EV Atlas — every Emergent Ventures grantee, in one place

Kelly Smith got the rare double-grant from EV — once in cohort 1 (Nov 2018) and again in cohort 2 (Dec 2018) — both for the same project: Prenda, a parent-run microschool network in Arizona. The Prenda model is an in-home microschool: small mixed-age groups of 5-10 K-8 students learning together under a parent or community-member 'guide,' with software handling the curriculum delivery. It was an early bet that the K-12 monopoly could be unbundled the way music and news already had been. Since the EV grants, Prenda expanded from a handful of Arizona pods to operating in multiple states under varying charter and ESA frameworks. The pandemic surge in microschool interest accelerated the model. Prenda continues to operate today as a venture-backed company providing the platform that powers microschools across the country.