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Radar · EdTech in Oakland

Best EdTech Companies in Oakland, United States

The 43 best EdTech companies in Oakland, United States in 2026, ranked by funding and momentum. Funding, investors, founders, valuation, tech stack and live signals. Top: Livescribe.

43companies tracked
$189.6Mdisclosed funding
0unicorns
11have raised
Sector wealth & growth · validated company filings
$63Mmedian revenue
+0%median YoY growth
$1.0Bcombined revenue pool
9companies reporting

Biggest earners Skillsoft Corp. ($513M, -3% YoY), Instructure Inc ($156M, +12% YoY), Blackboard Inc ($119M), Capella Education Co ($112M, +0% YoY)

FLIAR INTELLIGENCE · EDTECH × OAKLAND

Our analysis of 88 EdTech companies

$7.3b in tracked funding; 99% of the stack-profiled cohort runs cloud-native; funding activity peaked in 2025.

88companies analysed
99%cloud-native stacks
2025funding peak (by rounds)
12unicorns
2016median founding year

Ranked: Best EdTech companies in Oakland

#CompanyDisclosed fundingLast roundStageFounderFoundedTech stackPatents & IP focusRecent signals
1Livescribe
Provider of smartpens and mobile computing platforms
$130M175 mo agoAcquired—2007Cart FunctionalityShopifyYouTube+26125 patents
Smart pen hardware and software for digitizing, organizing, and collaborating on handwritten notes
—
2Scientific Learning
SaaS platforms for learning English
$22M136 mo agoAcquiredBob Bowen
Chairman And Ceo
1995WordPressMySQLPHP+22——
3Primer
Operator of microschool network providing education for kindergarten through eighth grade
$19M52 mo agoAcquiredAdam Debreczeni
Co-Founder
2019WebflowSalesforceVimeo+25——
4Kinside
Kinside: Connecting families, providers, and employers for accessible childcare solutions
$16M50 mo agoSeries A—2018SentryRubyErlang+28——
5CareLuLu
Connecting parents with quality child care and preschool options
$2M141 mo agoSeedEvgeniya Usmanova
Co-founder & COO
2013ReactAMPAmazon Web Services+9——
6GreatSchools
School ratings and reviews platform empowering families to find great schools
$690K—Funding Raised—1998RubyRuby on RailsMicrosoft ASP.NET+35—2 partnerships
7Cubit
Platform to learn STEM subjects
$106K134 mo agoSeedJason Gouw
Founder & CEO
2013—7 patents
Adaptive antenna arrays for PN code acquisition and CDMA reverse‑link smart antenna systems
—
8Tioki
Domain name services, including registration, WHOIS lookup, and parking
$100K171 mo agoDeadpooled—2011———

Top 12 EdTech companies in Oakland

#1
Series A · Oakland, California · founded 2018 · 15 employees
$16.2Mraised
▾

Kinside: Connecting families, providers, and employers for accessible childcare solutions. This platform aims to create a more transparent and supportive childcare ecosystem. It offers real-time availability at childcare providers, connecting parents with care options. Childcare providers can connect with families and manage enrollments efficiently. Employers can support working families with childcare benefits. Government agencies gain access to real-time childcare data to improve community outcomes. The platform facilitates finding care, scheduling tours, and managing the childcare search process. It strives to provide universal access to quality childcare for all working parents, addressing the challenges faced by dual-working families. It is a tech company offering a software solution, potentially SaaS, with a social impact focus. The platform includes features like login, search, and provider management tools.

Funding rounds
  • Jun 2022Series A$12M
  • Sep 2020Seed—
  • Dec 2019Seed$4M
  • Aug 2018Seed$1.1M
Investors
MetLife Digital Accelerator, Magnify Ventures, Mothers, Y Combinator, Initialized Capital, Precursor Ventures
Tech stack
AdrollAdroll Cmp SystemAppcuesBootstrapCloudflareCloudflare Bot Management
#2
Acquired · Oakland, California · founded 2019 · 25 employees
$18.7Mraised
▾

Operator of microschool network providing education for kindergarten through eighth grade. The network offers learning environments focused on foundational skills and independent learning. The organization provides an admissions process, tuition information, and resources for starting microschools. It aims to empower students to pursue interests through projects.

