Giving teachers their time back: Our investment in Brisk Teaching

Let’s be real – the idea that educators are “tech-phobic” or “stuck in the past” is as outdated as dial-up internet. Teachers are embracing AI faster than we can say “ChatGPT." For years, legacy education tech—like basic SaaS platforms—tried to make waves but mostly flopped. Sure, these systems could automate a few tasks, but they didn’t fundamentally transform the classroom or make it any easier for teachers to do what they do best: teach. So, it’s no wonder these tools never really caught fire among educators.

Enter Brisk––the AI-powered platform that’s revolutionizing K-12 education and giving teachers back their most precious resource: time. Through its AI-driven browser extension, Brisk effortlessly integrates into educators’ existing workflows, helping them cut down on fragmented tasks like grading, tutoring, and resource creation. For example, after a long day, a teacher can use their Brisk extension to instantly draft personalized responses for student essays, each one customized to the appropriate grading rubric and skill level. The result? Teachers save up to 10 hours a week. That’s 10 extra hours to focus on what truly matters—their students.

Brisk is tackling one of the biggest challenges in education technology: fragmentation. By integrating seamlessly with the tools teachers already use—from Google Docs to PDFs to YouTube—Brisk creates a unified, AI-powered workflow that reduces complexity instead of adding to it. And in an age where data privacy matters more than ever, Brisk has earned recognition from organizations like the Student Privacy Pledge and Common Sense Media for its unwavering commitment to protecting both student and educator data.

The numbers speak for themselves. In just over a year, Brisk has grown to serve over one million educators across 100 countries and partnered with more than 2,000 schools and districts.

At the helm of this exciting growth is Brisk's founder, Arman Jaffer, and his stellar team, whose deep empathy and understanding of educators' needs have shaped every aspect of Brisk’s development. This “educator-first” mindset has driven the platform’s success and earned it a loyal following among teachers.

The future of education is undoubtedly AI-driven, but here’s the twist: AI in education isn’t here to replace human relationships, it’s here to enhance them. By freeing up time, AI will amplify the human connection at the heart of every transformative classroom experience.

Brisk is leading this transformation. This investment will accelerate their evolution from a suite of AI-powered tools into a full-fledged classroom agent, leveraging its position in the browser to support educators in driving personalized, high-quality learning. And this vision goes far beyond just workflow automation—Brisk is building an AI-native education tech stack that could fundamentally reshape how we think about teaching and learning.

Teachers are some of the most dedicated professionals out there. Many of us can remember that teacher who spent hours every night writing paragraphs of feedback on our essays, purple pen flying everywhere, and then went above and beyond to reward us for doing well (some even baked treats for us when we really needed them!) While educators like these are absolute legends, they shouldn’t be spending their after-school hours perpetually bogged down by tasks. That’s where Brisk comes in—to give these world-class educators more time to do what they do best: teach and connect with students.

We’re proud to lead Brisk’s $15 million Series A round and partner with them on this exciting journey to support every educator who has ever wielded purple ink, baked muffins, and gone the extra mile to drive student outcomes.

Want to learn more about Brisk Teaching or try the platform? Visit www.briskteaching.com.