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Gifted kids, funded by proof

Startup ideas for donors who back dedicated kids with education, coaching and training, paying the school or program directly against a verified record of achievement, never the family.

The model already works at small scale: a sailing school keeps a scholarship fund that parents pay into, and kids from families who cannot afford the sport get a seat on the strength of their regatta results and a record of showing up. The money goes to the school, the kid gets the coaching, and the record itself is the motivation. What changed in the last twelve months makes this a category. From 2027 a federal tax credit of up to $1,700 pays donors back for gifts to scholarship-granting organizations, and 27 states have already opted in; from 2026 a 529 plan covers tutoring, test prep and exams up to $20,000 a year; Texas hands a billion dollars of education accounts to a payments platform that pays approved providers, not parents. Meanwhile the average family spends $1,016 a year on one child's sport, the participation gap between poor and affluent households has widened to 20 points, and achievements from regattas, ratings, olympiads and competitions can be issued as verifiable credentials a kid carries for life. This collection holds the infrastructure, software and programs that find dedicated kids, verify what they have done, pay the program and show the donor where the money went. United States only. No marketplaces, and no cash to families.

ConsumerB2B SaaSFintechVertical AI agentsSecurity and complianceno marketplaceno hardware

What changed in the last twelve months

Dated facts the collection is built on; each links to where it was read.

  1. Federal scholarship tax credit from 2027, 27 states in

    The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (July 4, 2025) created a nonrefundable federal credit of up to $1,700 per taxpayer for cash gifts to Scholarship Granting Organizations serving K-12 students from low- and middle-income families, claimable from January 1, 2027 in states that opt in. On June 8, 2026 the IRS reported 27 states had elected to participate, Texas, Florida, Ohio, Virginia, Colorado and Tennessee among them. A donor's dollar to a qualifying SGO comes back as a credit, not a deduction.

    IRS, More than half the U.S. states signed up to participate in the federal scholarship tax credit program (IR-2026-76)

  2. 529 plans pay for tutoring, test prep and exams, $20,000 a year from 2026

    The same Act doubles the K-12 cap on 529 withdrawals from $10,000 to $20,000 per child from 2026 and widens qualified expenses beyond tuition to tutoring by a qualified tutor, standardized tests, AP and dual-enrollment fees, SAT and ACT, educational therapy and curriculum materials. The rails families use to pay a provider now reach coaching and preparation, not only school.

    John Hancock Investments, Four ways that a new federal law enhances 529 education savings accounts

  3. Texas: a billion dollars of education accounts, paid to approved providers

    Texas SB 2, signed May 3, 2025, created Education Savings Accounts worth about $10,330 per student ($1 billion in the first year, more than 150,000 applicants) for the 2026-27 school year. On October 6, 2025 the Comptroller chose Odyssey, a platform built on ClassWallet, to run applications, wallets and every payment: parents shop an approved-provider marketplace, and the provider gets paid, not the parent. Arizona, North Carolina, Utah and Nevada run the same rails under one brand or the other.

    Community Impact, New York-based tech company to run Texas' education savings account program

  4. Youth sports: $1,016 per child a year, and a gap that widened to 20 points

    Aspen Institute Project Play's 2025 survey puts the average family's spend on a child's primary sport at $1,016 in 2024, up 46% since 2019, with parents spending more than $40 billion a year. In 2012, 35.5% of kids aged 6-17 in homes under $25,000 regularly played sports against 49.1% in homes over $100,000, a 13.6-point gap; by 2024 the gap was 20.2 points, and children from $100,000-plus homes are twice as likely to play travel sports as those under $50,000.

    Aspen Institute Project Play, State of Play 2025: Participation Trends

  5. Registration fees paid straight to the league

    Every Kid Sports pays youth-sports registration fees directly to leagues for income-qualified families, up to $150 per child per season; the DICK'S Sporting Goods Foundation's Sports Matter program funded it with $5 million for close to 50,000 kids and added $1.25 million more, and in its year-end 2025 giving committed $1.6 million to nine youth sports organizations over several years. The pay-the-program pattern already runs at national scale for need; nobody runs it for proof.

    The DICK'S Sporting Goods Foundation, Quarterly Giving Series: YE 2025

  6. Achievements as verifiable credentials

    Open Badges 3.0 makes a badge a W3C Verifiable Credential: tamper-evident, portable and checkable by any verifier. 1EdTech's 2025 guidance expects mass institutional adoption in 2025-26 as Accredible, Canvas Credentials, Credly and others certify as 3.0 issuers, and Comprehensive Learner Records tie badges into a K-12 through workforce record. A regatta result, a chess rating or an olympiad placement can now be a credential the kid owns rather than a line on a club website.

    1EdTech, New Open Badges 3.0 standard provides enhanced security and mobility

  7. The federal gifted program survives its own elimination proposal

    The Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented program, the only federal program for gifted students, was proposed for elimination in the FY2026 budget request; on April 22, 2026 the Department of Education announced the FY2026 competition anyway, with proposals due June 23, 2026. Federal gifted money is small, contested and uncertain; identification and support of gifted kids is moving to whoever funds it locally.

    Federal Register, Notice Announcing Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Program Competition

  8. Alpha School: 50 campuses at $45,000-$75,000 a year

    Alpha School's two-hour AI-adaptive learning model is growing from about a dozen campuses to roughly 50 in the 2026 school year (Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Nashville, Raleigh, Santa Monica, Palo Alto, the East Bay), at tuition of $45,000 to $75,000. Premium coaching for children exists at scale and at a price only a donor or a program can bridge.

    Axios, AI-powered Alpha Schools expands to 50 campuses as AI debate grows (August 2, 2026)

  9. Universal charitable deduction from 2026

    Standard-deduction filers, about 86% of taxpayers, can deduct up to $1,000 of cash gifts to qualifying charities ($2,000 joint) from tax year 2026; itemizers lose the first 0.5% of AGI. A parent giving $500 to the club's scholarship fund now has a tax reason as well as a personal one.

    Tax Foundation, Changes to Charitable Giving Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act

What the directory shows

Companies across 15 accelerators whose pitch mentions each term: last two years / all-time / alive now.

  • talent 23 / 318 / 265
  • student 21 / 297 / 251
  • credential 17 / 52 / 49
  • coaching 11 / 121 / 101
  • k-12 4 / 26 / 24
  • scholarship 4 / 12 / 11
  • olympiad 4 / 5 / 4
  • tuition 3 / 28 / 21
  • tutoring 3 / 24 / 22
  • after-school 1 / 7 / 6
  • badge 0 / 7 / 6
  • gifted 0 / 1 / 1
  • afterschool 0 / 1 / 0
  • youth sports 0 / 1 / 1

Fresh concepts

Written for this collection, one call per sub-theme, from the dated developments above and what the directory shows from 2025 on; each names the development it rides and the 2025-26 signals it is grounded in. Each concept has its own page.

Set of 73, generated 2026-08-27 by claude-fable-5.

The club's own scholarship fund, as software

The sailing-school model for any club, school or studio: parents and alumni pay in, criteria and selection are written down, seats are funded against results and attendance, receipts and tax letters go out, and the board sees the numbers. Run by the program, not a national intermediary.

