WILMINGTON, Del., Sept. 17, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — illumine, an AI-powered childcare management platform purpose-built for multi-site operations, already serving more than 4,000 childcare centers across the United States and 60+ countries, has now announced the next chapter of its AI platform at illumine NEXT. The flagship innovation event, witnessed registrations from over 400 future-first early years leaders and introduced three new pathbreaking AI agents designed specifically for the early years.
The conversation brought together insights from global experts, including Tim Seldin, author, educator and President of The Montessori Foundation, with more than 40 years of experience in Montessori education, and Lara Hudson, Early Years Leader and Education Strategist with more than 25 years of international experience, including two decades in the UAE education sector. They were joined by the illumine co-founders – Navneet Rastogi, Sourabh Agarwal and Purva Goyal. The event witnessed enthusiastic conversations around the future of childcare management and the role technology and AI can play in helping operators build stronger, more scalable organizations.
“Childcare leaders are building increasingly ambitious organizations, and the technology supporting them should evolve with that ambition,” said Navneet Rastogi, Co-founder and CEO of illumine. “We see a future where AI does more than just generate content. It can help in taking meaningful action across the workflows that matter most, while keeping people firmly in control and being mindful of the sensitivity of data in the early years. At illumine NEXT, we have given a glimpse into that future, and into what becomes possible when technology is built to help childcare organizations raise the standard as they grow.”
AI Designed for Real-World Childcare Operations
illumine’s latest capabilities are built around a simple belief: AI should not only provide information. It should help get meaningful work done. The three AI agents unveiled at illumine NEXT extend intelligence into the workflows that matter most to childcare organizations.
By taking on repetitive, time-sensitive interactions, the illumine AI enrollment agent helps teams keep enrollment moving while people remain focused on the conversations and decisions that require a human touch. It gives admissions teams support around the clock, helping answer calls in non-work hours and to even book tours and schedule follow-ups. For growing brands in childcare this means fewer inquiries waiting for a response, faster conversions and less routine work competing for the attention of enrollment teams.
The second showcased agent, the illumine AI Billing Agent, brings a simpler way to work with financial and operational information across centers – one just needs to ask!
Operators can ask for financial reports, identify billing trends, retrieve specific information or prepare data for compliance reports by just a quick chat with the billing agent. Instead of searching through reports and files, early years leaders can now access the information they need to make an informed decision.
Multi-center operators can now use the illumine AI billing agent to generate business reports for board meetings with just a chat based interface, thereby saving time on manual reporting. The goal is not simply faster reporting; it is better visibility for better decisions.
The third AI capability, which brought exceptional interest from educators, brings convenience into everyday activity planning, addressing one of the most persistent administrative demands on educators. Today, educators spend hours uploading photos and documenting classroom activities. With the illumine AI Activity Agent, that process becomes simpler. The AI scans the uploaded classroom photos and drafts personalized observations, making documentation faster and easier to review. Educators can also add their own voice input, co-creating and refining observations with AI to turn their notes and ideas into well-drafted documentation in minutes. The result is less time spent on documentation and more time for educators to focus on creating meaningful learning experiences.
For families, richer and more timely documentation can also strengthen the connection between what happens in the classroom and what they see at home.
Across each AI agent, the principle remains the same: technology should take on more of the administrative weight without taking away the judgment, relationships and care at the heart of early years.
Built With AI Controls and Safeguards at the Core
As AI takes on a more active role in childcare operations, trust, privacy and control are foundational. illumine has designed its AI capabilities with safeguards built into the platform from the ground up, giving childcare organizations the ability to adopt AI while maintaining control over how sensitive data is accessed, processed and used.
illumine’s AI architecture is designed around Privacy by Design and Responsible AI principles, with customer data protected within secure, controlled environments. Customer data is not used to train public or shared AI models, and AI workflows are designed to use only the contextual information required for a given task, helping minimize unnecessary exposure of sensitive child, family and center information.
For multi-site operators, illumine provides granular role-based access controls, tenant-level data segregation and comprehensive audit logging, helping ensure that users only access information appropriate to their role, classroom or center. AI-enabled workflows are also designed with appropriate human oversight, particularly where outputs may affect sensitive childcare records, family communications or other high-impact workflows.
illumine’s security foundation includes SOC 2 Type II certification, encryption for data in transit and at rest, multi-factor authentication, role-based permissions and auditability across platform activity. Together, these controls are designed to give childcare leaders the confidence to adopt increasingly capable AI without compromising the privacy, security or operational integrity their organizations require.
“As AI becomes more deeply integrated into childcare operations, the question isn’t simply what AI can do. It is whether organizations can use it with the right level of trust, control and accountability,” said Sourabh Agarwal, Co-founder and CTO of illumine. “We believe advanced AI and strong safeguards must be built together. Our approach gives childcare organizations the ability to benefit from AI while maintaining clear controls around their data, access and oversight.”
The capabilities unveiled at illumine NEXT are part of illumine’s broader vision to continue building an AI-native platform for the future of early years management. The event made one thing clear: a new era of AI-powered childcare management is here, and illumine is building what comes next.
About illumine
illumine is an AI-powered childcare management platform built for preschools, Montessori schools, and early education networks. It streamlines enrollment, tuition and billing, attendance tracking, regulatory compliance, and parent communication within a unified system powered by AI. Built to reduce administrative burden and improve operational efficiency, illumine supports childcare centers and multi-site programs across the United States and globally. For more information, visit www.illumine.app
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SOURCE illumine Technology Inc
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