Early education platform brightwheel, a free-to-use app that helps daycares and early education centers stay organized through a multitude of features, received $600,000 in investments from Shark Tank’s Mark Cuban and Chris Sacca.

Brightwheel’s founder Dave Vasen developed the product after significant experience working in education; in 2013, he served as the VP of Product for AltSchool, the Silicon Valley-created school system that has been referred to as the “future of education.”

According to Empty Lighthouse Magazine, Vasen impressed the sharks with brightwheel’s ability to connect parents to their child’s early education by allowing them access to daily reports and student progress.

Indeed, brightwheel is used in schools in every single state with both teachers and parents reporting high rates of satisfaction after use; the tool has already raised $2.2 million in investments thus far.

"Brightwheel has a great product, is growing like crazy, and makes life easier for teachers and parents...I just wish I had this when my kids were younger,” Cuban said after investing.

According to its website, brightwheel allows for early education centers to organize attendance, billing, messaging and reports through the app.

With its automated daily report functions, brightwheel connects educators and parents with its syncing function. Soon enough, parents will be able to use the app to check-in from their own device while on location.

On the classroom side of things, brightwheel lets educators record student progress, daily events like naps and potty use, document incidents and mishaps, and perform quick head counts. Educators have the option of sharing automated daily reports with parents to best keep them in the loop.

Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

5/2/2016