'Universal charitable deduction from 2026' and 'Youth sports

Helmline

The sailing club's scholarship fund as software, funded by parents, awarded on regatta results

Helmline runs a sailing or rowing club's internal scholarship fund end to end: parents and alumni pay in, the board writes selection criteria into the system, and seats are awarded against regatta finishes and attendance logged by the race committee.

grounded in Aspen Institute Project Play's 2025 State of Play survey: $1,016 average spend per child's primary sport in 2024, up 46% since 2019, and a participation gap that widened from 13.6 points in 2012 to 20.2 points by 2024.

Software subscriptionSmall business

'Achievements as verifiable credentials'

Firstchair

Alumni pledges that pay a music student's tuition the moment a juried result lands

Firstchair lets a music school's alumni pledge pay-it-forward gifts that release automatically when a current student's juried audition, festival adjudication or graded exam is issued as a verifiable credential by the school.

grounded in 1EdTech's 2025 guidance on Open Badges 3.0 expects mass institutional adoption in 2025-26 as Accredible, Canvas Credentials and Credly certify as 3.0 issuers, with Comprehensive Learner Records tying badges into a K-12 through workforce record.

Software subscriptionSmall business

'Universal charitable deduction from 2026'

Castling

Sponsor a chess kid's next hundred rating points, paid to the club

Castling lets club parents, alumni and local donors pledge against a specific milestone ladder: when a scholarship student's official rating crosses a threshold the club set in advance, the pledge converts to a paid block of lessons and tournament entries, settled directly with the club.

grounded in Tax Foundation on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act: up to $1,000 of cash gifts ($2,000 joint) deductible for standard-deduction filers from tax year 2026.

Software subscriptionConsumer

'Federal scholarship tax credit from 2027

Buildseat

Employer matching that funds robotics team seats for employees' and neighborhood kids

Buildseat gives employers a workplace giving program where employee gifts to a local robotics team's SGO-affiliated scholarship fund are matched by the company, and every dollar lands at the team as paid seats, kit costs and competition travel, never with a family.

grounded in IRS IR-2026-76, June 8, 2026: 27 states including Texas, Florida, Ohio, Virginia, Colorado and Tennessee elected into the federal scholarship tax credit, claimable from January 1, 2027 for gifts to SGOs serving K-12 students from low- and middle-income families.

Software subscriptionEnterprise

'529 plans pay for tutoring

Proofseat

An agent that makes a tutoring center's scholarship fund tax-credit ready

Proofseat is an agent service for math circles, olympiad programs and tutoring centers that turns their informal scholarship pot into a compliant program: it drafts the objective selection criteria, verifies family income eligibility, checks competition results like AMC and MATHCOUNTS placements against attendance records, generates donor receipts, and assembles the paperwork to partner with a qualifying SGO so donors capture the federal credit.

grounded in John Hancock Investments on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act: from 2026, 529 withdrawals up to $20,000 per child cover tutoring by a qualified tutor, standardized tests, AP fees, SAT and ACT.

AI agent as a serviceSmall business

'Registration fees paid straight to the league'

Commonstage

Community foundations stand up club-run arts scholarship funds, awarded on adjudicated results

Commonstage is fund infrastructure a community foundation deploys so every dance studio, theatre program and youth ensemble in its county can run its own named scholarship fund under the foundation's charitable umbrella, with the foundation as fiscal sponsor for programs that lack a 501(c)(3).

grounded in DICK'S Sporting Goods Foundation YE 2025 giving: $5 million through Every Kid Sports for close to 50,000 kids, $1.25 million added, and $1.6 million committed to nine youth sports organizations, all paid to programs, with the brief's explicit gap that 'nobody runs it for proof.' Tax Foundation: the universal charitable deduction from 2026 gives every local donor to these funds a deduction without itemizing.

Infrastructure and APIsGovernment and public sector

Proof of achievement a kid owns

Regatta results, ratings, competition placements, auditions, attendance and discipline records issued as verifiable credentials (Open Badges 3.0) with the kid's consent; the record that triggers funding and shows the kid their own progression, without a public ranking of named minors.

Rides 'Federal scholarship tax credit from 2027

Meritgraph

One API that turns chess ratings and olympiad placements into SGO-checkable credentials

Meritgraph is an eligibility API for Scholarship Granting Organizations.

grounded in The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (July 4, 2025) created the up-to-$1,700 federal credit for gifts to SGOs; on June 8, 2026 the IRS reported 27 states had elected to participate (IR-2026-76); 1EdTech's 2025 guidance expects mass Open Badges 3.0 adoption in 2025-26.

Infrastructure and APIsEnterprise

Rides 'Achievements as verifiable credentials' and '529 plans pay for tutoring

Attesto

One-tap coach attestation that turns music lesson attendance into funded lesson blocks

Attesto gives safeguarding-screened music teachers a one-tap way to attest lessons attended, pieces passed and audition outcomes, each tap issuing an Open Badges 3.0 credential to the student.

grounded in From 2026 the K-12 cap on 529 withdrawals doubles to $20,000 per child and qualified expenses widen to tutoring by a qualified tutor; 1EdTech expects mass Open Badges 3.0 issuer adoption in 2025-26 as Accredible, Canvas Credentials and Credly certify as 3.0 issuers.

Software subscriptionSmall business

Rides 'Texas

Kitbadge

Attendance and skill-milestone verification for robotics providers on state ESA rails

Kitbadge is the verification layer between hands-on programs, robotics teams, maker spaces, trades pre-apprenticeships, and state ESA payment platforms.

grounded in Texas SB 2, signed May 3, 2025, created ESAs worth about $10,330 per student, $1 billion in year one with more than 150,000 applicants, for the 2026-27 school year; on October 6, 2025 the Comptroller chose Odyssey, built on ClassWallet, to run every payment; Arizona, North Carolina, Utah and Nevada run the same rails.

Infrastructure and APIsGovernment and public sector

Rides 'Federal scholarship tax credit from 2027

Matchgrant

Employer matching that pays debate and STEM programs when kids hit verified milestones

Matchgrant lets employers run a benefit where verified competition milestones of employees' kids, a debate tournament placement, a science fair advance, release matched grants paid through an SGO to the kid's program provider.

grounded in The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (July 4, 2025) federal credit, with 27 states opted in as of the IRS's June 8, 2026 report; Aspen's 2025 survey shows parents spending more than $40 billion a year on youth sports with a 20.2-point participation gap in 2024, the gap sits inside every large hourly workforce.

Software subscriptionEnterprise

Rides 'Achievements as verifiable credentials'

Firstrow

A donor's private feed of the sponsored kid's verified wins, no names exposed

Firstrow is for the individual who funds a seat at a theatre or dance program and currently gets nothing back but a thank-you email.

grounded in 1EdTech's 2025 guidance expects mass Open Badges 3.0 adoption in 2025-26; the Every Kid Sports pattern shows pay-the-program running at national scale, the DICK'S Sporting Goods Foundation funded it with $5 million for close to 50,000 kids and committed $1.6 million more in year-end 2025 giving, and the brief notes nobody runs it for proof; the universal charitable deduction covers up to $1,000 from 2026.

AI agent as a serviceConsumer

Paying the provider, not the family

Rails that move a donor's or a fund's money to a school, club, coach or camp against enrollment and attendance: invoices, seat pricing, partial scholarships, refunds when a kid drops out, and reporting the donor can trust.

