Name: MathCrunch Website: www.mathcrunch.com Headquarters: San Francisco, USA Vertical: K-12, Higher Education Tech: Web App, Mobile App

Introduce your startup and give a short description of what you are doing.

MathCrunch is a chat based mobile tutoring company that instantly connects students to tutors on demand, 24/7. Students receive highly effective, convenient and affordable one‐on‐one tutoring from experienced math tutors without the hassle of scheduling or in‐person meeting. MathCrunch tutors receive ongoing training on best-in-class teaching methods and weekly feedback from senior tutors.

Who are the founders, how did you meet, what are your different roles in the startup.

Naguib Sawiris

How was the idea for your startup born?

Naguib's first attempt at a startup was an e-commerce grocery app, but the young entrepreneur couldn’t find a good reason for the company to exist. As he saw students sending photos of math problems they couldn’t solve to friends and relatives, he realized there was a business there. His passion grew overtime and now he envisions a world where everyone has instant mobile access to excellent, personalized education.

What is the main problem in education that you aim to solve.

Today, math remains an area where millions of students struggle and a source of great anxiety. Despite the serious nature of the issue, quality math education remains inaccessible. Students a lot of times can’t get the help they need when they need it. On the other end of the spectrum are technology-enabled platforms, like math “tutoring” apps that provide answers to problems, rather than helping students learn to solve; or massive, one-size-fits-all, lecture-based platforms that don’t respond to students’ individual needs or encourage interactivity. Traditional tutoring models aren’t designed for the way students learn today, they can be expensive and it’s inconvenient to schedule a tutor to come to the house when a student might only need help with a specific problem.

In which markets / regions are you active. What markets / regions are next.

US

Who is your target audience.

Typically, students ages 12-21 who are taking math classes.

What is your business model. How much does your product / service cost.

We currently have two payment options: Our subscription option starts at $23.99/Mo. for 60 minutes, $44.99./Mo. for 120 minutes and $79.99 for 240 minutes a month.

Our Pay-As-You-Go option lets students pay only for the minutes used.

How many users / downloads does your service have?

100,000+

If you raised funding, how much did you raise. Who are your investors. If not, are you planning to raise funding.

$3.5M+

Index Ventures, Slow Ventures, Floodgate Fund, Sherpa Ventures, Formation 8, and StartX-Stanford Fund

Are there milestones you are especially proud of and would like to share.

Every new person who joins the team.

What are the next steps in growing your startup.

Execute.

How can people get in touch with you.

team@mathcrunch.com or via our Facebook Page.

In this episode of MEP, I talk to Allan Staker, CEO of Brain Chase Productions, about the application called Brain Chase, a 5-week long treasure hunt that enhances math, reading and writing skills for kids during the summer.

Guest Bio:

Allan Staker began his career in the entertainment industry, directing and producing dozens of short films and claiming the 2000 Audience Choice Award at AFI Fest, Los Angeles’ most prestigious film festival. In 2001 Allan founded Liquid Media, a boutique advertising agency where he designed print campaigns and directed broadcast Superbowl commercials for regional clients in the consumer electronics and packaged goods industries. He later managed Studio Relations for Hollywood’s premier box office research and tracking firm.

In 2003 Allan founded a consumer electronics company where he created the Yoostar Entertainment System, a gaming console which the NBC Today Show listed among “Hollywood’s Hottest Gifts,” UberReview dubbed one of the “Coolest Toys on the Planet,” and Rolling Stone included in its “Great Rock & Roll Gift Guide.” Yoostar later evolved into multiple games for XBox and PlayStation platforms.

Allan later managed product marketing for the Safari web browser at Apple, also placing as a finalist in the Apple iContest, a competition to foster internal innovation. As Director of Business Transformation at Hawaiian Airlines in Honolulu, Allan led initiatives such as the rollout of a new in-flight entertainment system. He then directed pricing strategy for Dell Computers’ $3.9 billion North America consumer hardware business.

