Education Technology · Profile from Education Technology Research Companion
ClassDojo, Inc.
The free classroom app that two young founders from London spread through US elementary schools without a sales team. It began as a behavior-points tool, became the default school–home communication channel for families of young children, and became one of the few profitable edtech unicorns by charging parents rather than teachers or districts.
At a glance
- Founded
- 2011 (Imagine K12 first cohort); public launch ~August 2011
- Founders
- Sam Chaudhary (CEO), Liam Don (CTO, later President)
- Headquarters
- San Francisco, California (remote-friendly; staff in the US and UK)
- Ownership / structure
- Private, venture-backed C-corp. Investors include Tencent (Series D lead), General Catalyst, Shasta Ventures (reported), SignalFire, Reach Capital, SV Angel, Imagine K12 / Y Combinator, Adams Street Partners (reported)
- Leadership (2026)
- Sam Chaudhary, co-founder and CEO; Liam Don, co-founder and President (verify current titles)
- Segment and buyer
- K-8 (mainly K-5) school–home communication and family learning. Teachers and schools use it free; parents pay for ClassDojo Plus and other family products (e.g., Dojo Tutor)
- Scale
- Company claims: used in ~95% of US K-8 schools (2022), ~51m students served (2020), 100m+ app downloads (2021), ~180 countries (2023). Headcount ~250–300 (~). Revenue not disclosed; estimates >~$30m annualised (2022, estimate) and ~$52m ARR (2023, low-confidence aggregator)
- Capital raised / valuation
- ~$190–230m total disclosed (sources vary). Seed ~$1.6m (2012); Series A ~$8–9m (2013); Series B ~$21m (2016); Series C ~$35m (2019); Series D $125m (closed 2021, announced 2022) led by Tencent at ~$1.25–1.3bn (reported). Further undisclosed round reported by trackers in 2024 (verify)
- Signature moves
- Free behavior app via Imagine K12 (2011); Series A without revenue (2013); privacy response and 12-month data deletion (2014); messaging and Class Story pivot (2015–16); Big Ideas growth-mindset videos with Stanford PERTS (2016); Beyond School family subscription and Series C (2019); remote-learning surge (2020); Tencent-led Series D (2021); Dojo Islands (2022); Dojo Tutor (2023). Misses and controversies: privacy and "behaviorist" critiques, Dojo Islands' limited traction, questions over Chinese investor ownership
10 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
2011
Founding Imagine K12 Behavior App
Launch (free, teacher-adopted classroom app; accelerator-backed)
2013
Series A Free for Teachers Pledge
Funding round (Series A)
2014
Privacy Backlash and Data Deletion
Policy change / crisis response (data retention, privacy commitments)
2016
Big Ideas Growth Mindset Series
Content launch / institutional partnership
2016
Class Story and Messaging Platform
Pivot / product expansion, funded by Series B
2019
Beyond School Family Subscription
Pricing change / first monetisation (freemium family subscription), alongside Series C funding
2020
Remote Learning Surge
Launch / operational scale-up (remote-learning features, free school-wide access)
2021
Series D Tencent Unicorn
Funding round (Series D; unicorn valuation)
2022
Dojo Islands Virtual World
Launch (consumer/classroom virtual world, "metaverse" framing)
2023
Dojo Tutor Marketplace
Launch (paid live tutoring service sold to families)