'Federal scholarship tax credit from 2027

Seatwise

Disbursement rails for scholarship granting organizations under the 2027 federal credit

Back-office infrastructure for new and small SGOs: receipts donor gifts, applies objective merit-plus-need selection criteria, and pays K-12 schools and tutoring providers by ACH against verified enrollment, with prorated refunds when a student leaves.

grounded in The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (July 4, 2025) created 'a nonrefundable federal credit of up to $1,700 per taxpayer for cash gifts to Scholarship Granting Organizations', and 'On June 8, 2026 the IRS reported 27 states had elected to participate, Texas, Florida, Ohio, Virginia, Colorado and Tennessee among them' (IRS IR-2026-76).

Infrastructure and APIsEnterprise

'Universal charitable deduction from 2026'

Moorline

Scholarship fund ledger for sailing and rowing clubs, seats earned by results

Software that runs a club's internal scholarship fund: parents contribute and get charitable receipts, seats are awarded to kids who cannot afford fees but show regatta results and attendance streaks, and the money never leaves the club's account.

grounded in 'Standard-deduction filers, about 86% of taxpayers, can deduct up to $1,000 of cash gifts to qualifying charities ($2,000 joint) from tax year 2026' (Tax Foundation), and Aspen Institute's 2025 survey putting family spend at '$1,016 in 2024, up 46% since 2019' with the income participation gap at 20.2 points.

Software subscriptionSmall business

'Texas

Rosterpay

An agent that gets music teachers approved and paid on state ESA platforms

An AI agent that files approved-provider applications for music teachers and small studios on state ESA payment platforms, then submits invoices against enrollment and attendance, chases stuck claims and reconciles payouts.

grounded in Texas SB 2 (signed May 3, 2025) created ESAs worth 'about $10,330 per student ($1 billion in the first year, more than 150,000 applicants)', and 'On October 6, 2025 the Comptroller chose Odyssey, a platform built on ClassWallet' to run every payment, with Arizona, North Carolina, Utah and Nevada on the same rails.

AI agent as a serviceSmall business

'Achievements as verifiable credentials'

Rooklight

Donor escrow that pays the chess club as verified rating milestones land

A donor funds a season of coaching for a low-income scholastic chess player; the money sits in escrow and releases to the club in tranches as rating milestones and coach attestations arrive as Open Badges 3.0 verifiable credentials.

grounded in 'Open Badges 3.0 makes a badge a W3C Verifiable Credential: tamper-evident, portable and checkable by any verifier', with '1EdTech's 2025 guidance expects mass institutional adoption in 2025-26 as Accredible, Canvas Credentials, Credly and others certify as 3.0 issuers'; plus the 2026 universal deduction giving small donors a receipt.

Software subscriptionConsumer

'Federal scholarship tax credit from 2027

Benchmatch

Employer-matched seats on robotics and coding teams, paid to the program

A workplace giving program where employees contribute through payroll to a partner SGO, the employer matches, and the pooled funds sponsor seats on competitive robotics teams and coding programs for income-qualified employees' kids with verified competition and attendance records.

grounded in The July 4, 2025 Act's '$1,700 per taxpayer' SGO credit with 27 states in as of June 8, 2026, and Aspen's 2025 finding that the participation gap between under-$25,000 and over-$100,000 households reached 20.2 points by 2024.

Software subscriptionEnterprise

'The federal gifted program survives its own elimination proposal'

Commonseat

Routes a town's pooled gifted-education money to after-school providers against enrollment

For school districts and their local education foundations: pools town and alumni donations, applies Javits-style objective identification criteria weighted for low-income students, and pays math circles, debate leagues and science-fair mentors directly against enrollment and attendance.

grounded in Javits, 'the only federal program for gifted students, was proposed for elimination in the FY2026 budget request; on April 22, 2026 the Department of Education announced the FY2026 competition anyway, with proposals due June 23, 2026' (Federal Register).

Software subscriptionGovernment and public sector

SGOs, the 2027 credit and state ESAs

What a Scholarship Granting Organization needs to exist in the 27 opted-in states: compliance, donor credits, selection, disbursement to approved providers; and what programs need to become approved providers on Texas-style ESA platforms.

Rides 'Federal scholarship tax credit from 2027

Charterline

Compliance suite that turns local scholarship funds into qualifying SGOs before 2027

Software for community foundations and 501(c)(3)s that converts existing pooled town scholarship funds into Scholarship Granting Organizations that qualify under the 2027 federal credit.

grounded in The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (July 4, 2025) created the $1,700 nonrefundable credit claimable from January 1, 2027; on June 8, 2026 the IRS reported 27 states had elected in, including Texas, Florida, Ohio, Virginia, Colorado and Tennessee (IR-2026-76).

Software subscriptionEnterprise

Rides 'Texas

Provenroll

AI agent that gets youth programs approved and paid on state ESA platforms

An agent service for robotics clubs, music schools and tutoring programs that completes approved-provider applications on Odyssey and ClassWallet style ESA platforms, keeps invoices inside eligible expense categories, and assembles the enrollment and attendance records the platform needs before it releases payment.

grounded in Texas SB 2 (signed May 3, 2025) created ESAs worth about $10,330 per student, $1 billion in year one with more than 150,000 applicants; on October 6, 2025 the Comptroller chose Odyssey, built on ClassWallet, to run applications, wallets and every payment.

AI agent as a serviceSmall business

Rides 'Achievements as verifiable credentials'

Meritgate

Selection API for SGOs that scores verified achievement plus verified need

An API that lets an SGO run objective, nondiscriminatory scholarship selection by consuming Open Badges 3.0 credentials for chess ratings, olympiad placements and competition results alongside income verification, and producing an auditable award decision.

grounded in Open Badges 3.0 makes a badge a tamper-evident W3C Verifiable Credential, and 1EdTech's 2025 guidance expects mass institutional adoption in 2025-26 as Accredible, Canvas Credentials and Credly certify as 3.0 issuers.

Infrastructure and APIsEnterprise

Rides 'Federal scholarship tax credit from 2027

Pledgepoint

Donor console that stacks the 2027 credit and pays coaching programs on results

A consumer product for individual donors who fund kids' sports and training through SGOs and club scholarship funds.

grounded in The $1,700 credit is claimable from January 1, 2027 in the 27 states the IRS confirmed on June 8, 2026; from 2026 standard-deduction filers, about 86% of taxpayers, can deduct up to $1,000 of cash gifts ($2,000 joint).

Software subscriptionConsumer

Rides 'Registration fees paid straight to the league' and 'Achievements as verifiable credentials'

Helmcheck

One-tap coach attestation that releases scholarship tuition tranches to the program

A disbursement layer for SGOs and club scholarship funds serving sailing, rowing and other outdoor sports programs.

grounded in The DICK'S Sporting Goods Foundation funded Every Kid Sports with $5 million for close to 50,000 kids, added $1.25 million, and committed $1.6 million more to nine youth sports organizations in year-end 2025 giving, all paid to leagues, not families.

