As AI Reshapes Higher Education, Nectir Raises $12.5M to Scale its Purpose-Built AI Infrastructure for Schools

AI is rapidly transforming education, creating as much uncertainty as opportunity. Faculty, parents, and students share anxiety about AI, and yet, students are using AI every day, often without guidance, guardrails, or standards. It’s even leading some schools to return to “blue books.” However, the reality is AI is here to stay, and higher education is facing a turning point: adapt quickly or fall behind.

To meet this moment, Nectir, the first secure AI infrastructure purpose-built for education that has proven to save educators time, provide 24/7 personalized learning support, and increase educational outcomes, today announced it has raised $12.5 million led by Rethink Impact. This round also includes participation from Gingerbread Capital and Strada, along with existing investors.

Founded by Kavitta Ghai and Jordan Long, Nectir was inspired by the challenges they faced as students in college. “With this new chapter of funding, we are scaling our vision to meet the needs of the modern educational landscape,” said Kavitta Ghai, CEO and Co-Founder of Nectir. “At Nectir, we are not looking at the 30,000-student problems; we are architecting solutions for the 30-million-student reality. We believe educational accessibility is paramount, and our infrastructure provides a personalized learning partner for every single student, ensuring that high-quality, AI-driven support is a universal standard, not a luxury.”

Nectir is customizable, secure, and designed for academic integrity

While grappling with the pervasiveness of AI, higher education is facing a growing crisis, and institutions are under pressure to prove their value. Only 36% of Americans trust higher education, down from 48% just six years ago (Gallup). At the same time, AI adoption is widespread: nearly 90% of college students use AI, and students who say their schools allow AI use are 25% more likely to feel prepared to use the technology after graduation than those whose schools do not allow AI (Gallup). That preparation matters: the World Economic Forum projects 39% of core job skills will change by 2030, with AI literacy and analytical thinking both ranking among the fastest-growing capabilities employers demand.

AI itself is not the threat: it’s unstructured, unsecured, and unprincipled AI. Higher education needs institutional AI that is aligned with pedagogy, privacy, and outcomes. Nectir was built to do just that through its AI infrastructure, enabling schools and institutions to securely deploy AI Assistants at scale.

• Nectir deploys custom AI Assistants across students, faculty, and administrators, providing teaching support to professors, personalized guidance for students, and a lighter, more efficient workload for admin teams.
  
• Nectir AI Assistants are built on the school’s institutional knowledge, grounded in course content, and integrated into Learning Management Systems.
  
• The platform does not use student data to train models and is fully FERPA- and SOC 2-compliant.
  

Nectir is already delivering measurable impact:

• Trusted by 80,000 students across 100+ campuses, everywhere from Stanford University and community colleges to private high schools.
  
• Landmark deal with California Community Colleges made Nectir available to all 2.1 million students across 116+ campuses.
  
• Los Angeles Pacific University demonstrated a 7.5% GPA increase campuswide in a peer-reviewed study, making Nectir one of the only AI infrastructure solutions in education with independent, published research of academic outcomes.
  
• 74% of students reported a better learning experience, including improved understanding of complex content and critical thinking.
  
• 36% of students reported a boost in motivation.
  

“This is a 24/7 program, so even in the middle of the night, students can get accurate feedback,” said Adam Hathaway, Chabot College. “It’s also very customizable. If you sent this over to ChatGPT, you’d get very different answers. Nectir AI locks them into a system that I get to control.”

“AI use is pervasive in higher education and is here to stay. Yet it carries massive risk when used in an unstructured, unsecured, and unprincipled way,” said Jenny Abramson and Jill Ni of Rethink Impact, the largest fund in the country backing women-led tech companies. “Nectir’s compliant platform is driving better learning experiences, better student motivation, and, ultimately, better outcomes in both secondary and higher education. This is edtech innovation at its best, and we couldn’t be more excited to back the team in this next phase of growth!”

About Nectir
Nectir is the secure AI infrastructure purpose-built for higher education. Nectir AI provides 24/7 personalized learning support grounded in course content—without compromising trust, outcomes, or academic integrity. Nectir is trusted by 80,000 students across 100+ campuses and is fully FERPA- and SOC 2-compliant. For more information, visit https://www.nectir.io/.

About Rethink Impact
Rethink Impact is the largest venture firm in the country dedicated to investing in female leaders using technology to help solve the world’s biggest problems (Forbes) and believes the next generation of extraordinary companies will find success through their relentless pursuit of mission for the benefit of all communities. For more information, visit https://rethinkimpact.com.

Contact Information

Josephine Cheng

Head of Marketing & Communications

Nectir

josephine.cheng@nectir.io