The Financial Infrastructure for School Choice: Why We Invested in Pathfinder

Over the past decade, families have gained more choice in how and where their children learn. From homeschooling, microschools, and alternative learning models, the education landscape is opening up. Today, there are 21 distinct ESA programs operating across 18 states, accounting for over $13 billion in funding, according to our research.

Yet while policy and funding have advanced, the infrastructure supporting school choice has not. For millions of parents using education savings accounts (ESAs), accessing these funds is often confusing, manual, and stressful. The paperwork is extremely complex and the eligibility rules are opaque. Reimbursements can take months, if they happen at all. The result is that families often leave money on the table, not because they don’t want to invest in their children’s education, but because the system is too hard to navigate.

This gap represents a massive opportunity: to build modern financial and marketplace infrastructure that actually works for families and, in doing so, unlocks better alternative educational outcomes at scale. That is why we are thrilled to co-lead Pathfinder’s $4 million Seed round with Gradient Ventures. 

Pathfinder is reimagining how families access and use education funds. It helps parents in eligible states confidently spend ESA dollars by combining payments, compliance intelligence, and automated documentation into a single seamless experience. Instead of guessing what expenditures are allowed, fronting cash, and hoping for reimbursement, parents can focus on what matters most: choosing the right learning resources for their child. 

What stands out to us is Pathfinder’s approach to building trust directly with families. In living rooms, churches, co-ops and local coffee shops, they have listened closely to the needs of the community, seen the variety of educational purchases firsthand, and designed the product around real parent behavior, not abstract policy. Their commitment to listening carefully, iterating quickly, and earning trust are powerful levers shaping a product that, over time, can become a trusted decision-making tool and expand into a broader marketplace for educational services. 

Pathfinder’s ESA card and eligibility engine are already in the hands of hundreds of families using them to manage real education spending. Engagement is strong, usage is growing, and parent feedback has been a key driver of product iteration. 

Founding Their Path

Pathfinder’s customer obsession is second nature to its co-founders, Amaan Ahmad (CEO) and Sidharth Jain (CTO), whose unconventional educational journeys give them firsthand understanding of the families they are building for.

Amaan and Sid are engineers who ran their own microschool together after college. Individually they grew up across multiple countries. Amaan primarily attended public school, accelerated to do his exams at 14, and then skipped school for two years for entrepreneurial pursuits without anyone knowing. Sid grew up across six countries and experienced different forms of education, including being homeschooled by his mom, a computer science teacher. This helped him excel in his interests and achieve things like placing fourth globally in the International Cyber Olympiad. 

The co-founders have built an exceptional team that combines top-tier technical talent with contrarian conviction, true customer obsession, and a missionary mindset rooted in humility and purpose. Their team of 10 includes Shlomi Boshi, former Head of Risk at Mercury; Brady Neal, former AI researcher and teacher at the SpaceX school; and Christine Sbarcea, previously the Deputy Director of the first universal ESA program in Arizona. They are currently hiring across several roles!

The Future of Education Funding

At Reach, we believe innovation can unlock access to better educational opportunities. Billions of dollars are allocated to expand school choice, yet families still face fragmented systems, opaque rules, and manual processes. Pathfinder is building the infrastructure that can make education funding actually work for families.

Homeschooling and ESAs are just the beginning. As Pathfinder becomes the trusted financial and discovery layer for education spending, it will become a critical piece of modern education infrastructure. Their vision: to become the platform that powers how families discover, fund, and experience education.

We are beyond excited to partner with Amaan, Sid, and the entire Pathfinder team as they build toward that future.