Funding rounds
  • Apr 2022Series A$15M
  • May 2020Seed$3.7M
Founders & team
Adam DebreczeniCo-FounderRuss MaschmeyerCo-Founder & CEO & President
Investors
Village Global, Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, Abstract Ventures, Soma Capital, Coughdrop Capital
Tech stack
CloudflareCloudflare Bot ManagementCloudflare Browser InsightsCore-JsFacebook PixelGoogle Analytics
#3
Acquired · Oakland, California · founded 2007 · 1 employees
$130.3Mraised
▾

Provider of smartpens and mobile computing platforms. Its product includes Smartpens (Livescribe 3, Echo, Sky Wifi), Livescribe Dot Paper and Livescribe Desktop. Pulse Smartpen records everything the clients hear and write, as well as synchronizes audio to the written notes. Livescribe Dot Paper is printed with a pattern of tiny micro-dots, which enables the infrared camera at the tip of the Pulse smartpen to track the written notes. Livescribe Desktop allows the digital transfer of notes and recordings from the Pulse smartpen to the personal computer. Its online Application Store allows consumers to download paid and free applications.

Funding rounds
  • Jan 2012Series C$10M
  • Jan 2012Series C$3.3M
  • Jul 2011Series C$5.2M
  • Feb 2011Series C$186K
Investors
VantagePoint Capital Partners, Lionhart, Calibrium, Crossroads Liquidating Trust, Crosslink Capital, Scale Venture Partners
Tech stack
Amazon SesAmazon Web ServicesApache Http ServerApple PayCart FunctionalityCloudflare
#4
Acquired · Oakland, California · founded 1995 · 69 employees
$21.8Mraised
▾

Scientific Learning provides software solutions for language learning. Solutions include Fast ForWord, platform for providing educational resources focussed on phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, fluency and more. Reading Assistant software, is a platform for speech verification and improvement. Also provides data analysis and reporting tools to monitor each learner. Works on the subscription-based pricing model.

Funding rounds
  • Apr 2015Post IPO$5M
  • Apr 2013Conventional Debt$4.6M
  • Apr 2012Post IPO$7.2M
  • Nov 2001Post IPO$5M
Founders & team
Bob BowenChairman And Ceo
Investors
Warburg Pincus, Salmon River Capital
Tech stack
Amazon AlbAmazon SesAmazon Web ServicesCivicthemeCloudflareCloudflare Bot Management
#5
Seed · Oakland, California · founded 2013 · 4 employees
$1.7Mraised
▾

Connecting parents with quality child care and preschool options. This platform simplifies the search for licensed child care programs, offering a comprehensive directory with photos, parent reviews, and detailed service information. Parents can easily search by location, age, hours, and tuition to find the perfect fit for their needs. The platform aims to provide easy access to high-quality information, including tuition rates and thorough descriptions, ensuring parents have an authentic impression of every child care provider before scheduling a tour. It serves as an all-in-one resource, saving time and effort in navigating childcare options. The platform also offers resources for both parents and providers, including articles on cost, pros and cons of different care types, and marketing strategies. This is a B2C platform that directly impacts families by providing a valuable service.

Funding rounds
  • Nov 2014Seed$1.7M
  • Aug 2014Seed—
Founders & team
Evgeniya UsmanovaCo-founder & COOGabriel Chagas MarquesCo-founder
Investors
500 Global, Khosla Ventures, The Startup Factory, Tuesday Capital
Tech stack
Amazon CloudfrontAmazon Web ServicesAmpAws Certificate ManagerCloudimageGoogle Analytics
#6
Funding Raised · Oakland, California · founded 1998 · 37 employees
$690Kraised
▾

School ratings and reviews platform empowering families to find great schools. It is a trusted school search platform providing education information to guide families through their child’s learning journey. The mission is to provide information that supports parents pursuing education for their child, schools striving for excellence, and communities working to diminish inequities in education. It equips families with the information they need to choose schools and advocate for their children. School profiles and ratings help them see how well schools serve all students, while the library of parenting resources offers guidance to help children thrive. It offers resources to help them support their children’s education and development. The platform collects and analyzes data to deliver information on public, charter, and private schools nationwide. It highlights learning opportunities, amplifies parent perspectives, and helps educators better understand their communities. It is a not-for-profit organization with a social impact.

