Why We Invested in Papaya
We are excited to announce that Papaya closed its oversubscribed $2.25MM Pre-Seed round, led by Chingona Ventures. Papaya is a tech-enabled platform and managed marketplace connecting bilingual (English and Spanish) STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) topic experts from Latin America with U.S.-based students in need of STEM tutoring.
We are excited by Papaya’s bilingual, K-12 curriculum-focused, and multichannel approach to STEM tutoring services. Currently, there is a stark gap for vetted, Spanish-speaking STEM virtual tutoring amidst the broader lack of qualified STEM educators, ESL instructors, and the growing Latino population.
Many K-12 schools in the U.S. need more material resources or trained teachers to provide quality education. The gap in STEM education is particularly pronounced: the number of unfilled STEM educator roles is in the hundreds of thousands, 63% of high school students graduate unprepared for college-level math, and only 8–19% of families are supplementing their children’s schooling through tutoring.
On the demographic side, the Latino population continues to grow. According to the 2020 Census, Latinos now comprise 19% of the total U.S. population, or 62.1 million people, and are the largest contributor to the U.S. population — accounting for 54% of population growth. In U.S. public schools, there are approximately 5 million English learners (EL), which comprise about 10% of U.S. K-12 students, as of 2017. Of these 5 million EL students, 3.9 million of them are Spanish speakers. Amidst the rising number of English learners, there is a national shortage of teachers bilingual educators. More than 30 states in the U.S. report critical shortages of English as a Second Language (ESL) instructors. This is especially pronounced at the high school stage, as only 67% of English learners graduate within 4 years.
Founder and CEO Sandra LaPlante deeply understands the needs of Papaya’s students; she moved to the U.S. from Peru at 17 and, as an engineering undergraduate, Sandra struggled to find affordable qualified tutors. She ultimately connected with a virtual tutor from the top engineering school in Peru who helped her learn STEM problem-solving strategies, improve her grades, and increase her confidence as a student.
Papaya seeks to fill the gap for qualified bilingual STEM educators at the K-12 level, focusing on school districts with high percentages of Latino students as initial users. By prioritizing a B2B2C approach, tutoring can be free to the end user. Families who may not have Papaya available through their school or school district can connect with Papaya tutors directly through the Papaya platform.
Papaya’s tutors strive to simplify the hardest subjects in STEM and transform struggling students into STEM aficionados. This is Papaya’s ethos; in fact, the company’s name refers to a phrase used in some Latin American countries to refer to something as easy (akin to “a piece of cake”). Papaya has already delivered over 200,785 minutes of tutoring, has 1,200 registered tutors on their platform, and is operating across 20+ cities in the U.S.. In a recent pilot with Chicago Public Schools, educators, parents, and students noted the value of tutoring as a key to success for all students.
The timing to create a better tutoring solution for schools and students has never been better, as several Federal government programs are expanding funding opportunities for solutions to the STEM achievement gap in education. The White House “Charting a Course for Success Report” saw the need to bolster support for STEM education through additional investments at both the K-12 and collegiate levels. Last year, Congress increased funding for Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants by 5% to $1.3 billion and Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants by 1% to $2.2 billion. These funds can be used for several initiatives, including recruiting and training quality STEM teachers, increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion, and providing school curriculum support and materials. Additionally, with the transition to virtual learning seen in the first two years of the pandemic, parents are now more likely to seek virtual extracurricular resources to support their children beyond classroom instruction.
Papaya sits at the intersection of Chingona’s central investment thesis: future of learning, early-stage, and operating in an underserved market. We love seeing Sandra’s passion for STEM education bringing a tech-enabled solution that better served the rapidly growing Latino market. This round will help Papaya onboard additional schools and school districts, particularly those with high Latino populations, and continue serving their B2C clients. With several investments in the Future of Learning space including Innovare, Career Karma, Certiverse, and Lirvana Labs, we are ecstatic to welcome Papaya to the Chingona Ventures portfolio.
Big congrats to Sandra LaPlante, and the rest of the Papaya team! We look forward to working with Sandra on the board to help make Papaya accessible to all K-12 students. If you are looking for personalized virtual tutoring for a little one in your life, check out Papaya!
