Welcome to The Wire. Each month, we’ll deliver fresh insights into the world of learning, health, and work — combining news and data we’re tracking, perspectives from our team, and updates from our portfolio. Subscribe for the latest.

We’re told to trust our gut. But how well do we really know it?

Most Americans would fail a basic gut quiz (Ipsos tried). More startlingly, most physicians don’t consider it in their routine checkups. With over 500 million neurons, this “second brain” influences everything from our mood and energy to immunity. Gastrointestinal issues affect more Americans than diabetes, at a cost ($136 billion annually) greater than heart disease.

At Reach, we're drawn to the crossroads of emerging science, unmet consumer need, and massive opportunity for impact. In her latest investment thesis on gut health, our Partner Jomayra Herrera lays out three areas we’re exploring: smarter diagnostics, better clinical tools, and connected platforms that treat our body like the ecosystem it is.

— As we dig deeper into health care, we continue to grow our braintrust of advisors. We’re thrilled to welcome Stuart Parmenter — former CTO of One Medical and a seasoned builder and architect of modern care delivery.

From the portfolio

Latest deals

Every day, musicians of all levels face a common frustration: hearing a song they love, but not finding the right sheet music to play it. 

We’re thrilled to back Songscription, an AI-powered “Shazam for sheet music” that can transcribe tunes with industry-leading accuracy. Its mission — to empower anyone to learn, play, compose and share the songs they love, especially musicians, educators, and creators — is music to our ears.

Read why we invested and Songscription’s feature in TechCrunch.

Wins & news

Replit is on a roll, from inking a strategic partnership with Microsoft to 10’xing ARR from $10M to $100M in under six months. (And along the way, getting its own billboard on the 101.) From solopreneurs to Zillow, everyone is vibing with software creation superpowers these days.

Handshake launched a new career service connecting graduate-level experts with AI labs and foundational model companies seeking domain experts. What better place to look than its network of over 500,000 PhDs?

Coral Care’s State of Pediatric Development Report reveals stark gaps in early intervention: while families report high rates of developmental concerns — feeding issues (33%), sensory challenges (41%), speech delays (58%) — nearly half lack access to needed services.

Derivita has partnered with Texas Instruments to create a seamless calculator-to-classroom, making math collaboration and assessments more accessible and engaging for students.

3,900 educators participated in GPTZero’s first educator certificate program on responsible AI adoption to support student thinking and originality. “Instead of seeing generative AI as a shortcut, I now see it as a reflective tool that can help students engage more deeply with ideas,” a college professor said.

Lovevery launched an official secondhand marketplace for its beloved early childhood toys, a testament to their popularity and resale value.

WorkWhile COO Simon Khalaf spoke on PYMNTS TV about how it is reinventing hourly work to be more effective and humane on its AI labor platform. Fun fact: WorkWhile is now the 26th largest employer in the U.S., employing more than 173,000 people every day.

Slacking off

Stories we’re buzzing about in the office.

Scribo, ergo sum.

“Being a student is about testing boundaries and staying one step ahead of the rules,” writes Hua Hsu, an English professor and one of our favorite writers here at Reach. With AI and homework, that gap may span light years.

His latest New Yorker feature, on the demise of the English paper, surveys responses from students and teachers as AI-assisted and generated work proliferate. Some lament the loss of an intellectual tradition; others welcome the opportunity to rewrite the social contract that has long bound education to essays, tests, and tedious work. There are upsides for teachers, too: “Nobody gets into teaching because he loves grading papers,” Hsu notes.

Yet shortcuts can come with costs. As our Head of Platform and former journalist Tony Wan likes to say, writing is the most brutal test of thinking. A MIT study comparing AI users to traditional writers found shallower engagement and less diverse outputs from those using ChatGPT. Reviewers described the AI writing as “soulless,” noting students achieved surface fluency without truly internalizing the material.

The challenge extends beyond writing. Computer science professors report that students using AI don’t always understand the code they generate.

Like any tool, AI can remove friction. But it shouldn’t undermine the mental muscle-building that forms the basis of mastery. For any learning tool, the key question is: Where is that magical intersection of AI and productive struggle?

If you’re building in this sweet spot, we’d love to hear about it!

Partner perspectives

PUBLIC ED’S HYBRID FUTURE: Whiteboard Advisors’ Matt Tower interviews Reach Partner Steve Kupfer on his journey from deploying technologies in school systems to investing in them, and about his recent op-ed on how the growing school choice landscape can make public education more sustainable, equitable, and aligned with the demands of families.

The data room

If you’re building solutions to move the needle on these figures, or in other areas across learning, health, and work, we’d love to hear from you!

NO REST FOR SIDE QUESTS: “Americans are side hustling like we’re in a recession,” writes The Wall Street Journal, as the share of working Americans with multiple jobs reached over 5% through May this year. Four in 10 millennials and GenZ have side jobs, per Deloitte. Many cite economic insecurity instead of passion as the primary driver.

HEALTHY CLIP: US-based digital health startups raised $6.4 billion in venture funding across 245 deals in the first half of 2025, based on Rock Health’s half-year tally. That’s up from $6 billion over the same period last year. Average deal size grew 28% to $26.1 million, fueled by AI startups whose rounds were 83% bigger than non-AI peers.

MEDICAL SUPERINTELLIGENCE: In a new report, Microsoft claims its AI system is four times more accurate than a human physician at complex health diagnoses.

TIME WELL SPENT: 60% of teachers used AI during the 2024-25 school year, according to a new survey from Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation. Weekly users saved nearly six hours per week — equivalent to six weeks per year — which they used for deeper student feedback and parent communication.

MIX AND MATCH: More than a third of families who homeschool also have a child in traditional district schools, debunking the assumption that families must choose one or the other. Since the pandemic, homeschooling families have diversified beyond their traditionally religious and conservative base.

Oh, the places we’ve gone

ISTE 2025

BLCK VC DMV Chapter Summit

Next moves

Big moves start with bold clicks. Where will you go next?

There are 621 job openings across the Reach portfolio. Check them out here.