Allan graduated magna cum laude with University Honors at Brigham Young University in Film Directing and earned his MBA from Harvard Business School.

Show Notes:

(01:43) Allan’s background

(02:33) Tell us a little about your career prior to getting involved in Brain Chase and starting that up.

(04:13) Why don’t you talk about Brain Chase, what it is and the story behind it.

(05:50) Who would you say is the ideal customer for Brain Chase, this 5-week treasure hunt?

(07:46) Is there a diagnostic anybody has to take before jumping in?

(08:37) Why don’t you tell us about the technology, the beautiful animation behind all this and the learning design behind it as well for education purposes.

(13:36) What do you think the potential is for Brain Chase? Are you selling this to parents and schools? How many customers do you have so far?

(16:00) When does the treasure hunt start this year?

(16:21) You’ve obviously worked with the Sandefers at Acton Academy. Do you think there’s a model here for either a new school design or something that you can do at existing schools for the way that you’re approaching learning design here and making it really fun for kids, and wrapping the learning around a fun activity in this competition?.

(19:27) I’m wondering about the community here. Have you developed or are there plans to develop a student community around this hunt? What about the parents, is there a community of parents as you go through this challenge?

(21:11) Is there a book that’s most influenced you, and why?

Masquerade by Kit Williams

The Count of Monte Cristo

(22:15) What about documentaries, do you watch them? And if you do, do you have a favorite?

New York Doll by Greg Whiteley

(22:50) If you could have dinner with one person you admire, past or present, who would it be and why?

Walt Disney

Website: Brainchase.com

For more episodes featuring thought leaders in education visit MeetEducationProject.com, subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and follow Nick DiNardo on Twitter.

Civitas Learning, a data analytics platform for higher education institutions, announced that Warburg Pincus is leading a Series D of up to $60 million in the company. Austin Ventures, Emergence Capital Partners, Gera Venture Capital, Rethink Education and SJF Ventures are also participating.

Founded in 2011, Civitas Learning has raised a total of nearly $89 million. The new funding will be used to expand operations internationally and to fund strategic acquisitions.

Warburg Pincus Leads an Investment of Up to $60 Million in Higher Education Data Pioneer

Growth Investment Will Fuel Product Development and Acquisition as Civitas Learning Builds Out the First Comprehensive, Education Analytics System

AUSTIN, TX--(Marketwired - Sep 28, 2015) - Civitas Learning® ("the company") today announced that Warburg Pincus is leading an investment of up to $60 million in the company. Civitas Learning has pioneered the use of data science and design thinking to support higher education institutions as they improve learning and increase degree completion.

Civitas Learning launched its beta program with six colleges and universities in 2011, and began working with other leading institutions from across higher education in 2013, forming what is called the Pioneer cohort. Since that time, the company has worked with a wide variety of partner institutions to develop and deploy an integrated analytics system that draws data from multiple sources and uses cutting-edge data science to build institution-specific predictive models for student intake, persistence and graduation.

Civitas Learning uses design thinking to bring insights, interventions, and inspirations from this system to administrators, advisors, faculty, and students through a suite of integrated and engaging apps. These apps help leaders try and test initiatives, advisors better target and time student outreach, faculty improve engagement, and students plan their courses and program.

"From the beginning, our goal was to help our partner institutions make the most of their data to help more students learn well and finish strong," said Dr. Mark Milliron, Civitas Learning's Co-Founder and Chief Learning Officer. "We look forward to working closely with Warburg Pincus and our other investors as this investment enables us to take our work to the next level."

The new growth investment reflects the increasing demand among institutions for actionable data and insight that assist them in making better-informed decisions and provide faculty, advisors, and students with more personalized and timely support.

By creating a comprehensive education analytics system and apps for students, faculty, advisors and administrators, Civitas Learning is poised to help educational institutions address key challenges in higher education around student learning and attainment. Moreover, the Civitas Learning education analytics system is intended to power apps developed by other companies and even by member colleges.

