Mark Zuckerberg and Silicon Valley VCs Invest $100 Million in a Startup Elementary School

Add an elementary school to the list of ventures attracting nine-figure sums from Silicon Valley investors. AltSchool, a chain of technology-centric private schools in San Francisco, has raised $100 million from Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg, through his family's charitable organization, as well as from Founders Fund, Andreessen Horowitz, and other backers.

Founded by former Google executive Max Ventilla, AltSchool has been developing customized hardware and software that it says allows teachers to create more personalized education plans. Instead of having children follow the same curriculum throughout the year, lesson plans can be tailored to each student. Tuition costs about $21,000 a year, and the company eventually plans to sell its technology to other schools. "Everything is instrumented through technology," Ventilla says.