k12
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Shuai Ke Went Back Into the Rain
After helping turn a question bank into a major Chinese education platform, Shuai Ke chose the discomfort of starting again. His second act stretches from live American classrooms to an AI writing companion - and returns to a problem he has carried since school.
Sohan Choudhury
Sohan Choudhury is the co-founder and CEO of Flint, an AI platform for K-12 schools that lets teachers personalize instruction without adding to their workload. A Georgia Tech Stamps Presidential Scholar who left school in 2020 to build the video-chat startup Gatherly (later acquired), he launched Flint with Jinseo Park in 2023 through Y Combinator's Summer batch. Flint raised a $15M Series A in November 2025 co-led by Basis Set Ventures and Patron, and now serves 400,000+ students and teachers across independent and public schools.
Adrian Ridner
Adrian Ridner is the CEO and Co-Founder of Study.com, one of the world's most visited online education platforms serving 34+ million monthly users. An Argentine-Jewish immigrant who navigated multiple countries before settling in California, Ridner built Study.com from a bootstrapped startup in 2002 into a 4,100-person company offering 20,000+ micro-video lessons and 200+ transferable college courses. His Working Scholars program has saved graduates $20 million in tuition and is particularly focused on first-generation college students and students of color. Ridner is a recipient of the ASU+GSV 2022 Innovator of Color Award and Silicon Valley Business Journal's 40 Under 40.
Cindy Mi
Cindy Mi is the founder and CEO of VIPKid, a Beijing-based edtech unicorn that connects Chinese children aged 4-12 with North American English teachers through live one-on-one video lessons. A high-school dropout turned billionaire builder, she started tutoring English peers at age 15, co-founded an English academy chain at 17, and by 2020 had grown VIPKid to over 800,000 students, 100,000 teachers, and a $4 billion-plus valuation - backed by Tencent, Sequoia, and the late Kobe Bryant.
Vicky Wang
Vicky Wang is the founder and CEO of WuKong Education, a Silicon Valley-based online learning platform serving 300,000+ families across 118 countries. She built the company from Auckland, New Zealand in 2016 into a Series B-backed edtech brand with 4,000 employees, offering Chinese language, math, and English programs for students aged 3-18. Recognized by Fortune China as one of the Most Influential Business Women in 2021 and 2022, named among HolonIQ's 144 global EdTech Women Leaders, and awarded the 2024 Cognia School of Distinction, Wang is redefining how the world's children learn Mandarin and mathematics.
Paul Kellenberger
Paul Kellenberger is the CEO and President of zSpace, Inc., a San Jose-based company that pioneered display-based augmented and virtual reality for education. Rather than strapping headsets onto students, zSpace built a 24-inch 3D screen with head-tracking and a haptic stylus - no goggles required. Under Kellenberger's leadership, zSpace expanded from zero revenue in career technical education to 50% of its pipeline in that segment, served over 2,400 U.S. schools, and took the company public on Nasdaq in December 2024 under ticker ZSPC. With more than 70 patents, research partnerships with NC State showing 40% better retention rates, and recent acquisitions of BlocksCAD and Second Avenue Learning, Kellenberger is pushing immersive learning into the mainstream of American education.
Anurupa Ganguly
Anurupa Ganguly is the founder and CEO of Prisms, a spatial learning platform that uses virtual reality to teach core math and science to middle and high school students. A former math and physics teacher with degrees from MIT and Boston University, she built Prisms after a decade-plus in education leadership at Boston Public Schools and the NYC Department of Education. Backed by Andreessen Horowitz with $18.4M raised, Prisms now reaches 300,000+ students across 300+ school districts in 35 states, delivering measurable gains in algebra and science comprehension through embodied, problem-driven VR experiences.
Ilana Nankin
Dr. Ilana Nankin is the Founder & CEO of Breathe For Change, a San Francisco-based organization that has trained over 15,000 educators in mindfulness, social-emotional learning, and yoga — reaching an estimated 1-5 million students across the United States. A former Pre-K teacher turned Ph.D. researcher turned movement builder, she launched Breathe For Change in 2015 after her own students demanded she formally train them. Her organization runs the world's only 200-hour Mindfulness, SEL & Yoga Teacher Training designed exclusively for educators, a Master's in Human-Centered Education in partnership with William Jewell College, and an expanding professional development platform for schools and districts.