"We intend to help fuel an ecosystem of educational innovation," said Charles Thornburgh, Founder and CEO of Civitas Learning. "Already, our partner institutions are making unprecedented breakthroughs for students by using rigorous data science to improve the student experience. With this investment, we're going to be able to improve and accelerate both learning and student outcomes for our partner institutions."

Civitas Learning will use the investment to expand and enhance the platform's capabilities, ensuring that partners have access to the most comprehensive set of data tools and supporting functions. The investment will also support strategic acquisitions and geographic expansion to meet new demand from international markets.

"Civitas Learning is truly a pioneer in the field of using applied data analytics to improve student outcomes," said Adarsh Sarma, Managing Director at Warburg Pincus. "We have been impressed with the team's vision of dramatically improving student outcomes by developing an education analytics system. We look forward to partnering with the management team and existing investors as the company builds on its excellent track record."

Warburg Pincus is joined by returning investors, including Emergence Capital Partners, Austin Ventures, Rethink Education, SJF Ventures and Gera Venture Capital. Warburg Pincus' portion of the equity for this investment will come from an affiliate of Warburg Pincus Private Equity XI, L.P.

About Civitas Learning®

By building a community of forward-thinking higher education institutions, Civitas Learning brings together the best of leading-edge technology, design thinking, and data science in its mission to help a million more college students learn well and finish strong. Using a cloud-based, predictive analytics platform and engaging applications, Civitas Learning helps partner institutions bring deep insights to decision makers, and personalized, real-time recommendations directly to the frontlines for students, faculty, and advisors to measurably improve student learning, persistence, and graduation. The reach of Civitas Learning's partners includes more than 850 campuses reaching more than 2.7 million students. Civitas Learning is based in Austin, Texas. For more information, visit: www.civitaslearning.com

About Warburg Pincus

Warburg Pincus LLC is a leading global private equity firm focused on growth investing. The firm has more than $35 billion in assets under management. The firm's active portfolio of more than 120 companies is highly diversified by stage, sector and geography. Warburg Pincus is an experienced partner to management teams seeking to build durable companies with sustainable value. Founded in 1966, Warburg Pincus has raised 14 private equity funds, which have invested more than $50 billion in over 720 companies in more than 35 countries.

Since inception, Warburg Pincus has invested more than $15 billion in technology, media and tech-enabled services companies including BEA Systems, Bharti Airtel (BSE: BRTI), Coyote Logistics, Endurance International Group (NASDAQ: EIGI), FIS (NYSE: FIS), GrubHub Seamless (NYSE: GRUB), Koudai, NeuStar (NYSE: NSR), Nuance (NASDAQ: NUAN), RDA Microelectronics Inc. (NASDAQ: RDA), Service Repair Solutions, and VERITAS Software, Quikr, Ziggo and 58.com. Former and current education and technology investments include ACAMS, iParadigms, Skillsoft, Stratford School and Liaison International. The firm is headquartered in New York with offices in Amsterdam, Beijing, Hong Kong, London, Luxembourg, Mumbai, Mauritius, San Francisco, São Paulo and Shanghai. For more information please visit www.warburgpincus.com.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Contact:

For Civitas Learning Ted Eismeier 315-335-9222 Email Contact

For Warburg Pincus Ed Trissel 212 878 9288 Email Contact

Mary Zimmerman 212 878 9207 Email Contact

Credible, a student loan marketplace, raised a $10 million Series A led by Soul Htite with participation from Ron Suber and Scott Langmack.

Founded in 2012, Credible previously raised $2.7 million in seed funding. The startup offers personalized refinancing offers from numerous lenders.

Earlier this months student loan marketplace CommonBond raised a $35 million Series B.

Credible Closes $10 Million in Series A Funding, Signaling A New Era Of Transparency In Student Lending

Credible answers the increasing demand for choice in online lending

September 30, 2015 08:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Credible (credible.com), the multi-lender student loan marketplace, allows borrowers to receive competitive loan offers from its vetted lending partners. Credible’s goal is to empower borrowers with more options to finance and refinance their student loans. The $10 million in Series A funding is led by Soul Htite, Founder & CEO of Dianrong.com and Co-founder of LendingClub, with participation from Ron Suber, President of Prosper, and online lending pioneer Scott Langmack.

