Prisms VR is Disrupting how Math is Taught: Raises $12.5 million in Series A Funding
Prisms VR, a company dedicated to improving math literacy via virtual-reality headsets, raised $12.5 million in a Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz. The Company is based in San Francisco and launched in 2021.
Prisms VR is working to solve a tremendous problem in the US: lagging math performance.
The US ranks 31st out of 79th in math literacy based on an international exam given to teenagers. In a technology-driven society, a nation’s competitive position on the global scale is mainly contingent on its people’s strength in STEM subjects to drive innovation and solve society’s most pressing problems. If the US loses its ability to innovate relative to our competitors, such as China, it’s inevitable the US will be supplanted as the dominant economic world power.
Prisms VR addresses this issue by using spatial learning headsets to teach students math visually and experientially, removing the abstract nature of Algebra and Geometry. Beyond teaching math, the Company is fundamentally changing teaching methods. The VR headsets are currently being used across 110 school districts in 26 states, reaching over 100,000 students.
The Company intends to use the proceeds of this fundraising round to expand into more schools across the US and invest in product development.
The founder and CEO, Anurupa Ganguly, is uniquely positioned to lead this company. Ganguly began her teaching career as a physics and math teacher in Boston Public Schools and currently serves as the Director of Mathematics and Engineering at Success Academy Charter Schools. She holds a BS and M.Eng in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT, and EdM in Curriculum and Teaching from Boston University.