Infrastructure and APIsSmall business

Rides 'The federal gifted program survives its own elimination proposal'

Northlist

FERPA-safe pipeline from district gifted records to SGO scholarship applications

Software for school districts that packages a district's existing gifted identification data, olympiad and science fair results, and teacher nominations into consented, FERPA-compliant application files for SGOs and scholarship programs.

grounded in The Javits program was proposed for elimination in the FY2026 budget request, and the Department of Education announced the FY2026 competition anyway on April 22, 2026 with proposals due June 23, 2026.

Software subscriptionGovernment and public sector

Finding the dedicated kid early

Coach nominations, results systems and attendance data that surface kids with dedication and no money before they quit; matching a donor's interest (sailing, chess, robotics, music, math) to kids with a record; outreach that reaches families who never apply.

Youth sports

Slipway

Attendance streaks and race results flag which kids a club fund should keep

A roster tool for sailing, rowing and other water sports clubs that logs each kid's attendance streak and regatta results, then flags the dedicated ones whose family payments lapse before they quietly quit.

grounded in Aspen Institute Project Play's State of Play 2025 puts average family spend on one child's sport at $1,016 in 2024, up 46% since 2019, with the income participation gap at 20.2 points in 2024.

Software subscriptionSmall business

Federal scholarship tax credit from 2027

Tempo Fund

Selection software that finds fast-rising chess kids for scholarship granting organizations

Software for Scholarship Granting Organizations that builds objective, nondiscriminatory selection pipelines from chess rating trajectories, tournament attendance and one-tap coach nominations, weighted with income eligibility the family confirms once.

grounded in The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (July 4, 2025) created a federal credit of up to $1,700 for gifts to Scholarship Granting Organizations, claimable from January 1, 2027, and on June 8, 2026 the IRS reported 27 states had elected to participate (IR-2026-76), Texas, Florida, Ohio, Virginia, Colorado and Tennessee among them.

Software subscriptionEnterprise

Achievements as verifiable credentials

Lemma

Open Badges 3.0 issuing API for olympiads, with consent-gated donor matching

An issuing API that turns math olympiad placements, science fair awards and AMC scores into Open Badges 3.0 verifiable credentials the kid owns, built for minors: parental consent at issuance, revocable sharing, nothing public.

grounded in 1EdTech's 2025 guidance expects mass institutional adoption of Open Badges 3.0 in 2025-26 as Accredible, Canvas Credentials and Credly certify as issuers, and Comprehensive Learner Records tie badges into a K-12 through workforce record.

Infrastructure and APIsSmall business

Texas

Doorlist

Nomination-first intake that finds eligible families who never apply

Outreach software for state ESA programs and school districts that finds eligible kids who never applied: a teacher or after-school coach nominates a kid showing sustained attendance in band, robotics club or a CTE shop, and Doorlist runs bilingual, FERPA-compliant follow-up that walks the family from nomination to a completed application on the state's approved-provider platform.

grounded in Texas SB 2, signed May 3, 2025, created ESAs worth about $10,330 per student, $1 billion in the first year with more than 150,000 applicants, and on October 6, 2025 the Comptroller chose Odyssey, built on ClassWallet, to pay approved providers directly.

Software subscriptionGovernment and public sector

Registration fees paid straight to the league

Pitcrew

An agent that turns robotics team results into employer-matched sponsorships

An agent service for corporate giving teams: it scans FIRST-style robotics and maker competition results for teams at schools near an employer's sites, verifies participation, season attendance and the team's free-lunch mix, assembles a sponsorship dossier, and administers the employer match paid straight to the school's team account for fees, parts and travel.

grounded in The DICK'S Sporting Goods Foundation funded Every Kid Sports with $5 million for close to 50,000 kids at up to $150 per child per season, added $1.25 million more, and in year-end 2025 giving committed $1.6 million to nine youth sports organizations over several years.

AI agent as a serviceEnterprise

Universal charitable deduction from 2026

Scrimline

Donors fund verified esports academy seats triggered by ladder climb and practice discipline

A donor-facing product run with a 501(c)(3) sponsorship program: individual donors pledge monthly to an esports talent pool, and kids surface through machine-verifiable ranked-ladder progression plus coach-attested scrim attendance at school and community clubs.

grounded in From tax year 2026 the Universal charitable deduction gives standard-deduction filers, about 86% of taxpayers, up to $1,000 in deductible cash gifts ($2,000 joint).

Software subscriptionConsumer

Coaching and mentoring, paid per verified session

Donor-funded coaching, private lessons and mentoring for gifted kids, paid to vetted coaches per delivered session with attendance and progress evidence; safeguarding and background checks built in.

'Federal scholarship tax credit from 2027

Rookline

Chess coaching hours donors fund per rating gain, paid straight to vetted coaches

Rookline runs SGO-compliant chess scholarship programs: donors pledge coaching blocks that release per delivered lesson when a background-checked coach attests the session and US Chess rating data confirms the kid is climbing.

grounded in The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (July 4, 2025) created the $1,700 SGO credit; on June 8, 2026 the IRS reported 27 states had elected in (IR-2026-76).

Software subscriptionConsumer

'Universal charitable deduction from 2026'

Cadenza

Community foundation software that pays music teachers per attested lesson from pooled town funds

Cadenza gives community foundations a pooled instrumental-music fund: local donors give small deductible gifts, and the foundation pays vetted private teachers per lesson only after the teacher's one-tap attestation lands.

grounded in The Tax Foundation notes standard-deduction filers can deduct up to $1,000 cash ($2,000 joint) from tax year 2026.

Software subscriptionEnterprise

'Texas

Sessionproof

Verification API that releases ESA and scholarship payments to coaches per delivered session

Sessionproof is the session-level trust layer for approved-provider platforms: it holds each coach's identity, background-check status and safeguarding certification, collects attendance attestation and progress evidence per session, and returns a release-or-hold signal before the platform pays the provider.

grounded in Texas SB 2 (signed May 3, 2025) created ESAs worth about $10,330 per student, $1 billion in year one, over 150,000 applicants; on October 6, 2025 the Comptroller chose Odyssey, built on ClassWallet, to run every payment, with Arizona, North Carolina, Utah and Nevada on the same rails.

Infrastructure and APIsGovernment and public sector

'Youth sports

Sidecoach

Agent that runs employer-sponsored robotics coaching for employees' kids, verified session by session

Sidecoach is an agent service employers buy as a benefit: it finds background-checked robotics and coding competition mentors near each qualifying employee's child, schedules sessions, collects mentor attestations and competition entries, and pays the mentor or club per delivered session, never the family.

grounded in Aspen Institute Project Play's 2025 survey: average spend on one child's primary activity hit $1,016 in 2024, up 46% since 2019, with the low-income participation gap at 20.2 points.

AI agent as a serviceEnterprise

'529 plans pay for tutoring

Prepstone

Makes olympiad math coaching payable by 529 plans and donor-funded seats, per verified session

Prepstone is back-office software for math circles and olympiad training programs: it documents each coach as a qualified tutor, issues per-session invoices that satisfy 529 withdrawal rules, and runs donor-funded sponsored seats for income-qualified kids on the same verification rails, with AMC and olympiad scores plus attendance as the objective record.

grounded in The Act doubles the K-12 529 cap from $10,000 to $20,000 per child from 2026 and extends qualified expenses to tutoring by a qualified tutor, AP fees and standardized tests.