“The speed of innovation occurring in financial services has created a once in a generation opportunity”

“We’re building Credible for the future of online lending - providing borrowers with choice, better information, and simplicity of process,” said Stephen Dash, Founder & CEO of Credible. “Simply put, we are making student loans more fair. In Soul, Ron and Scott, we have three of the most experienced individuals in online lending which will allow us to accelerate our growth.”

As an independent, multi-lender marketplace that has been adopted by some of the most prestigious organizations in the country, including the American Medical Association, the American Pharmacists Association, and Georgia Tech Alumni Association, Credible provides borrowers with unbiased information and multiple offers from its lending partners.

“The speed of innovation occurring in financial services has created a once in a generation opportunity,” said Soul Htite. “Credible’s unique model is fundamentally changing the dynamics of the loan selection process. We see Credible as a core fixture of the next phase of online lending.”

About Credible

Credible’s founding principle is to provide borrowers the level of transparency they deserve.

As a multi-lender marketplace that allows borrowers to receive competitive loan offers from its vetted lenders, Credible empowers consumers to take control of their student loans. Borrowers can fill out one form, then receive and compare personalized offers from numerous lenders and choose which best serves their individual needs.

Credible is fiercely independent, committed to delivering fair and unbiased solutions in student lending.

Existing investors include Mark Goines, Carthona Capital, Redbus Group, and Bruce Gibney.

Contacts

Credible Kristen Caron, 978-407-9283 kcaron@credible.com

SoFi (Social Finance), a student loan refinance provider, announced a $1 billion Series E led by SoftBank with participation from existing investors Third Point Ventures and affiliates of Third Point LLC, Wellington Management Company LLP, Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), RenRen, Baseline Ventures, DCM Ventures and others.

Founded in 2011, SoFi now has raised over $1.42 billion to date and will most likely delay a planned IPO. The company has recently expanded into other verticals including mortgage refinancing and personal loans. To date SoFi has issued over $4 billion in loans.

Yesterday student loan marketplace Credible announced a $10 million Series A and in early September CommonBond raised a $35 million Series B.

Leading Marketplace Lender SoFi Secures $1 billion in Series E Funding led by SoftBank

Largest single round of financing in the fintech space to date will fuel SoFi's expansion as the primary financial services partner for high achieving professionals

SAN FRANCISCO and TOKYO, Sept. 30, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- SoFi, one of the nation's leading marketplace lenders, and the SoftBank Group ("SoftBank"), today announce $1 billion in Series E funding led by SoftBank – marking the largest single financing round in the fintech space to date.  Existing investors participating in the round include Third Point Ventures and affiliates of Third Point LLC, Wellington Management Company LLP, Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), RenRen, Baseline Ventures, DCM Ventures and others.  The funding will accelerate SoFi's growth as the primary financial services partner for high achieving consumers disenchanted with traditional banking.

The Series E round brings total equity investment in SoFi to $1.42 billion.  The firm has been profitable since 2014. This capital raise, closely following its Series D round in February, 2015, is a testament to the company's rapid growth and category leadership.

"SoFi continues to redefine consumer expectations in financial services," said Mike Cagney, SoFi CEO and co-founder.  "This funding will dramatically advance expansion of our disruptive products and experiences, and in turn, meaningfully benefit financially responsible individuals.  Our trajectory is clear: we are well on our way to becoming the most trusted financial services partner in the U.S.," he continued.

SoFi began challenging the status quo in 2011, as the first company to enable graduates to consolidate and refinance their federal and private student loans.  Since that time, the company has expanded its offerings to include mortgages, mortgage refinancing, and personal loans, while earning industry-leading customer loyalty.  The firm has funded more than $4 billion in loans to date and is expected to surpass $6 billion in funded loans by the end of 2015.

