The pandemic has opened a new door for the adoption of education technologies. In response to lockdowns, teachers were forced to quickly adapt to integrate digital curriculums, learning management systems, communications tools, and interactivity into their work. Merlyn Mind is a voice and remote-controlled digital assistant for educators to manage the digital services found in their classrooms. By offloading the technology aspect of education, teachers are able to focus on the needs of students. This year, the company has piloted its combined hardware and software solution in 50+ classrooms across twenty schools.
AlleyWatch caught up with CEO and Cofounder Satya Nitta to learn more about the inspiration to build a digital assistant specifically for education, the company’s strategic plans, latest funding round, and much, much more.
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
The $29 million was a combination of seed and Series A funding, led by Learn Capital.
Tell us about the product or service that Merlyn Mind offers.
The Merlyn assistant is accessed through Symphony Classroom, an AI hub custom-built for the unique needs of education. With Symphony Classroom, teachers can control classroom devices like the front-of-room displays, teacher laptops, the internet browser, and the applications teachers use daily. Merlyn integrates with the apps and devices teachers already use and love, including Google Slides, Google Drive, Classcraft, Nearpod, Newsela, and more to meet teachers where they already are.
What inspired the start of Merlyn Mind?
I have spent my career developing cutting-edge technology. I saw the future of work and the evolution of digital assistants, and there was a gap in education that digital assistants could fill. We set out to fill this gap at Merlyn Mind by working closely with educators to build the tech solutions educators really needed and wanted.
How is Merlyn Mind different?
We are the first digital assistant built specifically for education.
We believe the future is a multi-digital assistant world where people will interact with different digital assistants that are purpose-built to help with the specific needs of work across different industries. The promise of digital assistants has yet to be applied to education in a meaningful way, until Merlyn.
Merlyn is programmed specifically to remove the friction that technology has introduced into the teaching and learning process. Merlyn can help teachers with all the complexity of teaching in the classroom and free teachers to focus more of their time on the individual needs of their students.
What market does Merlyn Mind target and how big is it?
The global education technology market. The global education market is a $2 trillion dollar industry increasingly spending more each year on technology solutions.
What’s your business model?
We have a B2B business model. We sell a combined AI software and custom hardware solution to educational institutions.
How has COVID-19 impacted your business?
Before COVID-19, teachers already spent half of their time focused on administrative tasks managing more than 900 different applications in the classroom according to LearnPlatform. After COVID-19, teachers’ jobs have become even more difficult, with more than 97% of K-12 educators reporting learning loss in students over the past year when compared with children in previous years, according to Horace Mann Educators Corporation.
Taming the explosion of technology is especially critical right now, as educators and students have experienced some of the most trying times in our education system’s history due to COVID-19. We built Merlyn to help teachers manage the complexity of teaching with technology in the classroom and free teachers to focus more of their time on the individual needs of their students.
What was the funding process like?
Learn Capital led our seed and Series A rounds, and the team at Learn Capital has been amazing partners throughout the process.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
Fundraising is always challenging because of the time and energy it takes away from focusing on the product and business. Thankfully our existing investors believe in our team and our vision and we were able to raise capital without too many challenges.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
I credit our success to two main factors. First, our incredible team at Merlyn Mind, which is full of top talent from IBM Watson, Amazon Alexa, HP, Facebook, Google, Broadcom, Roku, the Allen Institute for AI, and many other innovative organizations.
Second, working intimately with teachers so we could create a solution they need in the classroom — and what they told us they need most is a technology that meets them where they already are and integrates with the tools they are already using to give them more time and freedom to teach. Our approach from the beginning wasn’t to tell teachers what our tech would do for them, but instead, let them tell us where the friction was and solve for it — test and learn until we get it right. In 2021 alone, we piloted Merlyn in over 50 classrooms across more than 20 different schools to help educators take back their classrooms from the complexities of technology.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
After spending 3.5 years in stealth mode, the next six months are about taking our product to market. Today, our solution is only available to select customers through an early access program. By the beginning of 2022, our key milestone is to have our products generally available for school customers to purchase.
What advice can you offer companies in New York that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
Spend more time understanding your customers and what they really need. More money can just mean more problems if you aren’t already clear on what problem you are solving and why. Think of limited resources as an opportunity to force yourself to focus on understanding your customer and building the solution that will help them make the progress they are already struggling to make.
Spend more time understanding your customers and what they really need. More money can just mean more problems if you aren’t already clear on what problem you are solving and why. Think of limited resources as an opportunity to force yourself to focus on understanding your customer and building the solution that will help them make the progress they are already struggling to make.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
We will continue to be guided by our vision to create AI solutions for the people building a better future. Our focus in the near term will be teachers and building AI solutions to help teachers with their work.
What’s your favorite outdoor dining restaurant in NYC
Cafe Mogador.