Software subscriptionSmall business

'Achievements as verifiable credentials'

Sternline

Alumni pledges fund sailing coaching blocks a kid's regatta record and attendance streak release

Sternline gives sailing and rowing clubs a pay-it-forward engine: alumni pledge coaching blocks that release to the club per delivered session when a kid's regatta results and attendance streak hit pledged milestones, verified from posted race results and the coach's one-tap attestation.

grounded in 1EdTech's 2025 guidance expects mass institutional adoption of Open Badges 3.0 in 2025-26 as Accredible, Canvas Credentials and Credly certify as issuers, making a regatta result a W3C Verifiable Credential rather than a line on a club website.

Software subscriptionSmall business

Gifted academics after Javits

Olympiads, math circles, research programs, summer camps, accelerated and dual-enrollment courses for gifted kids whose districts cannot fund them: identification, program payment, results as credentials, with the 529 expansion and SGOs as rails.

Achievements as verifiable credentials

Proofmark

Open Badges 3.0 issuing rails for olympiads, math circles and science fairs

Proofmark lets competition organizers and math circle operators issue AMC scores, olympiad placements and science fair results as W3C Verifiable Credentials the kid owns in a wallet.

grounded in 1EdTech's 2025 guidance expects mass institutional adoption of Open Badges 3.0 in 2025-26 as Accredible, Canvas Credentials and Credly certify as issuers.

Infrastructure and APIsSmall business

Texas

Enrolla

Agent that gets math circles approved and paid on ESA and 529 rails

Enrolla is an AI agent service that takes a small academic program, a math circle, an olympiad camp, a dual-enrollment tutor, through approved-provider onboarding on state ESA platforms and produces 529-qualified invoices for tutoring, AP and dual-enrollment fees.

grounded in Texas SB 2 (signed May 3, 2025) created ESAs of about $10,330 per student, $1 billion in year one, more than 150,000 applicants; on October 6, 2025 the Comptroller chose Odyssey, built on ClassWallet, to pay approved providers directly.

AI agent as a serviceSmall business

The federal gifted program survives its own elimination proposal

Screenlight

Finds gifted low-income kids in district data, then fills donor-funded seats

Screenlight gives districts universal screening for gifted identification using assessment data they already hold under FERPA, then matches identified low-income students to donor and community-foundation funded seats in dual-enrollment courses, summer research programs and olympiad prep.

grounded in The Javits program was proposed for elimination in the FY2026 budget request; on April 22, 2026 the Department of Education announced the FY2026 competition anyway with proposals due June 23, 2026, signaling federal gifted money is small, contested and uncertain.

Software subscriptionGovernment and public sector

Achievements as verifiable credentials

Streakline

Alumni pledges that release camp tuition tranche by verified milestone

Streakline lets olympiad and research camp alumni pledge a seat for the next kid, with tuition released to the program in tranches as the sponsored student hits verified milestones: attendance streaks, coach attestations, qualifying scores.

grounded in Open Badges 3.0 credentials are tamper-evident and checkable by any verifier per 1EdTech's 2025 guidance.

Software subscriptionConsumer

The donor's view of a kid's progress

Recurring sponsorship of a seat, DAF and employer-match flows into program funds, progress updates without exposing the child, the moment a donor sees the regatta result they paid for; retention of small donors who fund one kid at a time.

'Achievements as verifiable credentials'

Berthbook

Sponsored seats at sailing clubs, with regatta results donors can actually see

SaaS for sailing and rowing clubs that runs the scholarship fund as sponsored seats.

grounded in 'Open Badges 3.0 makes a badge a W3C Verifiable Credential' with 1EdTech's 2025 guidance expecting 'mass institutional adoption in 2025-26'; 'Universal charitable deduction from 2026' letting standard-deduction filers deduct up to $1,000; Aspen Project Play 2025 reporting the participation gap widened to 20.2 points by 2024.

Software subscriptionSmall business

'Federal scholarship tax credit from 2027

Matchforge

Employer matching that funds robotics competition seats and reports results back to employees

Software for corporate benefits teams that routes employee payroll gifts and the company match into SGO-qualified scholarship funds at youth robotics and coding competition programs near company sites.

grounded in The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (July 4, 2025) created the credit of up to $1,700, claimable from January 1, 2027; the IRS reported 27 participating states on June 8, 2026, Texas, Florida, Ohio, Virginia, Colorado and Tennessee among them.

Software subscriptionEnterprise

'The federal gifted program survives its own elimination proposal'

Fermata

Gives community foundations a per-seat view of the music students DAF donors fund

A reporting layer for community foundations that regrant donor-advised fund dollars to youth music programs.

grounded in Javits was proposed for elimination in the FY2026 budget request, with the competition announced anyway on April 22, 2026 and proposals due June 23, 2026; 'Universal charitable deduction from 2026' gives standard-deduction filers up to $1,000 ($2,000 joint) of deductible room.

Software subscriptionGovernment and public sector

'Universal charitable deduction from 2026'

Kibitz

Sponsor a chess seat and see the rating move you paid for

A donor product for alumni and grandparents who fund one kid's chess coaching through a club's 501(c)(3) scholarship program.

grounded in The universal deduction from tax year 2026 covers about 86% of taxpayers up to $1,000 ($2,000 joint); 'Achievements as verifiable credentials' notes 'a chess rating or an olympiad placement can now be a credential the kid owns' under Open Badges 3.0, per 1EdTech's 2025 guidance.

Software subscriptionConsumer

'Texas

Resultwire

Turns a verified result into a donor update and a provider payout trigger

An API for SGOs and scholarship program operators.

grounded in Texas SB 2 signed May 3, 2025, $1 billion in year one, more than 150,000 applicants, Odyssey chosen October 6, 2025; Open Badges 3.0 issuers including Accredible, Canvas Credentials and Credly certifying in 2025-26; the federal SGO credit claimable from January 1, 2027 with 27 states in as of June 8, 2026.

Infrastructure and APIsEnterprise

'Registration fees paid straight to the league'

Understudy

An agent that writes the donor update every time a sponsored kid earns one

An agent service for youth theatre and dance programs that run sponsored seats.

grounded in The DICK'S Sporting Goods Foundation's year-end 2025 giving committed $1.6 million to nine youth sports organizations over several years, showing funders now make multi-year program-side commitments with reporting expectations; 'Universal charitable deduction from 2026' widens the small-donor base to about 86% of taxpayers.

AI agent as a serviceSmall business

Employers, alumni and community foundations

Employer-sponsored programs for employees' gifted kids, alumni funds for a club or a school, community-foundation funds for a town's kids: pooled money, shared criteria, program-side payment, one report to every funder.

'Universal charitable deduction from 2026'

Keelward

AI administrator for club alumni scholarship funds that pay the club on posted results

An agent that runs the alumni fund a sailing or rowing club already keeps informally.

grounded in Universal charitable deduction from tax year 2026, up to $1,000 cash ($2,000 joint) for the roughly 86% of taxpayers who take the standard deduction; the collection's sailing-school scholarship fund model, which today runs on spreadsheets and goodwill.

