Parallel Learning just secured a $20M Series B led by Valspring Capital with Rethink Impact coming back for more, and the signal this sends across the edu tech landscape is impossible to ignore. You do not raise a fresh $20M in this market unless the fundamentals are not only real but undeniable. Serving 10K+ students across 25 states with 98% of them meeting or beating IEP goals is not a statistic, it is a statement. It says the system might be strained, but Parallel Learning is not here to patch holes. It is here to build a lane that actually works.
What makes this inflection point feel so earned is the origin story behind it. Founder and CEO Diana Heldfond DiGia did not enter this space because it looked interesting on a pitch deck. She grew up inside the problem. Diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia at 7, she saw firsthand what early intervention can do and how few students ever get it. Georgetown degree, Wall Street start, then a pivot that was less career move and more personal mandate. When someone builds from necessity, the market tends to feel the authenticity before it even reads the metrics.
Then there is the clinical engine powering it all. Dr. A. Jordan Wright stepping in as Chief Clinical Officer brought academic heft that most startups could only dream about. President of 2 major boards, author of the go-to texts in assessment and tele-assessment, long-time NYU clinical leader, and someone who understands both rigor and access. Put his oversight inside Pathway, the proprietary EMR and session platform with AI-guided lesson planning, GoalTracker automation, personalized materials and licensed gold-standard assessments, and you get a delivery system designed for outcomes rather than optics.
Operational scale matters too, and that is where COO Susan Liu turns the volume up. Taking a prior org from less than 100 providers to 2K+ and over 200K patients is not résumé filler, it is evidence. Fold that capability into Parallel Learning’s network of 200+ licensed providers, 95% retention, and 10,500+ admin hours saved through automation, and suddenly nationwide expansion to all 50 states stops sounding aspirational and starts sounding scheduled.
In a market where 42 states face special-ed shortages and students wait 6–8 months for assessments that Parallel can deliver in days, this Series B is not about runway. It is about acceleration. Valspring Capital bet on traction, on evidence and on a company that has been outperforming expectations since launch. With AI advancement, provider expansion and district growth all loading into the next chapter, Parallel Learning is no longer running beside the system. It is creating a path for the 13M students who deserve more than a waitlist.
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