Hiemile

Hiemile, originally launched as Emile (later Emile Learning) and now operating under the Subject brand on Subject.com, is a Los Angeles-based education technology company founded in 2020. The platform delivers accredited, standards-aligned online high school courses built around short-form, video-based instruction with quizzes, study guides and interactive elements, an approach the company has described as "the Netflix of high school education." Its catalog spans roughly 120 courses across core subjects and electives, including AP offerings (such as AP Art History, AP language and AP biology), math (Geometry), English, science (Chemistry), social studies (US History), world languages (Spanish II) and practical electives such as financial literacy and acting.

The company sells to schools and districts, positioning its courses and state-certified teaching staff as a way to cover unfilled classroom assignments, provide credit recovery and initial credit, launch virtual school programs, re-enroll students who had left for homeschooling, and support English learner, special education and IEP populations through built-in accessibility tools and instructional scaffolds. Subject's teachers provide scoring, feedback, two-way communication and live learning labs; administrators are given reporting to measure program outcomes and per-dollar impact, and teachers use a consolidated review interface for submissions, scores and rubrics. Courses are also offered in Spanish, which one district user cited as helpful for English-language learners.

Earlier in its history the company began by tutoring high-achieving students preparing for AP exams; after obtaining accreditation for its courses it shifted toward selling district-wide access, with many student memberships funded by public education dollars, including federal COVID relief funding received by districts during the pandemic.

Founding story

Michael Vilardo and Felix Ruano met through UCLA Anderson's Riordan Programs while Vilardo was pursuing his MBA and Ruano, a Harvard and McKinsey alumnus, was running a test-prep and tutoring business disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Observing that even top universities struggled to move online, and drawing on their own experiences as Latino students who saw resource gaps between themselves and Ivy League peers, they launched Emile Learning in October 2020 to deliver accredited, on-demand courses to students regardless of ZIP code or family wealth. Vilardo, born in Geneva, Illinois and raised in Cary, previously studied philosophy, politics and economics at the University of Pennsylvania, worked at Uber in its New Mobility division and on Uber Freight, played hockey for the Colombian national team, and earlier founded VHomes, a proptech venture incubated at the Anderson Venture Accelerator that he sold to a Bay Area short-term rental company.

Business model

The company licenses its accredited course library and associated teaching services to K-12 schools and districts, which purchase access on behalf of students; individual student memberships have in many cases been paid for with public education funds, meaning students access courses at no personal cost. The company also markets teacher-of-record style staffing, in which its own state-certified teachers deliver scoring, feedback and live sessions for courses the district cannot staff.

Revenue comes from school and district contracts for platform and course access plus associated certified-teacher services, with student memberships frequently funded by district budgets and public tax dollars, including pandemic-era federal relief funding, rather than by families directly.

Traction

The website reports more than 1,000 schools across 29 states, more than 180,000 students active in 2026, a 94% completion rate and $79 million saved in student retention, alongside district-level results such as 12,500 credits earned in Oceanside Unified School District, 87% credit-recovery pass rates in Show Low Unified School District, 2.6x enrollment growth at Forest Hills Public Schools, a 3x increase in math proficiency at Upland Unified School District, $1.36 million in funding retained at Portage Township Schools, and a 90% average final score at Baker Charter Schools. Lamesa Independent School District reported 579 completed credit recovery courses with a median final grade of 82%, and Union County Schools in Georgia cited a 10% increase in course completion and a 5% increase in four-year graduation rate. Reported customers and partners include Learn4Life, Innovative Education Management, Chaffey Joint Union High School District, Parlier Unified School District and Tree Tops International.

Latest developments

The company now operates as Subject on Subject.com under Subject Technologies, marketing itself as a K-12 platform for filling open courses without hiring, credit recovery, virtual school launches and enrollment recovery, and reporting more than 180,000 students active in 2026 across more than 1,000 schools in 29 states.