Stefan Bauer struggled with school growing up. His mother advocated for him, though, spending several thousand dollars on a learning disability evaluation that revealed he has dyslexia. He went on to work in finance and consulting and graduate from Yale University’s MBA program.
Emily Yudofsky was also diagnosed with dyslexia in elementary school, and her parents helped her access the resources she needed to achieve a successful tech career with degrees from Yale and Stanford universities.
While they have had successful careers, Bauer and Yudofsky know how expensive and time-consuming it can be to receive the appropriate support for a learning disability. That’s why they founded Marker Learning, a telehealth platform that evaluates and provides support for individuals with learning disabilities. The company announced Thursday it will scale its edtech solution with $15 million in equity funding.
The platform, which is available to individuals ages 6 through 50, provides learning disability evaluations for about $1,000. Within a month, individuals will receive a diagnostic report that can be used to obtain special learning services. According to Marker Learning, individuals typically wait more than two years for these evaluations, which can cost up to $14,000.
“We are transforming access to learning and attention disability care — from early diagnosis to navigating the world as a neurodivergent adult,” Bauer, Marker Learning’s CEO, said in a statement.
Marker Learning also employs specialists who can provide students with lesson plans and tutoring services.
The Series A funding will help Marker Learning expand its reach to more school districts and scale its tutoring, coaching and other learning support services to schools and individuals.
Anita Frederick, a school psychologist in Georgia, said in a statement that Marker Learning has been a “lifesaver,” helping her handle a large number of caseloads that fell on her desk this year due to vacancies within her department.
“There is absolutely no way I could have gotten to the evaluations I’ve had this year without Marker’s help,” she said.
The funding round was led by Andreessen Horowitz and included investments from the venture arm of entrepreneur Richard Branson’s Virgin Group. Branson said in a statement that Marker Learning’s mission hits close to home for him.
“Having dyslexia myself, I learned a long time ago that when students have the permission and support to think differently, there’s no limit to what they can achieve,” he said.
