Valley-Mission Community College District. Founded in 1975, it offers associate degrees, university-transfer pathways, career and technical certificates, ESL and noncredit courses to a diverse, largely working-adult student body. Through its Mission Promise program it offers free tuition to district residents and wraps students in support services - food, childcare, mental-health counseling and more - to remove the barriers that keep people from finishing.
VIPKid is an online education platform that pairs young learners with native English-speaking teachers for live, one-on-one video classes. Founded in Beijing in 2013 by Cindy Mi, it grew into one of the world's largest live-tutoring marketplaces before pivoting to international markets after China's 2021 'double reduction' policy reshaped private tutoring.