Brightwheel Valuation, Funding & Investors
Brightwheel is valued at $600M as of February 2021.
Last Brightwheel valuation
$600M
Series C · Feb 2021
Last Brightwheel funding round
$55M
Series C · Feb 2021
Cumulative funding Brightwheel raised
$89M
across 5 funding rounds
Key investors in Brightwheel
Eniac Ventures
Golden Ventures
Lowercase Capital
Notable Capital
Bessemer Venture Partners
RRE Ventures
About Brightwheel
Brightwheel is a software platform for early childhood education programs including preschools, childcare centers, camps, and afterschool sites. The tool streamlines teacher-parent communication, daily activity logging, billing automation, and attendance tracking. Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Brightwheel equips administrators with enrollment management and compliance reporting features.
Founded
2014
HQ
San Francisco, CAWebsite
Status
Privately held
Customer focus
B2B
Revenue model
Subscription
Valuation
$600M (Feb 2021)
Brightwheel Valuation
Brightwheel is currently valued at $600M, based on its Series C in February 2021.
The $55M round was led by Addition, with participation from Eniac Ventures, Emerson Collective, Next Play Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Julia Hartz and 4 other investors.
Brightwheel's valuation has grown 5.2x from $115M at its Series B in October 2018 to $600M in February 2021, across 2 priced rounds.
Brightwheel valuation by funding round
| Date | Stage | Valuation |
|---|---|---|
| Feb 2021 | Series C | $600M |
| Oct 2018 | Series B | $115M |
Brightwheel Funding History
Brightwheel has raised a total of $89M across 5 funding rounds.
Brightwheel's first fundraising round was a $2M seed round in May 2015. The most recent completed round was a $55M Series C in February 2021.
Brightwheel funding rounds
| Date | Stage | Investors | Raised | Valuation | Deal Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 2021 | Series C | Addition (lead); Eniac Ventures; Emerson Collective; Next Play Ventures; Bessemer Venture Partners; Julia Hartz; Trybe Ventures; 9Yards Capital; A*; Notable Capital | $55M | $600M | Brightwheel is a comprehensive platform for early education providers, offering tools for teachers including assessments, communication, and photo sharing; for administrators, enrollment, reporting, and online bill pay; and for parents, real-time views of their child's day. The company serves preschools and childcare centers in the $100B US early education market, with features like touchless sign-in, safety checks, and at-home learning solutions developed during COVID-19. Founded in 2014 by Dave Vasen, it appeared on Shark Tank in 2016 and has grown rapidly, serving over 25,000 schools by 2018 and signing thousands of new customers during the pandemic. On March 2-3, 2021, Brightwheel raised $55 million in a Series C round led by Addition, with participation from Emerson Collective, Next Play Ventures, Julia Hartz, Kevin Hartz, Bessemer Venture Partners, GGV Capital, Eniac Ventures, and others, bringing total funding to approximately $88.8 million across multiple rounds. The post-money valuation following this round exceeded $600 million, a significant jump from the ~$115 million valuation in the 2018 Series B. Funds were allocated to new product development, team expansion across Austin, Denver, San Francisco offices, and remote positions, with 39 open roles in sales, product, engineering, and operations at the time. The company acquired Experience Early Learning curriculum in 2023 and continued growth, with later estimates placing 2024 revenue at $75 million and valuation over $700 million. Investors also include RRE Ventures, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Mark Cuban, and Chris Sacca from prior rounds. |
| Oct 2018 | Series B | Bessemer Venture Partners (lead); Eniac Ventures; RRE Ventures; Lowercase Capital; Chan Zuckerberg Initiative; Omidyar Network; Notable Capital; Golden Ventures | $21M | $115M | Brightwheel is an all-in-one software platform for early education providers including preschools, childcare centers, camps, and afterschool programs. The platform enables teachers to manage daily operations and communicate with parents, gives parents visibility into their children's learning, and automates administrative functions for facility operators. The company claims the platform saves teachers and administrators approximately one hour per day while improving parent satisfaction and engagement. In October 2018, Brightwheel completed its Series B funding round, raising $21 million led by Bessemer Venture Partners with participation from Omidyar Network, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Eniac Ventures, GGV Capital, Golden Venture Partners, and Lowercase Capital. The round valued the company at approximately $115 million post-money. By this stage, Brightwheel had achieved significant traction across the fragmented early education market, which comprises over 850,000 small businesses in the United States. The company was the first to build a modern cloud-based SaaS platform serving the industry, competing in a market traditionally dominated by paper, spreadsheets, and on-premise systems. The funding was designated for accelerating product development and expanding the team across the company's San Francisco and Denver offices. |
| Feb 2017 | Series A | Notable Capital (lead); Tom Williams; Eniac Ventures; ICONIQ Capital; RRE Ventures; Heron Rock Fund; Lowercase Capital; Chan Zuckerberg Initiative; Mark Cuban Companies; April Underwood; Golden Ventures | $10M | - | Brightwheel raised $10 million in a Series A funding round on February 16, 2017, led by GGV Capital with participation from Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, ICONIQ Capital, Eniac Ventures, Golden Ventures, Lowercase Capital, Mark Cuban Companies, RRE Ventures, and angels including April Underwood and Tom Williams. The funding aimed to double the team from 12 to 25 employees and develop new features for lesson planning, activities, and parent curriculum ideas. Brightwheel provides a freemium platform for preschools and daycares to share child updates with parents, targeting small in-home providers to multi-state chains. |
| May 2016 | Seed | Lowercase Capital (lead); Eniac Ventures; Chris Sacca; Mark Cuban; Golden Ventures | $600K | - | - |
| May 2015 | Seed | Eniac Ventures (lead); Tom Williams; Lowercase Capital; Golden Ventures | $2M | - | - |
Who has invested in Brightwheel?
