Funding signals importance of using technology to engage parents with their child’s learning & growth in the classroom
Kaymbu, an iPad-based education solution that enables teachers to document and share visual learning moments from the classroom, announced funding from NewSchools Seed Fund. The Seed Fund invests in educational technology companies developing technology solutions for the biggest challenges in K-12 education.
Kaymbu makes it easy for teachers to document and share anything from the classroom with children’s families. Teachers use Kaymbu to take and share pictures, videos and contextual notes, which capture student learning and development that engages and strengthens the relationships between parents, their children’s schools and teachers.
“We could not be more thrilled about the partnership with NewSchools,” said Kin Lo, founder and CEO of Kaymbu. “Our vision is to leverage technology to strengthen relationships between home and school for all children. There is no organization better positioned to help us accomplish that mission than NewSchools.”
Funding from NewSchools Seed Fund will enable Kaymbu to reach more children and families across North America.
Jennifer Carolan, managing director of NewSchools Seed Fund, stated: “NewSchools is proud to support Kaymbu’s mission to improve the communication between teachers and families. Parents are hungry for details about their children’s school day. Using technology that is easy for parents to access, Kaymbu invites parents into the classroom and enables a rich channel of communication.”
In the last year alone, teachers have shared more than six million classroom moments, including interactions between children, students working on art projects, and children reading for the first time with families using the Kaymbu system.
The feedback from parents has been overwhelmingly positive. Thousands of parents have commented that receiving the contextualized pictures and/or videos have both brightened their day and given them a window into their child’s development, which they did not have before.
Weston Fillman, a teacher at Bay Brook Elementary/Middle School, began using Kaymbu in his classroom last year and the results were astonishing.
“After I started using Kaymbu, I saw a noticeable upward trend in parental engagement in my classroom. Each day before or after school parents would stop to talk with me about the pictures and videos I sent to them throughout the previous day or week. Parents loved seeing what their kids were doing each day in the classroom and were much more interested in what was now happening in class each day.”
About Kaymbu
Kaymbu is an iPad-based documentation and media management solution for early education centers to keep teachers, families and administrators better connected with the children they care for and love. The company offers a turnkey solution that includes all software, web services and iPad devices for schools. Teachers use a dedicated app tailored specifically for classroom workflow that allows them to efficiently capture classroom activities for internal documentation and secure communication with families. Located in Cambridge, Mass., Kaymbu was conceived at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology by parents seeking to harness the power of web and mobile technologies to strengthen relationships between preschool teachers, families and their children. For more information, please visithttp://www.kaymbu.com.
About NewSchools Seed Fund
NewSchools Seed Fund invests in entrepreneurs developing education technology tools, applications, content, and services that will significantly improve education opportunities for all children. The Seed Fund was created to source and seed the most promising early-stage education technology companies and to encourage the growing network of impact investors to support K-12 education technology.
About NewSchools Venture Fund
NewSchools Venture Fund is a nonprofit venture philanthropy firm that supports entrepreneurs who are transforming K-12 public education and providing opportunities for underserved students. Since NewSchools’ founding in 1998, $248 million has been raised, and invested, in a national portfolio of early-stage ventures, including charter schools, teacher preparation programs, and educational technology companies. These investments have improved the educational outcomes for more than 15 million students. To learn more, please visit: https://www.newschools.org