Letrus

Letrus is a Brazilian educational technology company founded in 2015 by Luis Junqueira and Thiago Rached, with Allison Hirata also cited as a founder. The company was officially established in 2017. Junqueira, a teacher, was inspired by his experiences, including running the "First Book Project" to help individuals publish their own books, which highlighted challenges in writing that led to the creation of Letrus. Rached joined after returning from his master's in education at Columbia University in 2016, drawn to a prototype Junqueira was developing.

The company operates in the EdTech market, providing an artificial intelligence-based literacy program to K-12 schools in Brazil. Its business model initially included a direct-to-student option but has shifted to a business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-government (B2G) approach, where schools or government bodies procure the services. Letrus serves both public and private schools and, as of late 2023, was present in 630 schools across all 27 Brazilian states.

Letrus's core product is a digital platform that uses AI to develop students' reading and writing skills. The program provides students with immediate feedback on their writing exercises by identifying patterns, after which a human teacher can make additional comments. This combination of AI and human oversight aims to personalize learning, support teachers with data-driven insights, and engage students. The platform has demonstrated significant impact; a J-PAL/MIT-funded assessment showed that students using Letrus for five months achieved substantially higher scores on the national high school exam (ENEM) compared to a control group. In 2020, UNESCO recognized Letrus with the King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize, naming its technology the best educational technology in the world.

The company has secured significant funding to fuel its growth. In December 2023, Letrus announced a Series A funding round of approximately $7.3 million, co-led by Owl Ventures and Crescera Capital. This round also included participation from IDB Lab, Altitude, the Lemann Foundation, and VélezReyez+. With this injection, the company aims to expand its reach to one million students within two years by investing in its product and go-to-market strategy.

Keywords: EdTech, artificial intelligence in education, literacy platform, writing skills development, K-12 education, educational technology Brazil, personalized learning, J-PAL, UNESCO education prize, Luis Junqueira, Thiago Rached, reading comprehension, student assessment, teacher support tools, ENEM preparation, education impact investing, Crescera Capital, Owl Ventures, Lemann Foundation