22 investors have backed Brightwheel across its funding rounds, including Eniac Ventures, Golden Ventures, Lowercase Capital, Notable Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners and RRE Ventures.
Lead investors include Addition, Bessemer Venture Partners, Notable Capital, Lowercase Capital and Eniac Ventures.
Brightwheel Investors
| Investor | HQ | Rounds | Role | First check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York City, NY | 5 | Lead | May 2015 | |
| San Francisco, CA | 4 | Lead | May 2015 | |
 Toronto | 4 | Participant | May 2015 | |
| San Francisco, CA | 3 | Lead | Feb 2017 | |
![](data:image/svg+xml,<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20"><rect fill="%23e5e7eb" width="20" height="20" rx="4"/></svg>){kind=small} Tom Williams | San Francisco, CA | 2 | Participant | May 2015 |
| New York City, NY | 2 | Participant | Feb 2017 | |
| San Francisco, CA | 2 | Participant | Feb 2017 | |
| San Francisco, CA | 2 | Lead | Oct 2018 | |
| San Francisco, CA | 1 | Participant | Feb 2021 | |
| San Francisco, CA | 1 | Participant | Feb 2017 | |
| Ottawa | 1 | Participant | Feb 2017 | |
| San Francisco, CA | 1 | Participant | Feb 2021 | |
| United States | 1 | Lead | Feb 2021 | |
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Start Free TrialAcquisitions by Brightwheel
Brightwheel has acquired 2 companies to date.
Last acquisition by Brightwheel was on April 5th 2023. Brightwheel acquired Experience Early Learning for undisclosed valuation.
Latest Acquisitions by Brightwheel
| Description | Experience Early Learning is a Greensboro-headquartered developer of subscription-based preschool curriculum kits for child care centers across the United States. The company delivers monthly activity sets tailored for children from birth to five years old, incorporating hands-on projects, songs, and books to promote social-emotional, physical, and cognitive growth through play. Formerly known as Mother Goose Time and founded in 1995, it provides complementary digital lesson plans, teacher training videos, and family engagement tools accessible via an online portal. | MyChild is a Lisbon-based application for childcare centers and preschools. The parent engagement platform tracks children's growth and screens for developmental disorders. |
| HQ Country | |  |
| HQ City | Grawn, MI | Lisbon |
| Deal Date | 5 Apr 2023 | 3 Nov 2016 |
| Valuation | undisclosed | undisclosed |
| EV/Revenue | ||
| EV/EBITDA | ||
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all Brightwheel acquisitions and their M&A valuation multiples. Start Free Trial | ||
Brightwheel Competitors
Brightwheel competitors include listed companies like CS Disco and Youdao, and private ones like Virtuous Software, Planhat, Motion.io and Zhiyihuiyun.
| Company | HQ | Status | Revenue | EBITDA | Valuation | Revenue Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Private | - | - | $600M | - | |
 Stockholm | Private | - | - | $564M | - | |
| Boulder, CO | Private | $50M | - | $550M | 11.0x | |
| Zhiyihuiyun |  Wuhu | Private | - | - | $655M | - |
| United States | Publicly listed | $157M | ($44M) | $273M | 1.0x | |
| China | Publicly listed | $881M | $29M | $1.7B | 2.0x |
Brightwheel Public Comps
Brightwheel is still privately-owned, but its public comps include RWS Holdings, Scholastic, China Education, Jiangsu Chuanzhiboke, Gaotu Techedu, YDUQS, Stadio Holdings, Ataa Educational, Vitru Educação and Lincoln Educational Services.
| Last FY | EV/Revenue | EV/EBITDA | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | EBITDA | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | |
| $927M | ($26M) | 0.7x | 0.7x | (27.2x) | 4.8x | |||
| $1.6B | $180M | 0.6x | 0.6x | 5.0x | 6.1x | |||
| $1.1B | $342M | 1.6x | 1.6x | 5.1x | 3.1x | |||
| $57M | ($7M) | 8.9x | 6.3x | (67.8x) | - | |||
| $917M | ($38M) | 0.2x | 0.2x | (4.3x) | (33.7x) | |||
| $1.1B | $310M | 1.3x | 1.2x | 4.3x | 3.7x | |||
| $113M | $34M | 6.4x | 5.8x | 21.3x | 19.2x | |||
| $176M | $65M | 4.4x | 4.2x | 11.8x | 11.4x | |||
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Common questions about Brightwheel
| When was Brightwheel founded? | Brightwheel was founded in 2014. |
| Where is Brightwheel headquartered? | Brightwheel is headquartered in San Francisco, CA, United States. |
| Is Brightwheel publicly listed? | No, Brightwheel is a private, VC-backed company. |
| What is Brightwheel's valuation? | Brightwheel was last valued at $600M in its Series C in February 2021. |
| How much funding has Brightwheel raised? | Brightwheel has raised $89M across 5 funding rounds. |
| What was Brightwheel's last funding round? | Brightwheel's last funding round was a $55M Series C in February 2021, led by Addition. |
| Who are Brightwheel's investors? | Brightwheel's investors include Eniac Ventures, Lowercase Capital, Golden Ventures, Notable Capital, Tom Williams, RRE Ventures, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Bessemer Venture Partners, Emerson Collective, ICONIQ Capital and 12 others. |
| Which companies are comparable to Brightwheel? | Companies comparable to Brightwheel include Virtuous Software, Planhat, Motion.io, Zhiyihuiyun, CS Disco and Youdao. |
| How many companies has Brightwheel acquired? | Brightwheel has acquired 2 companies, including Experience Early Learning and MyChild. |
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