BrainSTEM
Year founded: 2019
Number of employees: 5
Founders: Ricky Mason, CEO/CTO, Kara Mason, COO, and David Miller, CPO
Amount of capital raised: $130,000
Notable investors: Render Capital
Explain what your company does: BrainSTEM is an edtech company building a community of students that love STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics]. We develop AI [artificial intelligence] and VR [virtual reality] solutions for K12 STEM. Our MVP [minimal viable product], BrainSTEM Metaversity, is a teaching tool for building student communities in the metaverse. Metaversity keeps students connected to each other in and out of school in a secure metaverse for K-12 students. Teachers can embed their current curriculum in our pre-built metaspace templates with a few clicks. Now students can experience the technology that will keep them engaged while keeping them connected to their real-life school community.
What are some major milestones in the company’s history?
- In 2020, we won four pitch competitions: KY-270, Vogt Awards, Render Capital and Venture Sharks. We also received an honorable mention in the OHUB Rise of the Rest competition.
- By June of 2021, we hired four employees moving from solo founder to a team of five.
- In August of 2021 we released BrainSTEM Metaversity at the Deeper Learning Symposium.
- We were named the Premier Community Partner for JCPS Hour of Code December 7-11th. During that time, JCPS students, teachers and parents joined us in the metaverse for an interactive and exciting introduction to coding.
- We’re currently raising a seed funding round and ramping up to onboard schools to Metaversity.
What is your company working on right now?
Right now we are working closely with JCPS to find product/market fit with BrainSTEM Metaversity in the classroom. For parents, we continuously offer online and in-person STEM clubs (https://brainstemu.com/findacourse) and our summer camps will be released soon.
We’re raising a seed round now. We’re seeking investors in the K12 and/or VR Web3 spaces.
Outside of this, we’re also working on general education for the public about the metaverse, Web3 and blockchain. We know there are a lot of misconceptions about this new technology, and Facebook’s Meta announcement cast a shadow on the industry. However, we believe strongly that this new technology will make a meaningful impact in education equity. Our goal as a company is to advocate for education equity and student community in our products, our services and in the way we give back to Louisville.
What’s on the horizon for your company in 2022?
In 2022 we expect growth! After we raise our seed round, we will exponentially increase our R&D, hire more employees to help with software development and teaching STEM locally, and expand BrainSTEM Metaversity throughout Kentucky and the Midwest.
Why grow your company from Kentucky?
Kentucky is home. Ricky and Kara are JCPS grads and passionate about giving back to their communities. It made sense to build an education company in Kentucky to directly impact our communities first. Our local connections made it easier to find customers and funding to help start our business. JCPS in particular is more forward-thinking about technology than other school districts. It’s exciting to work with school administrators that embrace technology and the power it can have to help students thrive.
