About LearnStart
LearnStart is a venture capital firm founded in 2017. It is primarily based out of New York City, United States. As of Jun 2025, LearnStart has invested in 37 companies. It primarily invests in Seed round in United States based startups. Its investments are spread across a wide range of sectors from EdTech to Enterprise Applications and Consumer. Most recently it participated in the $***** Seed round of Socrait Overall, LearnStart portfolio has seen 3 unicorns and 8 acquisitions including key companies like Osmosis, Degreed and Andela. A lot of funds co-invest with LearnStart, with names like Michelson 20MM sharing a substantial percentage of its portfolio. LearnStart has team of 2 people including 1 partners.Key Metrics
Team Members
Portfolio Sectors
Portfolio Locations
Rounds of Entry
Seed & Series A
Portfolio Soonicorns
LearnStart's List of Top Investments
LearnStart has a portfolio of 37 companies, including 3 unicorns. Their most notable investments are in Qualified and Englease.Their portfolio spans across United States, United Kingdom, Bangladesh and 3 more locations. They have invested in EdTech, Enterprise Applications, Consumer and 11 other sectors, across stages such as Seed, Series A stages. Here is the list of top investments by LearnStart:
1. Shikho
Provider of digital learning resources for academic and admission preparation. This platform offers live and recorded video lessons, animated educational content, and practice assessments. It provides study materials and analytical tools to support curriculum-based learning and test preparation. The system facilitates access to instructional content and performance tracking for students.
Key facts about Shikho
- Founded Year: 2019
- Location: Dhaka (Bangladesh)
- Stage: Series A
- Total Funding till date: $8M
- Employee Count: 516 as on Sep 30, 2026
- Investors: Goodwater Capital, Learn Capital and 18 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series A, May 07, 2025, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
2. Osmosis
Educational resources platform for medical students and professionals. Allows students to upload curricular material, such as documents and lectures, create their own flashcards, questions, and answer these assessment items using spaced repetition. Scoreboard shows a student their accuracy, confidence, and retention of knowledge, while the platform recommends additional resources such as videos and articles.
Key facts about Osmosis
- Founded Year: 2012
- Location: Charlottesville (United States)
- Stage: Acquired
- Total Funding till date: $8.99M
- Employee Count: 336 as on Sep 30, 2026
- Investors: Felicis Ventures, Education Competition and 23 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series A, Nov 07, 2023, $*****
- Highlight: Acquired
3. NovaKid
Provider of online English language learning sessions for children. The platform offers interactive lessons with native speakers using a curriculum aligned with international standards. Lessons incorporate gamified elements, virtual tours, and immersive activities to support language acquisition and fluency development. Students engage in individual sessions and speaking groups designed to build communication skills through a structured, play-based approach.
Key facts about NovaKid
- Founded Year: 2017
- Location: San Francisco (United States)
- Stage: Series B
- Total Funding till date: $41.4M
- Employee Count: 1,685 as on Aug 31, 2026
- Investors: Portfolion, Goodwater Capital and 7 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series B, Aug 02, 2021, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
4. Degreed
Provider of a learning experience platform for workforce skill development. The platform offers tools for skill data analysis, personalized learning, and collaborative learning experiences. It helps organizations understand and build workforce skills. The platform provides resources for onboarding, upskilling, and reskilling. It also offers services to maximize the impact of learning initiatives.
Key facts about Degreed
- Founded Year: 2012
- Location: Pleasanton (United States)
- Valuation: $*****
- Stage: Series D
- Total Funding till date: $367M
- Employee Count: 543 as on Sep 30, 2026
- Investors: Section Partners, Founders Circle Capital and 35 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Conventional Debt, Apr 13, 2021, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
5. Andela
Tech talent training and employment solutions provider. The platform allows candidates to learn, develop skills and create a talent pool. It provides services for employers such as sourcing, assessment, matching candidates to the jobs, and more.