LinkedIn Pulse recent public activity · Jul 2026
Audience: 4k LinkedIn followers — 14.9% of this cohort's audience
Activity: 2 partnerships (incl. GreatSchools) announced in 12 mo
Funding rounds
  • Grant (prize money)$690K
Investors
NewSchools Venture Fund
Tech stack
AdthriveAmazon Web ServicesApache Http ServerCloudflareCloudflare Bot ManagementCore-Js
#7
Seed · Oakland, California · founded 2013 · 4 employees
$105.7Kraised
▾

Developer of programmable technologies designed to bring innovation and inspiration into classrooms. The company offers versatile lessons, kits, training and software that are designed to nurture learning in a wide array of in-school and out-of-school settings and grade levels, enabling students to take control and drive the learning process.

Founders & team
Jason GouwFounder & CEO
Investors
Kickstarter
Tech stack
Cart FunctionalityWordpressMysqlPhpUbuntuWpmu Dev Smush
#8
Deadpooled · Oakland, California · founded 2011 · 1 employees
$100Kraised
▾

Domain name services, including registration, WHOIS lookup, and parking. The company facilitates domain acquisition through registration services and offers tools to identify domain ownership. It provides a platform for domain owners to monetize unused domains through parking programs. The business model caters to individuals and organizations seeking to establish or manage their online presence. It offers resources for domain-related activities, such as domain valuation and transfer. The company acts as an intermediary, connecting domain owners with advertisers. The services are essential for anyone involved in website development, online marketing, or digital asset management.

Funding rounds
  • May 2012Seed$100K
Investors
Kapor Capital, 500 Global, Imagine K12
Tech stack
WordpressMysqlPhpAthemes SydneyBootstrapAmazon Web Services
#9
Deadpooled · Oakland, California · founded 2013
$48Kraised
▾

Online networking platform for music learners

Founders & team
Norbert VasFounder
Investors
Audere Capital
#10
Seed · Oakland, California · founded 2013 · 10 employees
—raised
▾

Cloud identity and access management solutions for education, research, and enterprise. The company provides streamlined single sign-on (SSO) solutions, simplifying access to applications for all institutional end-users. They offer a suite of products designed to address identity and access management challenges, including solutions for authentication providers, external user sign-in, trusted federated access, and extending applicant sign-in. Their offerings facilitate secure logins, protocol translation, and integration with services like InCommon and eduGAIN. They cater to a diverse range of stakeholders, including students, researchers, faculty, alumni, and more, across various sectors like higher education and research institutions. The company focuses on improving user experience, seamless integration, and reduced expenses through cloud consolidation and zero trust architecture. They offer a managed solution that enables login to applications with different protocols.

LinkedIn Pulse recent public activity · Jul 2026
Audience: 426 LinkedIn followers · 16 engagements/post (3.2× cohort median)
Funding rounds
  • May 2016Seed—
  • Nov 2015Seed—
Investors
500 Global, Lighter Capital, Merian Ventures
Tech stack
Amazon AlbAmazon Web ServicesApache Http ServerBootstrapCloudflareCloudflare Bot Management
#11
Acquired · Oakland, California · founded 1998 · 254 employees
—raised
▾

Academic integrity solutions empowering educators and students to do original work. The company provides technology that promotes honesty, consistency, and fairness in education. It offers a suite of products designed to uphold academic and research integrity, streamline feedback and grading, prevent plagiarism, and deliver secure assessments. Their solutions cater to diverse needs, from higher education to secondary education, research, and publication. They leverage AI-powered workflows and tools to address AI writing, promote original thinking, and ensure the originality of scholarly work. The company's offerings include a plagiarism checker, feedback studio, and assessment platforms. They provide resources and support to educators, fostering a culture of integrity and advancing learning outcomes. The company is a SaaS provider in the EdTech space.

