Funded Education Startups in Chicago
Across 25 education-focused startups based in Chicago, the disclosed-round ceiling is set by eSpark’s $25M close on 2022-01-05.
Across 25 education-focused startups based in Chicago, the disclosed-round ceiling is set by eSpark’s $25M close on 2022-01-05. That single figure sits far above the other disclosed amounts in this window, where the next-largest disclosed rounds cluster at $8M (Trala, 2023-03-16), $6M (inquirED, 2023-11-07), and $5M (Fluent Forever, 2020-11-06), with many smaller disclosures at $3M and below (e.g., Classet $3M on 2022-12-15; Upkey $3M on 2021-02-02).
Most recent rounds
25 shownRelated listings
Frequently asked
Which disclosed rounds stand out as outliers, and how does the rest of the disclosed set compare?
eSpark’s disclosed $25M round on 2022-01-05 is the only amount in the $20M range; the next-highest disclosed amounts are $8M (Trala, 2023-03-16) and $6M (inquirED, 2023-11-07), while multiple other disclosed rounds land at $3M (Classet 2022-12-15; Upkey 2021-02-02) or $2M (Vision Quest Coaching 2022-06-22; HiLink 2022-06-20).
Is there a tight temporal cluster, or are rounds spread evenly across years?
The shown rounds span 2020-11-06 (Fluent Forever) through 2025-08-19 (Grapefruit Health). Within that span, several disclosures appear concentrated in 2023 and 2022—e.g., in 2023 there are multiple dated entries such as inquirED (2023-11-07, $6M) and Trala (2023-03-16, $8M), while 2022 includes eSpark (2022-01-05, $25M) and Classet (2022-12-15, $3M).
How much of the list is non-disclosed versus explicitly disclosed by amount?
11 of the 25 rows show “undisclosed” amounts (e.g., Grapefruit Health 2025-08-19; AMOpportunities 2025-03-18; CompTIA 2024-11-05), and an additional entry is missing an explicit amount field with Series shown as blank (Fluent Forever has $5M, but the one truly blank-amount row is Fluent Forever?—the only blank-amount row in the data is Fluent Forever with an empty Series and $5M present, so it remains disclosed; therefore the non-disclosed count is the 11 “undisclosed” rows).
What stage labels dominate, based on the rows shown?
“Series Unknown” appears most often, present on 12 of the 25 rows (e.g., AMOpportunities 2025-03-18; OAI 2024-07-15; e.g., inquirED 2023-11-07 is also Series Unknown). Only a smaller subset are explicitly labeled with stages like Seed ($3M Classet 2022-12-15; $3M Upkey 2021-02-02), Pre-Seed ($2M HiLink 2022-06-20), or Grant (Braven 2022-06-14).
Which recent entries (relative to the latest date shown) are most actionable by having disclosed amounts?
The latest dated entry is Grapefruit Health on 2025-08-19, but it is “undisclosed.” The most recent disclosed amounts occur at $100K (The Dovetail Project on 2025-01-07 and OAI on 2024-07-15), and the list’s larger disclosed rounds are older, such as $8M (Trala, 2023-03-16) and $6M (inquirED, 2023-11-07).
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