What TrustCircle does

TrustCircle is an AI-powered social-emotional learning (SEL) and student mental-wellness platform that serves K-12 schools, school districts, and state education systems. Founded in 2015 by Sachin Chaudhry following his brother's experience with school bullying and inadequate mental health support, the company is headquartered in San Ramon, California as a Public Benefit Corporation (BringChange PBC) with an Indian operating entity (BringChange Labs India Pvt. Ltd.). The platform combines daily emoji-based emotional check-ins, secure journaling, peer support features, mindfulness tools, and a one-tap Seek Help workflow, all unified through a real-time early-warning dashboard for educators and counselors. Underlying the product are three named AI capabilities — sentiment analysis on journal text, predictive analytics correlating emotional patterns with attendance/behavior, and anomaly detection that flags 2-3% of users at peak risk — operationalized within Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) and Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) frameworks and aligned with FERPA, COPPA, and EDSAFE AI standards.

The business model is enterprise subscription licensing sold primarily through direct field sales to K-12 districts and state education departments, with quote-based pricing tied to district size and deployment scope; a flagship statewide contract with the Hawai'i Department of Education covers approximately 200,000 students, and a 2024 partnership with the Piramal Foundation extends the platform to over one million students across underserved Indian states. Distribution is augmented through institutional partnerships (UNDP DigitalX, UNICEF India, NIHR, WHO Collaborating Centre, SETDA, CoSN) and research collaborations that double as market-access channels. Reach now spans 1,000+ schools and 1.5M+ students across at least six countries (USA, India, Kenya, Nigeria, Malaysia, UK), backed by an unusually heavy award and recognition footprint including Fast Company's #8 Most Innovative Company in Education (2026), G20 Summit (2023), and Ashoka Fellowship.

Name

TrustCircle

Legal name

BringChange PBC

Website

https://trustcircle.co

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

TrustCircle is an AI-powered social-emotional learning and mental wellness platform serving K-12 schools and state education systems. Founded in 2015 and headquartered in San Ramon, California, it delivers daily emotional check-ins, AI-driven early risk detection, and MTSS/PBIS-aligned interventions to over 1.5 million students across six countries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

K-12 Student Mental Health Software

NAICS

Educational Support Services (6117), Educational Support Services (61171)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Behavioral Health & MTSS/RTI Tiered SEL Supports (EDAKAMAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Student Support Hotlines & Digital Wellbeing Tools (EDAJAIAL), Behavioral & Social-Emotional Support (ABA, PBIS, Counseling) (EDAJAKAE), Behavior, Discipline, PBIS/MTSS & Intervention Tracking (EDAFAEAJ), Behavioral Intervention & PBIS Supports (Tiered, Gen Ed) (EDAJAGAL)

Keywords

• Social emotional learning
• Student mental health
• K-12 wellbeing platform
• AI early intervention
• SEL software

Headquarters

HQ city

California

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. School/District Platform Licensing: TrustCircle provides its AI-powered well-being platform to K-12 schools and districts on a licensing basis. Schools and districts contract for access to the platform, which includes emotional tracking, AI-driven insights, counselor dashboards, and student features.
2. Statewide Government Contracts: TrustCircle has secured statewide implementations such as Hawai'i Department of Education covering all public schools, suggesting contracts with state education authorities.
3. NGO/Foundation Partnerships: Partnerships with organizations like Piramal Foundation and UNICEF India to deploy the platform at scale, potentially involving grant funding or service agreements.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

TrustCircle provides an AI-powered well-being platform for K-12 schools that enables students to log daily emotional check-ins via emoji inputs, journal reflections, and peer support, while giving educators and counselors real-time early warning dashboards and AI-driven insights for proactive intervention. The platform operationalizes MTSS and PBIS frameworks across Tier 1, 2, and 3 supports, integrates with existing student information systems, and complies with FERPA, COPPA, and EDSAFE AI standards. It is sold on a subscription basis to school districts, state education departments, and deployed via partnerships with NGOs and foundations globally.

Product overview

TrustCircle offers a single, unified AI-powered well-being platform for K-12 schools — the TrustCircle Well-Being Platform — that provides prevention and early intervention infrastructure for student and staff mental health. The platform combines daily emotional check-ins via emoji-based inputs, AI-driven wellbeing insights using sentiment analysis, journaling tools, peer support networks, mindfulness practices, and a Seek Help feature, all unified through a real-time early warning dashboard. It is aligned with MTSS and PBIS frameworks and includes a dedicated school admin panel. The platform is complemented by the BringChange Foundation, which focuses on cultural change and stigma reduction through public-private partnerships. Together, the products form a dual intervention: one focused on systemic transformation within the K-12 education system, and the other on reshaping cultural narratives around mental health.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• TrustCircle Well-Being Platform AI-powered prevention and well-being platform for K-12 schools that combines daily emoji-based emotional check-ins, journaling, peer support, mindfulness, Seek Help, and a real-time early warning dashboard. Operationalizes MTSS and PBIS frameworks across Tier 1, 2, and 3 supports; compliant with FERPA, COPPA, and EDSAFE AI standards; integrates with existing student information systems; sold to school districts and state education departments on annual subscriptions.