Funding rounds
  • Oct 2014PE—
Founders & team
John BarrieCEO
Investors
Georgian Partners, Ares Capital Corporation, Lead Edge Capital
#12
Acquired · Oakland, California · founded 2012 · 30 employees
—raised
▾

Schoolzilla provides a SaaS data and business intelligence platform that enables teachers, principals, and district leaders to gain insights into the academic and operational effectiveness and to take action to increase student achievement. Merges data from dozens of disparate sources such as attendance, test scores, online learning tools, human resources, and financial accounting and provides analysis and reporting to people in schools. Lets schools connect with other schools and share best practices Has a dashboard library that gives access to interactive dashboards.

Funding rounds
  • 2014Seed—
  • Seed—
Investors
Marc Bell Capital, Reach Capital, Foundry, Edovate Capital, Hopscotch Ventures, NewSchools Venture Fund

Funding & investor landscape

$189.6Mtotal disclosed funding
9companies funded
24disclosed rounds
0rounds last 90 days
Most active investors
500 Global3 rounds
Imagine K123 rounds
NewSchools Venture Fund3 rounds
AT&T2 rounds
Ares Capital Corporation2 rounds
CRE Venture Capital2 rounds
Collab Fund2 rounds
Founder Collective2 rounds
Khosla Ventures2 rounds
Lead Edge Capital2 rounds

Notable founders

Adam Debreczeni
Co-Founder · Primer
Russ Maschmeyer
Co-Founder & CEO & President · Primer
Bob Bowen
Chairman And Ceo · Scientific Learning
Evgeniya Usmanova
Co-founder & COO · CareLuLu
Gabriel Chagas Marques
Co-founder · CareLuLu
Jason Gouw
Founder & CEO · Cubit
Norbert Vas
Founder · Sofagig
John Barrie
CEO · iParadigms
Elliot Feinberg
Co-Founder & CTO · DigitWhiz
Kasey Brown
Co-Founder & CEO · DigitWhiz
Prism market signals · United States · country-scoped Prism corpus, 1,661,750 docs

Market landscape — 10 sub-themes by coverage

Share of EdTech coverage by sub-theme.

Regulatory-risk over time rising

Funding & growth over time

funding rising · growth rising

RESEARCH SIGNALS · United States

How research on Education Technology is moving in the United States

A read on the academic research around Education Technology — which themes are gaining ground, the institutions and researchers driving them, and how the tone is shifting. Based on 4,451 United States-affiliated papers.

research sentiment over time
200820172026
enthusiastic · positive · guarded tone
Tone is overwhelmingly optimistic and intensifying — the enthusiastic (strongly-positive) share moved 48% → 65% across 2008–2026.
top research entities
  • Purdue University West Lafayette107
  • North Carolina State University61
  • Michigan State University61
  • University of Florida57
  • Carnegie Mellon University56
leading researchers
E Mahiban Ross · D Beula Jeba Malar · Freederia AI Researcher · Charles R. Graham · Wordly Knowledge Publishing Centre · Richard E. Mayer · Vincent Aleven · Florence Martin
▲ Breakthroughs487 · 11%
▲ 4%→12% share
▲3.0× share momentum0 median citations93% since 2021mostly methods-led
Breakthroughs are rising (4%→12% of field), led by Adaptive learning.
rising sub-themes (early→recent)
  • Adaptive learning3→51
  • Analytics2→42
  • Learning analytics6→44
  • Educational technology6→37
  • Artificial neural network1→27
Newly emergingReinforcement learning 0→63 · Scalability 0→43 · Personalized learning 0→26
Landmark What is Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK)? · 1,481 cites
◆ Advancements2,156 · 48%
▲ 43%→50% share
▲1.2× share momentum0 median citations84% since 2021mostly empirical
Advancements are rising (43%→50% of field), led by Educational technology.
rising sub-themes (early→recent)
  • Educational technology84→423
  • Experiential learning13→154
  • Higher education4→126
  • Curriculum23→137
  • Learning analytics28→135
Newly emergingTransformative learning 0→112 · Generative grammar 0→72 · Digital learning 0→71
Landmark The Relative Effectiveness of Human Tutoring, Intelligent Tutoring Systems, and Other Tutoring Systems · 1,829 cites
▼ Concerns1,162 · 26%
▼ 30%→25% share
▼0.8× share momentum0 median citations79% since 2021mostly empirical
Concerns are cooling (30%→25% of field), led by Educational technology.
rising sub-themes (early→recent)
  • Educational technology79→257
  • Higher education7→109
  • Professional development11→74
  • Curriculum19→74
  • Transformative learning2→55
Newly emergingGenerative grammar 0→63 · Digital learning 0→38 · Thematic analysis 0→32
Landmark Teacher Technology Change · 2,249 cites
RESEARCH HOTSPOTS · United States

