In 2017, not long after its appearance on "Shark Tank," Brightwheel raised another $10 million, which included an investment from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, spearheaded by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan (via TechCrunch). In a 2018 update on the company, CEO Dave Vasen revealed that the software was being used by 25,000 schools. Though the application was originally free to use, Brightwheel has since shifted to a paid model. With this premium iteration, schools have received additional features such as staff management and two-way messaging.
Vasen revealed in the same 2018 "Shark Tank" update that the premium version of Brightwheel was a resounding success, and had resulted in over $2 million in sales. In January 2018, Learning Care Group — which now boasts over 1,000 for-profit schools in the United States — announced that it had signed a partnership with Brightwheel to have the software in all their schools.
The all-purpose school management service doesn't appear to be cumbersome bloatware either. Parents on a subreddit dedicated to toddlers have expressed their love for how Brightwheel keeps them connected to their children during school hours. "Every notification I get makes my work day. I stop whatever I'm doing to watch videos, save photos and review my son's daily activity," wrote u/Reaganonthemoon.
Despite positive reception from parents, a 2022 Electronic Frontier Foundation report found that apps like Brightwheel sport privacy-compromising features. Since the report, Brightwheel says it has beefed up its security process by adding two-factor authentication to its platform.
