Last Friday, as part of SF Tech Week, Reach and Inflect Health brought together over 40 health founders and clinicians for breakfast. Over cold brew and frittatas, we unpacked the hair-on-fire problems in health care, and how to find the right buyer inside labyrinthine health systems.

Highlights from the conversation:

We are thrilled to be a part of Outsmart’s $25 million round, led by DST Global and Forerunner, and joined by Khosla Ventures, Lightspeed, and others!

Outsmart is rebuilding higher education for the AI era — smarter, faster, more fun than lectures, and with less debt. Two of their co-founders, Jorge Mazal and Gina Gotthilf, are no strangers to the Reach community, having led an AMA about their time leading product and growth at Duolingo. We’re thrilled to welcome them officially to the portfolio!

Lingokids, the leading game-based educational app for kids ages 2-8 trusted by more than 185 million families worldwide, raised $120 million led by BullhoundCapital and General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund. We first invested in the Barcelona-based company’s Series A round in 2018. More details in the company blog.

AI tutors and LLMs are great assistants but ineffective teachers, often bypassing the productive struggle and natural dialogue fundamental to high-quality tutoring. In response, Polygence and Stanford researcher Dorottya Demszky published TeachLM, fine-tuning AI on 100,000 hours of one-on-one human tutoring sessions.

The result: student talk time doubled, conversational depth increased by 50%, and instruction became far more natural and personalized. 

AI won’t replace great teachers; it must learn from them. Polygence's research provides the first data-driven roadmap for doing so.

Writing with AI is not about replacing effort, but refining it. Tony Wan shares what’s working when it comes to “vibe writing” with authenticity, drawing from skills, experience and confidence built over time with human teachers and editors. These tips also reflect timeless competencies that are crucial for future generations of writers to develop.

As AI reshapes how we express ourselves, the integrity of human writing matters more than ever. We’re hopeful to see solutions that prepare students to have relationships with AI editors that preserve the authentic grit and joy of the writing process.

Like many social institutions, our schools are fighting for relevance. Students aren’t showing up, homework feels detached from the real world, and only 1 in 10 GenZers look forward to school. 

AI is only accelerating the disconnect. But rather than crafting yet another tech-use policy, this is a pivotal moment to re-examine schools’ purpose: a community where students acquire not just knowledge but civic values, where they learn to work across differences. In a world that can feel increasingly polarized and isolated, we need this more than ever, writes Jennifer Carolan.

Americans are taking more medications and supplements than ever, at growing costs, dubious results, and sometimes even worse quality of life. As polypharmacy (the regular use of five or more prescription medications) grows, so do risks of injury.

In her newest healthcare thesis, Jomayra Herrera highlights some promising approaches: helping patients safely step off medications they no longer need, creating smarter supplement plans, and food-as-medicine programs that improve health and lower costs. If you're building in this space, or know someone who is, reach out!

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!

READY OR NOT: According to a new survey from The College Board and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 4 in 5 hiring managers say high school students are not prepared to enter the workforce, and current graduates are less prepared than previous classes. Over 90% say there should be more business education in high school.

— Just 2% of Gen Z share the top values employers want: achievement, learning and desire to work for work’s sake, according to a recent study of 45,000 Americans. Gen Z’s top priorities: self care and personal pleasure, individual expression, and helping others.

GOING WITH THE FLOW: U.S. digital health startups raised $3.5 billion across 107 deals in Q3 2025, and are on track to surpass last year’s totals, according to Rock Health’s tally. “Clinical workflow and non-clinical workflow are now 2025’s two most-funded value propositions, together capturing 42% of sector funding.”

REPORT CARD BLUES: Just 35% of Americans are satisfied with the quality of education that K-12 students receive in the U.S. today, marking an eight-percentage-point decline since last year’s Gallup survey.

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

Empowering every student to chart their education degree with clarity, confidence, and purpose

The AI savings engine for saving health plans, employers, and patients money on hospital care

Helping every parent turn therapy into daily progress that lasts a child’s whole lifetime

The leading platform for AI detection and responsible AI adoption in education and writing

The AI-powered curriculum platform that gets students to look up from their screens and talk