Where edtech is researched across United States

Location clusters by institution affiliation — each city's volume, stance tone, and a quick read on its hot topic, what's advancing, the opening opportunity, and the main concern.

Boston105 · +0.37
Hot · Educational technologyAdvancing · Student engagementOpportunity · Key (lock)Concern · Mathematics education
New York92 · +0.31
Hot · Medical educationAdvancing · Key (lock)Opportunity · Generative grammarConcern · Data science
Pittsburgh82 · +0.48
Hot · Intervention (counseling)Advancing · Learning analyticsOpportunity · Collaborative learningConcern · Generative grammar
SF Bay Area76 · +0.41
Hot · Reflection (computer programming)Advancing · Embodied cognitionOpportunity · LiteracyConcern · Generative grammar
Philadelphia52 · +0.32
Hot · Social mediaAdvancing · Science educationOpportunity · PedagogyConcern · Emerging technologies
Atlanta46 · +0.51
Hot · PersonalizationAdvancing · Adaptation (eye)Opportunity · Educational technology
Los Angeles44 · +0.24
Hot · PerceptionAdvancing · Test (biology)Opportunity · Active learning (machine learning)Concern · Higher education
Chicago42 · +0.29
Hot · Higher educationAdvancing · Bridge (graph theory)Opportunity · Adaptive learningConcern · Engineering ethics
Ann Arbor35 · +0.30
Hot · Teacher educationAdvancing · Sociotechnical systemOpportunity · Teaching method
Seattle34 · +0.44
Hot · Formative assessmentAdvancing · UsabilityOpportunity · Reinforcement learning
PATENT SIGNAL · United States

Who's filing edtech patents in the United States

United States edtech patent filing is accelerating — 2,649 filings from 804 assignees (2016–2025), led by Google, Microsoft, Adobe; annual filings 32→533.

2,649 filings804 assigneespeak 533/yr2016–2025
filing momentum (YoY 2016–2025)
top patent filers
  • Google131
  • Microsoft123
  • Adobe110
  • Equifax107
  • IBM94
  • Oracle64
  • Capital One Services58
  • Qualcomm55

Common questions

How many EdTech companies are there in Oakland, United States?
Radar tracks 43 indexable EdTech companies headquartered in Oakland, United States that meet our profile-completeness bar.
What is the total funding raised by EdTech companies in Oakland, United States?
The EdTech companies in Oakland, United States on this list have raised a combined $189.6M in disclosed equity funding across 9 funded companies.
Which is the highest-funded EdTech company in Oakland, United States?
Livescribe is the highest-funded EdTech company in Oakland, United States, with $130.3M in disclosed equity funding.
How many EdTech companies in Oakland, United States are funded?
9 of the 43 EdTech companies in Oakland, United States on this list have disclosed at least one equity funding round.
How many EdTech unicorns are there in Oakland, United States?
None of the EdTech companies in Oakland, United States on this list currently has a disclosed valuation of $1B or more.
Who are the top investors in Oakland, United States EdTech companies?
The most active investors in Oakland, United States EdTech companies on this list include 500 Global, Imagine K12, NewSchools Venture Fund, AT&T, Ares Capital Corporation.
Rohit KhannaTrends & Stories

Rohit lives in the feed. He covers what's moving right now — the funding rounds, launches and shifts breaking across the trade press — and ties them back to where the sector is heading.

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