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This Startup Pushes Technology Into Schools With Paper and Pen

  • Bakpax uses AI to read and grade students’ handwritten work
  • Covid-19 increased venture capital investments into ed-tech
The website home screen for Bakpax.
The website home screen for Bakpax.Photographer: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg

Millions of kids in the U.S. headed back to school this month and most of them will be spending at least part of their class time remotely, relying on computers, tablets and fast broadband to connect with teachers.

In thousands of schools across the U.S., though, teachers are using a small technology startup to preserve some of the more analog aspects of classwork during the pandemic. Bakpax Inc. makes a mobile app that kids can use to take a picture of homework completed using pencil and paper then upload to get instant grades and feedback. Some 50,000 teachers are using the tool, including in Europe and South Korea.