Shaquille O'Neal leads $2,500,000 seed round for edtech startup Edsoma: Here's what we know so far

Shaquille O’Neal has a multitude of business ventures. O’Neal made many millions on the court but he has made much more off the hardwood.

The LA Lakers legend’s roster of endorsements and business ventures is lengthy, and he is adding to it with the educational tech start, Edsoma. The startup developed an AI-powered platform to aid children in reading, education and communication.

Shaquille O’Neal has led a seed round of funding among tech venture capitalists recently. He and his business partners raised $2.5 million in the seed round, and O'Neal worked with Edsoma CEO Kyle Wallgren in the funding.

The CEO said the former Laker did not ask for any money in exchange for his fundraising efforts.

O’Neal is invested in the company but did not disclose how much his investment was worth. The company raised funds mostly through family and friends, while the $2.5 million figure was funded by more than a dozen individual investors.

The company reached a post-funding evaluation of $14 million.

Despite his many business ventures and investments (including a large amount of Papa John’s pizza chain restaurants), this is the first edtech investment for "Big Diesel."

O’Neal is a big believer in the platform, and spoke about his admiration for the service at the recent TechCrunch Disrupt 2023 event:

“When he (Wallgren) talked about it, I didn’t believe it. And then when he showed me, I believed it."

What is Edsoma? Taking a look at Shaquille O’Neal’s latest investment

The platform is an app that uses AI technology to help people learn to read and communicate better. The app is aimed to improve children’s reading skills.

It helps users improve their reading levels and can also act as an educational tool to increase other communication skills.

The app is already available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. There is a free version for one user and a $9.99 per month plan that expands to a four-user account.

The paid plan also includes unlimited books, peer reading sessions and group video calls within the app. Edsoma also offers a $99.99 yearly plan.

Shaquille O’Neal and other investors are happy to hear the app is growing fast. They went from 300 paid users to 9,000 within the first two months of release.

CEO Kyle Wallgren is gearing up for more growth. He is preparing for a Series A round of funding with venture capitalists and is aiming for $10 to $15 million in funding.