Quantifiable outcome

• 5× increase in seek-help requests - students proactively reaching out, with lives saved
• +7 more outcomes

Named customers13 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

AI capability5 records

Feature8 records

Partnerships

13 partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and core.

• Hawai'i Department of EducationflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Statewide collaboration supporting student mental health and well-being across all Hawai'i public schools, reaching 200,000 students and staff. TrustCircle is official policy across all Hawai'i public schools.
• Piramal FoundationflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Landmark partnership to scale emotional wellness across K-12 schools in India, empowering over 1 million students in underserved and tribal communities across Jharkhand, Odisha, and Rajasthan.
• AshokacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018Founder honored as lifetime Ashoka Fellow, recognized among world's leading social innovators. Ashoka's global platform amplifies TrustCircle's reach and provides peer collaboration with 3,800+ Fellows in 90+ countries.
• UK National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOfficial Research Partner of NIHR, advancing evidence-based youth mental health through rigorous research and field testing. Partnership involves global health research collaborations with NIHR Units & Groups improving mental health interventions in LMICs.
• United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerRecognized as an official UNDP DigitalX Solution for TrustCircle's global impact and scale. Selected from 4,000+ organizations across 80 countries, amplifying visibility across 190+ countries.
• State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerStrategic alliance with SETDA to scale student mental health support in K-12 education across the US, providing access to state educational technology leaders.
• EDSAFE AI AlliancecoreTechnology or IntegrationTrustCircle joined the EDSAFE AI Industry Council, demonstrating global commitment to safe, accountable, fair, and equitable AI implementation in education alongside Google and other organizations.
• Healthy Brains Global Initiative (HBGI)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerOfficial Program of HBGI - an endeavor of WHO, UNICEF, and World Bank. TrustCircle is one of only 51 global programs selected, and one of only two US programs alongside Harvard Medical School.
• UNICEF IndiacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with UNICEF India to create impact at scale in mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) initiatives, working with the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
• SCARF (WHO Collaborating Centre for Mental Health Research)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerResearch partnership with WHO Collaborating Centre for Mental Health in India. Partnership established scientific credibility through rigorous research and evidence-based field testing, yielding methodologies for measuring and nurturing student well-being.
• Warwick UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerStrategic research partnership with UK's Warwick University as part of the Warwick-India-Canada (WIC) global mental health group, studying barriers and facilitators for early intervention services.
• CoSN (Consortium for School Networking)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with CoSN to empower student mental well-being in US K-12 schools, bringing together a leading edtech organization with a national leader in empowering K-12 edtech leadership.
• UNICEFcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGlobal partnership with UNICEF for Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS), creating impact at scale through collaboration with BringChange Foundation.

Scale indicators17 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Panorama Education: Panorama is a leading K-12 social-emotional learning survey, data, and intervention platform used by thousands of US school districts. It competes most directly with TrustCircle on SEL data infrastructure, MTSS workflows, and early-risk identification for students.
• Committee for Children (Second Step): Second Step is one of the most widely adopted K-12 SEL curricula in the US. It is comparable to TrustCircle as a school-based SEL and behavioral intervention offering, though its strength is in curriculum rather than AI-driven early warning.
• ClassDojo: ClassDojo is a classroom engagement and SEL platform used in the vast majority of US K-12 schools. It overlaps with TrustCircle on SEL features, student well-being, and school-wide deployment models.
• RethinkEd (Rethink Behavioral Health): RethinkEd provides SEL, MTSS, and behavioral health tools for K-12 and districts. It competes directly with TrustCircle on district-level SEL and intervention infrastructure.

Broad incumbents

• GoGuardian: GoGuardian provides student safety, wellness, and classroom management products used widely in K-12. Its wellness and mental-health suites compete with TrustCircle for district safety and well-being budgets.
• Gaggle (PowerSchool): Gaggle monitors student activity across school-issued tools to flag safety and mental health risks. It overlaps with TrustCircle's real-time risk detection and counselor alerting use cases.
• Bark Technologies: Bark provides student safety monitoring and parental alerting for schools and families. It competes with TrustCircle for the student wellbeing and early-warning budget line in K-12.

Emerging players

• Hazel Health: Hazel Health delivers school-based and virtual mental health services to K-12 students. It overlaps with TrustCircle on the school mental-health infrastructure thesis but focuses on clinical service delivery rather than AI early warning.
• Daybreak Health: Daybreak Health provides online counseling and mental health services for K-12 students. It is comparable as an emerging K-12 mental health player targeting the same school procurement channels.

Others

• Schoolytics: Schoolytics is a data and analytics platform for K-12 districts that integrates with Google Workspace and student information systems. It is adjacent to TrustCircle as an enabling SIS-adjacent analytics provider that could partner or compete for district data dollars.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/trustcircle

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors2 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about TrustCircle