The South Jersey co-founder of an education technology startup has been selected for the Google for Startups Black Founders Accelerator.
Teryn Thomas, 34, of Moorestown, is CEO of EdLight, which digitizes handwritten schoolwork to help teachers better understand student progress and provide feedback to improve equity in education.
EdLight is one of a dozen companies participating in this year’s Black Founders Accelerator. The 10-week program for early stage startups across North America starts Sept. 13. Participating founders receive mentorship, expert advice and learning opportunities to improve their companies.
EdLight’s product is used by 20,000 students ages 3-18 across a variety of subjects nationwide, according to Thomas. Users can upload a photo of their completed paper worksheet or test to the platform through a mobile app or web browser. Using artificial intelligence capabilities, students and their families can get feedback and collaborate with teachers.
“I think it’s really about honoring the intellectual and emotional energy that our Black and brown students put into their work,” Thomas said.
Additional anti-racist teaching resources are available to help provide equity in the classroom and work to ensure that teachers offer “grade-level opportunities for students,” Thomas added.
“When we think about how EdLight fits into the space of anti-racist education, it creates an opportunity for teachers and educators to have conversations about the paths and the opportunities that we’re providing to kids,” Thomas said. “When you see that work, when you see what we’re putting in front of our kids and you ask yourself is that grade level content? Is that worthy of the kids that I love and I serve? We hope this will help teachers ask and answer those questions.”
Thomas said EdLight's current client base includes teachers and school districts from Washington state to Washington, D.C.While the startup does not currently have agreements with schools in the Philadelphia area, a teacher in Philadelphia’s public school system recently signed on for the service, she said.
Thomas obtained a bachelor’s in business administration in 2010 from Drexel University and a master’s in education in 2012 from the University of Pennsylvania. She worked as a teacher in Philadelphia and as a principal in New Jersey before founding EdLight.
EdLight operates remotely with two full-time and 12 part-time employees. It’s based out of Massachusetts, where co-founder Ryan Knight lives. Along with Thomas, one-fourth of the company’s workforce calls the Philadelphia area home.
Thomas applied for a spot in the accelerator in early July. She was impressed by Google’s willingness “to understand how the landscape is different for all of us based off our identities, and create a space where they’re really going to challenge us, and empower us … [it] just felt like an opportunity we couldn’t miss out on.”
Thomas said she’s looking forward to making connections and receiving helpful feedback to grow EdLight and further develop its AI capabilities. Participating startups have received funding as part of the program in the past, but Thomas said she was not yet aware of the amount.
EdLight has received more than $1 million in investments so far, according to Thomas, who said that the startup aspires to raise another round within the next year. She added that the Google accelerator could be a great location to connect with potential investors.
“Our hope is that will attract traditional funders who will be excited about really centering students at the forefront of the conversation,” Thomas said.
Along with EdLight, the startups in this year’s Black Founders cohort are Beam.city DNA, of Toronto; HumanSquad, of Toronto; Innovare, of Chicago; Mozaic, of Chicago; Node, of Toronto; Onramp, of Oakland, California; Paerpay, of Boston; Smart Alto, of Birmingham, Alabama; TurnSignl, of Minneapolis; WearWorks, of Brooklyn; and XpressRun, of Louisville, Kentucky.