AI agent as a serviceSmall business

'Registration fees paid straight to the league'

Townmark

One town talent fund for a community foundation, paying programs against verified results

Fund software for community foundations that pool local donors and businesses into a single town fund covering chess, music, debate and robotics under shared, published criteria.

grounded in Aspen State of Play 2025 showing the participation gap widening from 13.6 points in 2012 to 20.2 points by 2024; the DICK'S Sporting Goods Foundation's YE 2025 giving committing $1.6 million to nine youth sports organizations, evidence funders already pay programs, not parents.

Software subscriptionGovernment and public sector

'Federal scholarship tax credit from 2027

Creditrails

Payroll giving rails that route employee dollars to Scholarship Granting Organizations before 2027

An API and white-label layer that lets an employer run payroll-deduction giving into qualifying SGOs ahead of the federal credit: per-employee tracking against the $1,700 cap, opt-in logic for the 27 participating states, receipts, and one report per employer showing scholarships its workforce funded.

grounded in The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (July 4, 2025) creating the nonrefundable credit of up to $1,700, claimable from January 1, 2027; IRS IR-2026-76 reporting on June 8, 2026 that 27 states including Texas, Florida, Ohio, Virginia, Colorado and Tennessee had elected to participate.

Infrastructure and APIsEnterprise

'529 plans pay for tutoring

Alumline

Alumni fund software that pays tutors and exam fees for a school's olympiad pipeline

Runs a high school alumni pay-it-forward fund for the math and science olympiad track: graduates pledge, and the fund pays a qualified tutor, contest registration and AP exam fees directly to providers, unlocked by teacher attestation plus posted contest scores.

grounded in The K-12 529 cap doubling from $10,000 to $20,000 per child from 2026, with qualified expenses widened to tutoring by a qualified tutor, AP and dual-enrollment fees, and SAT and ACT; the April 22, 2026 Javits competition announcement showing federal gifted support is contested and moving to whoever funds it locally.

Software subscriptionSmall business

'Achievements as verifiable credentials'

Proofcase

Turns attendance and results into kid-owned credentials and funder reports that name no minors

An API for program operators and scholarship funds that converts attendance logs, one-tap coach attestations and competition results into Open Badges 3.0 credentials the kid owns, then generates the single report every funder gets: verified progress, enrollment and streaks with no child identified, under a parent-consent flow built for COPPA and FERPA.

grounded in 1EdTech's 2025 guidance expecting mass institutional adoption of Open Badges 3.0 in 2025-26; the collection's requirement that pooled employer, alumni and foundation money produce one report to every funder while children's data stays protected.

Infrastructure and APIsSmall business

Integrity: fake results, fake need, and child safety

Verifying results against the source system, detecting fabricated records and coached applications, income verification without humiliation, safeguarding and coach vetting, COPPA and FERPA-safe data handling for programs that hold children's records.

Achievements as verifiable credentials

Proofrail

Verifies a kid's claimed results against the systems that scored them

An API that checks a claimed achievement against the source of record, a chess rating database, a regatta scoring system, an olympiad results list, and issues it as an Open Badges 3.0 verifiable credential the kid owns.

grounded in 1EdTech's 2025 guidance expects mass institutional adoption of Open Badges 3.0 in 2025-26 as Accredible, Canvas Credentials and Credly certify as 3.0 issuers; the brief states a regatta result, a chess rating or an olympiad placement can now be a credential the kid owns; keyword coverage shows 16 companies mentioning credential in the last two years but 2025-2026 cohort issuers like Sertifier verify their own badges, not third-party claims against source systems.

Infrastructure and APIsEnterprise

Federal scholarship tax credit from 2027

Fairform

Catches fabricated records and AI-written applications before an SGO funds them

Application-integrity software for scholarship-granting organizations: it cross-references claimed achievements against registries, flags coach recommendation letters reused across applicants, and detects AI-ghostwritten essays and coached applications in the pool.

grounded in The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (July 4, 2025) created the up-to-$1,700 federal credit for gifts to SGOs; on June 8, 2026 the IRS reported 27 states had elected to participate, Texas, Florida, Ohio, Virginia, Colorado and Tennessee among them; YC's Fall 2026 RFS includes Proving You're Human, and detecting machine-written scholarship applications is that problem applied to K-12 funding.

Software subscriptionEnterprise

Federal scholarship tax credit from 2027

Quietmeans

Income eligibility for scholarships without a family ever uploading a pay stub

Consent-based need verification: a parent authorizes a one-time check through payroll or IRS transcript access, and the SGO or club fund receives only an eligibility band, qualifies or does not, never documents or dollar amounts.

grounded in The July 4, 2025 Act restricts the federal credit to SGOs serving low- and middle-income families, with 27 states opted in per the IRS on June 8, 2026; Aspen Institute Project Play's 2025 survey shows the participation gap between under-$25,000 and over-$100,000 households widened to 20.2 points by 2024, so need-gating is the point of the whole category; the collection's baseline, Every Kid Sports, already income-qualifies families manually.

Infrastructure and APIsEnterprise

Registration fees paid straight to the league

Benchcheck

Coach vetting and safeguarding status for every program that takes donor money

A safeguarding layer for donor-funded youth programs: background checks and continuous monitoring for coaches and mentors, identity binding so the person who attests a kid's attendance or result is the vetted coach on file, and a live safeguarding status the funder can require before releasing money to the program.

grounded in The DICK'S Sporting Goods Foundation funded Every Kid Sports with $5 million for close to 50,000 kids, added $1.25 million, and in year-end 2025 giving committed $1.6 million more to nine youth sports organizations over several years; Aspen's 2025 survey puts family spend at $1,016 per child in 2024, up 46% since 2019, meaning donor-bridged programs are growing exactly where vetting is thinnest; Harbera and Arctic Health (YC 2025 and X26) prove credential-monitoring software sells, in healthcare.

Software subscriptionSmall business

Universal charitable deduction from 2026

Windowseat

Shows donors a kid's progress without ever exposing the kid

A consent and reporting layer between a child's verified record and the people funding it: employers matching gifts and community foundations see cohort-level progress, milestone counts and attendance, while a named child's results appear only with recorded parent and age-appropriate kid consent, never in public rankings.

grounded in From tax year 2026 about 86% of taxpayers can deduct up to $1,000 of cash gifts ($2,000 joint); the collection rules require that donors see progress without exposing the child and ban public ranking of named minors; Scout (YC W25) shows K-12 student data systems are being rebuilt in 2025 cohorts, but school-facing, not donor-facing.

Software subscriptionEnterprise

Texas

Musterline

Confirms the coaching a state or scholarship paid for actually happened

Delivery-integrity infrastructure for money that flows to approved providers: session check-ins signed by the coach's verified device, enrollment and attendance matched against provider billing, and anomaly detection that flags ghost students, duplicate billing and sessions logged faster than humanly deliverable.

grounded in Texas SB 2 (signed May 3, 2025) created ESAs worth about $10,330 per student, $1 billion in year one, more than 150,000 applicants; on October 6, 2025 the Comptroller chose Odyssey, built on ClassWallet, to run applications, wallets and every payment, with Arizona, North Carolina, Utah and Nevada on the same rails; from 2026, 529 plans pay up to $20,000 a year for tutoring by a qualified tutor, extending the same billed-session pattern to test prep.