Key facts about Andela
- Founded Year: 2014
- Location: New York City (United States)
- Valuation: $*****
- Stage: Series E
- Total Funding till date: $381M
- Employee Count: 1,296 as on Aug 31, 2026
- Investors: Western Technology Investment, Generation Investment Management and 55 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series E, Sep 29, 2021, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
LearnStart's Year-on-Year Investment Trends
LearnStart has invested in 37 companies over the last 9 years, with an average of 2 new investments annually in the last 5 years. In 2025, it made 2 investments. Its most recent first time investment was in Socrait and most recent follow-on round was in Shikho.Year | No. of Investments | ||
|---|---|---|---|
1st Round | Follow-on | Total | |
2026 (YTD) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2025 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
2024 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2023 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
2022 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
2021 | 6 | 3 | 9 |
2020 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
2019 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
2018 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
2017 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
LearnStart's Investments by Stage
LearnStart has made 20 investments in Seed stage with an average round size of $2.37M and 4 investments in Series A stage with an average round size of $8.06M.Stage of entry | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Seed | 20 |
Series A | 4 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
LearnStart's Investments by Sector
LearnStart has a diverse portfolio, with companies operating in the EdTech, Enterprise Applications, Consumer, HealthTech and Sustainability Tech. Notably, it has invested in 34 Tech companies, 24 Consumer (B2C) companies, 18 Enterprise (B2B) companies and at least 15 companies focusing on Software.Sector | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
EdTech | 16 |
Enterprise Applications | 7 |
Consumer | 3 |
HealthTech | 2 |
Sustainability Tech | 2 |
Others | 7 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
LearnStart's Investments by Geography
LearnStart has made most investments in United States (17), followed by United Kingdom where it has made 3 investments.Country | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
United States | 17 |
United Kingdom | 3 |
Bangladesh | 1 |
India | 1 |
Somalia | 1 |
Others | 1 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
LearnStart's recent investments
LearnStart has not made any investment in 2026 so far.Here are the most recent investments by LearnStart:
Filter this listDate | Company | Location | Round Details | Round Amount | Co-Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jun 30, 2025 | United States | Seed | 1355 | - | |
Feb 20, 2025 | United States | Series A | 5409 | [+10] | |
Apr 06, 2023 | United States | Seed | 7950 | [+1] | |
Jun 21, 2022 | United Kingdom | Seed | 6409 | [+4] | |
Mar 29, 2022 | Bangladesh | Seed | 4098 | [+7] |
Unicorns in LearnStart's Portfolio
LearnStart has 3 unicorns in its portfolio - Andela, Degreed and Newsela. The most recent unicorn in their portfolio is Andela. It became a unicorn in 2021, 5 years before LearnStart first invested in it.Here is a list of unicorns in LearnStart's portfolio:
Tracxn Score | Company | Short Description | Founded year | Sector | Location | Company Stage | First Investment/ Acquisition Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
64 | Tech talent training and employment solutions provider | 2014 | New York City | Series E | fvtyzbr | ||
67 | Provider of a learning experience platform for workforce skill development | 2012 | Pleasanton | Series D | vtyitpa | ||
60 | Online platform providing learning content for educators | 2013 | New York City | Series D | jpdmyad |
Acquired companies in LearnStart's Portfolio
8 companies from LearnStart's portfolio have been acquired. The most recent acquisition was Tynker in Jun 2025 by CodeHS for $*****.Here are LearnStart's portfolio companies that got acquired most recently:
Company | Acquisition Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Jun 09, 2025 | - | - | 7423 | |
Mar 09, 2023 | 2017 | Seed | 4730 | |
Jan 26, 2023 | Oct 18, 2018 | Seed | 7744 | |
Nov 22, 2022 | - | - | 6516 | |
Sep 22, 2022 | Aug 14, 2018 | Seed | 1736 |
Team profile of LearnStart
LearnStart has a team of 2 members including 1 Partner and 1 Principal located in United States. LearnStart's team does not sit on the board of any company as of now.Co-investors of LearnStart
Over the past 9 years, 180 investors have co-invested in LearnStart's portfolio companies. This includes funds and angels.
- Invested before LearnStart: Dreamit, Education Competition and 25 others have invested in rounds before LearnStart. There are 2 companies where Dreamit has invested before LearnStart and 1 company where Education Competition has invested before LearnStart.
- Top Co-investors of LearnStart: 108 investors entered a company along with LearnStart. These include investors like Michelson 20MM (3 companies).
- Invested after LearnStart: A total of 45 investors have invested in LearnStart's portfolio after their investments. Top Investors include Goodwater Capital (2 companies), JFF (2 companies) and Wavemaker Partners (1 company).
Recent News related to LearnStart
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Gesynta Pharma Receives $27 M For Endometriosis Novel Therapy DrugForbes•Feb 13, 2025•Gesynta Pharma, Innovestor, Amboy Street Ventures, Foreground Capital and 18 others
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Skillprint Raises $3.5M in Pre-Seed FundingFinSMEs•Apr 06, 2023•Skillprint, Shanda, LearnStart, Niremia
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Mercia backs learning experience platformInsider Media•Feb 07, 2023•Mercia, HowNow, Fuel Ventures, LearnStart and 3 others
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Orrick + Bryce Catalyst in $2.5m Funding of Legal Training Platform AltaClaroArtificial Lawyer•Mar 29, 2022•AltaClaro, Bryce Catalyst, Orrick, LearnStart
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Shikho becomes the first startup with $5.3M funding in BangladeshDhaka Tribune•Mar 29, 2022•Shikho, Wavemaker Partners, LearnStart, Learn Capital and 8 others
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Fluence Raises $3M in Seed FundingFinSMEs•Feb 27, 2022•Fluence, JLS Fund, Neo Kuma Ventures, LearnStart and 3 others
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Dubai-based Online English Learning Startup Englease.com Raises $3.4M In Seed RoundEdTechReview•Dec 22, 2021•Englease, Learn Capital, LearnStart, COTU Ventures and 4 others
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Framework raises $2M Seed to create an ‘on-demand business school’ aimed at startupsTechCrunch+•Nov 11, 2021•Frameworks, LearnStart, Learn Capital, Evio Venture Capital and 3 others
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New Apprenticeship Closes $2.5M Seed FundingFinSMEs•Sep 14, 2021•New Apprentices, ECMC Group, LearnStart, Michelson 20MM and 1 other
