Why we invested in Luca
The AI-powered learning platform for K–12 education in Latin America
AI is transformative for education
Sam Altman, founder of OpenAI, recently said:
“Education is very high on the list of things I am most excited about. AI will be transformative for education – particularly if it is able to level the playing field between students who could afford extra help and those who couldn’t.
Most people just can’t afford one-on-one tutoring. If we can combine one-on-one tutoring for every child through AI with the things that only a human teacher can provide, the sort of support, I think that combination is just going to be incredible for education.”
At 6DC, we not only believe that AI will be transformative for education, but that this transformation is already underway. Six out of ten teachers in the US now report using AI tools in their work. They are naturally drawn to it; you don’t have to convince them of the benefits of AI.
Moreover, the introduction of AI comes at a time when the system is showing strain on all sides. There is a shortage of teachers; they are overworked and underpaid; class sizes have become too large; and governments are trying to address the problem by increasing bureaucracy.
The conversation is shifting rapidly from whether AI belongs in schools to how we redesign the classroom around it.
Luca
Luca is an AI-powered learning platform for K-12 education in Latin America.
It combines curriculum-level depth with AI-driven personalisation. Luca has digitised the national curriculum and automatically generates rich educational content from it: text, slides, videos, games, exercises, tests, etc.
The content is interactive, and the platform personalises the experience for every student. Students enjoy a gamified, adaptive learning experience that adjusts to their pace and proficiency. Luca’s AI engine continuously evaluates progress, recommends exercises and materials to strengthen weak areas, challenges where it is too easy, and helps teachers identify learning gaps early.
The platform not only enhances children’s learning but also substantially improves teachers’ lives. Luca automatically creates teaching plans, assists with grading and performance reviews, and dramatically reduces time-consuming administrative tasks.
Luca offers a win-win: improving the quality of education while unlocking time and cost savings for schools. Recognising that many schools in Mexico and across Latin America still rely on traditional textbooks, the company delivers both digital content and the traditional printed materials. This allows schools to modernise without requiring an immediate and complete shift in teaching practices.
A cash-efficient business model
Luca has a straight-forward business model. It charges schools a fixed fee per student per year. Contracts align with the school year, running from September to August. New sales take place throughout the year, and schools pre-pay a significant part of the annual license fee at signing, which is positive for Luca’s cash conversion.
Traction
With school directors scrambling for AI tools in the class room, Luca experienced stellar growth in 2025. The company tripled its school count, expanding its footprint to tens of thousands of students. Annualised revenues increased four-fold, thus placing Luca in the top decile of Series A SaaS companies.
Equally impressive, the company was cashflow positive last year and achieved this growth with minimal sales effort. Its sales motion blends strong outbound execution with rising inbound momentum, driven by a rapidly growing reputation. Indeed, Google named Luca one of the three most innovative EdTech companies worldwide, further amplifying its visibility across school networks.
Beyond sales metrics, we closely track product usage to understand product quality and engagement. Luca also excels here. 94% of teachers with access to the platform used it regularly last year, up from 75% in its inaugural year. Assignment creation increased 3.5x over the same period. Students and teachers now log over 50 interactions per week, showing that Luca is not just a classroom novelty, but is becoming a deeply embedded, day-to-day learning assistant.
Opportunity
Luca targets the Spanish-speaking LatAm education market, starting with Mexico.
There are 18.5M students aged 6-14 in Mexico and roughly 100k schools. Luca initially focuses on private schools, which have larger budgets and faster decision cycles. There are 25k private schools in Mexico, representing a $500M annual revenue opportunity. State schools are on the roadmap as well. With 75k schools they are a larger market opportunity, but budgets are tighter and procurement cycles are slower. If Luca succeeds is able to break into this market, the revenue opportunity more than doubles to $1bn+.
Expanding across Spanish-speaking LatAm would roughly double the potential. Strong tailwinds like rising educational expectations, widespread digital access, teacher shortages, and largely consistent curricula, confirm the opportunity for Luca to expand internationally. Colombia, for example, which counts another 40k schools, has 80% overlap in curriculum with Mexico.
Competition
Luca’s main competitors in Mexico are two legacy publishers: Santillana (founded in 1960, ~$800M in annual revenues) and AMCO (founded in 1987, PE-backed since 2012). Both are outdated, textbook-centric companies. The lack of modern competition is one reason why Luca has scaled so rapidly and capital-efficiently over the past year.
In the US, several AI-native solutions like Brisk Teaching, Flint, MagicSchool, and SchoolAI are emerging, backed by significant VC funding. In contrast, LatAm remains a blue-ocean market of similar scale. Brazil is the only market which has regional precedent for Luca. K-12 provider Arco Plataforma was founded in 2004 and now generates $400M in annual revenues, serving 4 million students across 10k schools. Arco was taken private in 2023 for $1.5 billion and remains focused on Brazil.
Team
Luca is led by an exceptional team combining deep operational experience, domain expertise, and technical capability. The entire team consists of ~30 people.
Frederico Bello, Founder and CEO, first came on our radar when two early-stage investors independently described him as an exceptional founder with a rare mix of entrepreneurial, operating, and commercial acumen. Within minutes of our first call, it was clear he is indeed one of those ‘one-in-a-thousand’ founders who blends missionary ambition with rigorous execution.
Frederico began his career in banking at Morgan Stanley, before moving into senior operating roles at Uber and ThePowerMBA, a successful European EdTech company. This inspired him to start Luca. Frederico is Portuguese and studied educational systems globally before choosing Mexico as the optimal market to launch.
Luis Alegria, VP of Product & Tech, is Chilean-Swedish and an experienced technology operator with a strong track record scaling high-growth LatAm start-ups. He previous served as Product Director at Rappi, before founding his own company, Storytime.
Angel Martinez, Head of Sales, spent eight years at AMCO, the PE-backed incumbent in Mexico, where he gained deep market expertise and built a strong industry network.
Round
Luca raised a $8M Series A. 6DC led the round with support from Explorer, Heartcore and Shilling VC. We’re also excited to welcome two high-profile operators to the board:
Juan Romero, former former CEO of Pearson LatAm and current CEO of ISP LatAm. International Schools Partnership (ISP) is a global K-12 school group that is expanding rapidly through both acquisitions and new school builds. CVC recently acquired a significant stake in the company.
Vasco Pedro, founder of Unbabel, an AI-driven language operations platform that raised more than $100M from top-tier investors.
Additional angel investors include founders and operators from Viva Real, The PowerMBA, Kroton, Ironhack and Cobee.