Infrastructure and APIsGovernment and public sector

Music, arts, chess and debate

Talents outside sport: instrument lessons, conservatory prep, auditions and juried competitions, chess ratings and tournaments, debate and moot court, art portfolios and juried shows, theatre and dance; the proof each field already produces and the programs a donor can pay.

Achievements as verifiable credentials

Juryline

Every jury score becomes a verifiable credential the student owns

An issuing API for juried youth arts: music festival adjudications, solo and ensemble ratings, honor orchestra seats, juried art show placements and graded exam levels become Open Badges 3.0 verifiable credentials the moment judges sign.

grounded in 1EdTech's 2025 guidance expects mass institutional adoption of Open Badges 3.0 in 2025-26 as Accredible, Canvas Credentials and Credly certify as issuers; the brief states 'a chess rating or an olympiad placement can now be a credential the kid owns rather than a line on a club website.' 'Credential' appears in 16 company pitches in the last 2 years, but none for juried youth arts events.

Infrastructure and APIsSmall business

Universal charitable deduction from 2026

Podium Match

Employers fund verified debate camp seats for employees' kids

An employer-sponsored debate program: companies pool employee gifts with a corporate match through a 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor, and the software verifies tournament participation records and attendance, selects on need plus documented dedication rather than wins alone, and pays debate camps and summer institutes directly for seats.

grounded in From tax year 2026, standard-deduction filers can deduct up to $1,000 of cash gifts ($2,000 joint), reaching about 86% of taxpayers.

Software subscriptionEnterprise

The federal gifted program survives its own elimination proposal

Artseat

Community foundations run juried arts scholarships that pay the studio, not the family

Fund administration software for community foundations running gifted visual arts programs: local juried shows and structured portfolio reviews feed an objective selection rubric, the pooled fund pays art schools, studios and pre-college programs for seats and materials, and donors watch anonymized portfolio progression shared with family consent.

grounded in The Javits program was proposed for elimination in the FY2026 budget request, and on April 22, 2026 the Department of Education announced the FY2026 competition anyway, proposals due June 23, 2026.

Software subscriptionEnterprise

Texas

StudioRail

Gets music and chess programs approved and paid on state ESA platforms

Compliance and payments back office that gets music studios, conservatory prep programs, chess clubs and debate academies approved as providers on state ESA platforms and keeps their money flowing: application filings, category mapping, invoice formatting for the Odyssey and ClassWallet rails, and enrollment-attendance evidence so payments clear.

grounded in Texas SB 2 (signed May 3, 2025) created ESAs worth about $10,330 per student, $1 billion in year one, more than 150,000 applicants; on October 6, 2025 the Comptroller chose Odyssey, built on ClassWallet, to run every payment, and Arizona, North Carolina, Utah and Nevada run the same rails.

Software subscriptionSmall business

Registration fees paid straight to the league

Callboard

One tap turns rehearsal attendance into the proof that funds next term

An agent for district and afterschool theatre and dance programs that assembles rehearsal attendance, casting records and performance participation into one-tap director attestations, then packages them as the evidence that releases sponsors' next-term payments to the program.

grounded in The DICK'S Sporting Goods Foundation's year-end 2025 giving committed $1.6 million to nine youth organizations over several years, multi-year money that wants continuing evidence.

AI agent as a serviceGovernment and public sector

Milestones, streaks and unlocks that keep a kid going

Funding released by verified progress, the kid's own progression view, recognition among peers without a public ranking of named minors, streaks of attendance, the next level a result unlocks; designed for the child, with the parent and coach as witnesses.

Texas

Milemark

Verified milestones that open new provider spending inside state ESA platforms

Milemark is a progression layer that plugs into ESA payment platforms: a kid's verified milestones, attested by coaches and pulled from results systems, open additional approved-provider categories such as advanced coaching, competition fees or travel booked through the provider, while attendance streaks keep current categories open.

grounded in 'Texas SB 2, signed May 3, 2025, created Education Savings Accounts worth about $10,330 per student ($1 billion in the first year, more than 150,000 applicants)' with Odyssey chosen on October 6, 2025 to run 'applications, wallets and every payment,' and 'Arizona, North Carolina, Utah and Nevada run the same rails.' The 529 expansion to $20,000 a year from 2026 widens the same provider-pay pattern.

Infrastructure and APIsGovernment and public sector

The federal gifted program survives its own elimination proposal

Flowproof

District funded debate coaching released by attendance streaks and tournament records

Flowproof is an agent that watches published tournament results and practice attendance for a district's debate and speech programs, matches them to sponsored students, collects the coach's one-tap attestation, and releases the next coaching stipend or summer institute seat to the debate organization.

grounded in 'The Jacob K.

AI agent as a serviceGovernment and public sector

Youth sports

Telltales

Alumni pledges that pay the sailing school the moment a kid's result lands

Telltales runs pay-it-forward pledge books for sailing and rowing schools: alumni pledge amounts tied to specific milestones, a first regatta finish, a season attendance streak, a fleet promotion, and when the verified result lands the pledge charges and pays the school for the kid's next block of coaching or a seat in a better boat.

grounded in 'Aspen Institute Project Play's 2025 survey puts the average family's spend on a child's primary sport at $1,016 in 2024, up 46% since 2019' and 'by 2024 the gap was 20.2 points' between under-$25,000 and over-$100,000 households; from tax year 2026, standard-deduction filers can deduct up to $1,000 in cash gifts.

Software subscriptionConsumer

Alumni, peers and pay-it-forward

Kids who got a funded seat funding the next one, alumni pledges tied to a club's results, older kids coaching younger ones for credit, cohorts that carry a fund across years; the social contract of a scholarship made explicit and durable.

'Achievements as verifiable credentials'

Backrank

Rated high schoolers coach elementary chess for credit and funded seats

Software for school districts running chess programs where rated high school players coach elementary students for elective credit.

grounded in 1EdTech's 2025 guidance expects mass institutional adoption of Open Badges 3.0 in 2025-26 as Accredible, Canvas Credentials and Credly certify as issuers; the Javits program, the only federal gifted program, was proposed for elimination before the April 22, 2026 competition notice, so support for talented kids is moving to whoever funds it locally.

Software subscriptionGovernment and public sector

'Universal charitable deduction from 2026'

Reprise

Chair by chair, music program alumni carry a scholarship fund across years

Cohort fund management for community foundations that fiscally sponsor youth orchestras and music programs.

grounded in Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, standard-deduction filers, about 86% of taxpayers, can deduct up to $1,000 of cash gifts ($2,000 joint) from tax year 2026; the brief's parent-to-club example, a parent giving $500 to the club's scholarship fund now has a tax reason as well as a personal one, is exactly the alumni-to-chair gift.

Software subscriptionEnterprise

'Federal scholarship tax credit from 2027

Payforth

SGO rails that turn robotics alumni pledges into the $1,700 federal credit

Compliance and payments infrastructure that lets a youth robotics or maker league's alumni association route gifts through a qualifying Scholarship Granting Organization, so a graduate's pledge comes back as the federal credit rather than a deduction.

grounded in The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (July 4, 2025) created a nonrefundable federal credit of up to $1,700 per taxpayer for gifts to Scholarship Granting Organizations, claimable from January 1, 2027; on June 8, 2026 the IRS reported 27 states had elected to participate, Texas, Florida, Ohio, Virginia, Colorado and Tennessee among them (IR-2026-76).

Infrastructure and APIsEnterprise

'Texas

Torchpass

Alumni funded seats for trade and maker kids on Texas ESA rails

Provider-side software for trade schools, CTE academies and maker spaces approved on Texas's ESA platform: when a student's roughly $10,330 account does not cover the program, or a waitlisted kid has no ESA slot at all, the provider's alumni seat fund tops up or fully funds the seat through the same approved-provider payment flow, so money never touches the family.

grounded in Texas SB 2 (signed May 3, 2025) created ESAs of about $10,330 per student, $1 billion in year one, more than 150,000 applicants; on October 6, 2025 the Comptroller chose Odyssey, built on ClassWallet, to run applications, wallets and every payment, with the provider paid, not the parent; Arizona, North Carolina, Utah and Nevada run the same rails.

Infrastructure and APIsSmall business

Rural, small-town and unreached kids

Distance, transport, equipment and the families who never apply: remote coaching paid to the coach, travel and gear paid to the program, equipment loans, satellite programs of established clubs, outreach through schools and libraries to first-generation families.

Universal charitable deduction from 2026

Homestretch

Pooled town funds that pay robotics teams' competition travel straight to the program

Homestretch runs a pooled scholarship fund for a small town: residents and local businesses contribute, and the fund pays travel, lodging and entry fees directly to the school's robotics or science-fair team when the team qualifies for a regional or national event.

grounded in 'Standard-deduction filers, about 86% of taxpayers, can deduct up to $1,000 of cash gifts...

Software subscriptionConsumer

Registration fees paid straight to the league

Outhaul

Software for clubs to run donor-sponsored satellite programs in towns they never reached

Outhaul gives an established sailing, rowing or swim club the operating layer for a satellite site: donor-sponsored seats, roster and attendance capture, one-tap coach attestations, and regatta results flowing into each kid's record.

grounded in 'The DICK'S Sporting Goods Foundation...

Software subscriptionSmall business

The federal gifted program survives its own elimination proposal

Findlight

An agent that finds unidentified gifted kids in rural district data, with consent

Findlight is an AI agent that runs inside a rural district's own systems, scanning assessment scores, math contest entries and teacher notes for kids who perform far above their school's baseline but were never referred to gifted programming.

grounded in 'Proposed for elimination in the FY2026 budget request; on April 22, 2026 the Department of Education announced the FY2026 competition anyway, with proposals due June 23, 2026'; keyword coverage shows 0 companies in the last two years pitching 'gifted'

AI agent as a serviceGovernment and public sector

529 plans pay for tutoring

Millbright

Employers buy remote tutoring seats for workers' kids, paid straight to tutors

Millbright lets a rural employer, a plant, hospital or co-op, sponsor remote tutoring and test prep seats for employees' children, with payment going to vetted qualified tutors and never through the family.

grounded in From 2026 the K-12 529 cap doubles 'from $10,000 to $20,000 per child' and widens to 'tutoring by a qualified tutor, standardized tests, AP and dual-enrollment fees, SAT and ACT'; Medly AI raised $8M on 2026-08-19 'to expand its AI-powered tutoring platform for students'

Software subscriptionEnterprise

Achievements as verifiable credentials

Opencase

Instrument loans rural kids earn and keep through verified audition and practice records

Opencase is the ledger community foundations and school music programs use to run donor-funded instrument lending: each violin or trumpet has a history, and each loan is granted and renewed against verified audition results, ensemble attendance and teacher attestations issued as Open Badges 3.0 credentials.

grounded in 'Open Badges 3.0 makes a badge a W3C Verifiable Credential: tamper-evident, portable and checkable by any verifier' with '1EdTech's 2025 guidance' expecting 'mass institutional adoption in 2025-26 as Accredible, Canvas Credentials, Credly and others certify as 3.0 issuers'

Software subscriptionEnterprise

From the catalog

7 ideas from Consumer, B2B SaaS, Fintech, Vertical AI agents, Security and compliance that pass the collection's filter, 1 of them venture-grade, sorted by Idea Score. A deck focused on this collection deals exactly these.

B2B, security and compliance ยท Security and compliance

Personaproof

A licensed proof-of-human agent that vouches for you online without exposing your identity.

Consumers enroll once through a partner bank branch, carrier store or notary, where a hardware-attested biometric capture binds them to a single personhood credential held in Personaproof's own HSM estate.

Score 89Open competitionVC 3/5AI agent as a serviceConsumertest: $1.5k ยท 4w69% of 4 neighbours alive

B2B, security and compliance ยท Security and compliance

Kinshield

A personal AI agent that screens every call and message for deepfakes and scams.

Kinshield is an AI agent that sits in front of a consumer's phone line and inbox, answering unknown calls, detecting cloned voices and scam scripts in real time, and briefing the user before they ever pick up.

Score 84Active competitionVC 3/5AI agent as a serviceConsumertest: $350 ยท 4w98% of 4 neighbours alive

Consumer and commerce ยท Consumer

Phonika

Speech practice for kids at one tenth the cost of a therapist.

Phonika is a subscription app that gives children with articulation delays daily speech practice, using on-device speech models trained to score child phoneme production - a problem general ASR handles badly - and adapt drills the way a speech-language pathologist would between sessions.

Score 76Open competitionVC 3/5Software subscriptionConsumertest: $900 ยท 3w92% of 2 neighbours alive

B2B, security and compliance ยท Security and compliance

Ironvane

Autonomous security operations agents that managed service providers resell and extend.

Ironvane gives managed service providers a runtime where security agents triage alerts, patch endpoints, revoke credentials and close tickets across their whole book of small business clients, with the provider approving actions rather than performing them.

Score 62Crowded competitionVC 4/5AI agent as a serviceSmall businesstest: $1.3k ยท 4w97% of 3 neighbours alive

Consumer and commerce ยท Consumer

Alcuin

AI tutoring agents that give every enrolled student a personal tutor at 10x lower cost.

Alcuin sells AI tutoring agents to universities, textbook publishers, and online course operators, who deploy them across whole cohorts so every student gets unlimited one-on-one tutoring at roughly a tenth of what human tutoring lines cost institutions today.

Score 62Active competitionVC 3/5AI agent as a serviceEnterprisetest: $1.5k ยท 6w92% of 2 neighbours alive

Consumer and commerce ยท Consumer

Cohortguard

Agent network that runs minor-safety compliance and shared risk signals across consumer platforms.

Cohortguard runs AI agents inside consumer platforms that handle youth-safety obligations end to end: age assurance flows, parental consent records, escalation of grooming and self-harm signals, and the audit files regulators ask for.

Score 49Crowded competitionVC 3/5AI agent as a serviceEnterprisetest: $750 ยท 6w94% of 3 neighbours alive

Consumer and commerce ยท Consumer

Canonbase

The rights and licensing API for AI-generated stories, characters and media.

Canonbase is an API that lets studios, game publishers and consumer AI apps pull licensed characters, story worlds and creator IP into generated content, with usage metered and royalties split automatically.

Score 37Active competitionVC 3/5Infrastructure and APIsEnterprisetest: $1k ยท 5w94% of 4 neighbours alive
Swipe the deckTalk to the radar