"SoftBank seeks to invest in large industries or geographies that are ripe for change," said Nikesh Arora, President & COO of SoftBank Group Corp. "This investment gives SoftBank exposure to the financial services sector, which is one of the largest and most important industries in the world. SoFi is clearly a game changer in the fintech space," he added.

The Series E funding will fuel SoFi's growth in product innovation, delivery, community value and team.

Growth of Product Innovation and Delivery

With the new funding, SoFi will significantly strengthen its nontraditional approach, best-in-class customer service and product innovation. In the coming months the firm will:

• Broadly expand its offerings as it seeks to deepen member relationships and serve them across their lifetime financial goals.
• Continue investing in its proprietary model for underwriting credit risk.
• Further simplify the user experience and deliver even more of it online, particularly through mobile devices.

Community Value

SoFi is committed to providing tangible value to its community that can't be found elsewhere.  As a result of the funding, the company will:

• Expand its member services, which continue to be differentiated among financial services providers, including its Entrepreneur Program and Career Services team.
• Invest in other member services, from its rigorous job boot camp to an exclusive job board for the SoFi community.

Team

Headquartered in San Francisco, the company currently has more than 400 full-time employees and expects to add at least 100 more by year-end. To house its burgeoning sales, servicing and underwriting teams, SoFi is:

• Doubling its office space in Healdsburg, California to 20,000 sq feet.
• Growing its 50-strong engineering office in Helena, Montana, along with its offices in Washington, DC and Frisco, Texas.

About SoFi

SoFi is a leader in marketplace lending and the largest provider of student loan refinancing, with over $4 billion dollars in loans issued. We're transforming financial services for high achieving professionals with student loan refinancing, mortgages, mortgage refinancing, and personal loans.  Unlike traditional lenders, our proprietary underwriting approach takes into account merit and employment history to offer unique credit products our members won't find elsewhere. We offer individual and institutional investors the ability to create positive social impact in the communities they care about while earning compelling rates of return. For more information, visit sofi.com.  

About the SoftBank Group

The SoftBank Group is a global technology player that aspires to drive the Information Revolution by supporting disruptive entrepreneurs. The SoftBank Group is comprised of the holding company SoftBank Group Corp. (TOKYO:9984) and its global portfolio of companies, which includes advanced telecommunications, media and Internet services and clean energy technology providers. To learn more, please visit SoftBank.com.

General Assembly, an educational institution that offers courses in technology, business and design at fourteen campuses across four continents and online, raised a $70 million Series D from Advance Publications and Wellington Capital Management LLP with participation from existing investors including IVP, Learn Capital, Maveron, Rethink Education and WTI.

Founded in 2011 in New York, General Assembly has raised nearly $120 million in venture capital and is closing in on 25.000 alumni worldwide by the end of 2015.

Full announcement available on the GA blog.

The Indian education technology market is a fast-growing industry, full of opportunity. It is predicted to be worth Rs 590,000 crore in FY2014-15 as reported by India Rating & Research.

It is, however, often confusing to the outsider and difficult to tackle for those not present in the country or without access to primary sources.

[purchase_link id="11887" text="Purchase" style="button" color="blue"]

Our EdTech Startup List: India gives you access to details of over 170 companies on the subcontinent. Each entry is carefully researched and covers the following points (when information is publicly available):

• Company Name, Website
• Country, City
• Founding Date, Founders
• B2C, B2B, Vertical, Type, Age Group, Language
• Tech
• Investment, Investor, Accelerator
• User / Download numbers
• CrunchBase / AngelList Profile / LinkedIn Company Page

Key Findings

Funding for and investments in education technology startups in India are constantly growing. Especially ventures that focus on K-12, higher education, job-readiness for engineers, platforms that provide job skills, and test preparation are of interest.

There is also a growing vertical of education technology startups that cater to the bottom of the pyramid, especially in rural areas.

Over the past decade the edtech startups featured on the list have raised a total of over $160.5 million with Byju’s Classes ($30 million), Simplilearn ($28 million), iProf ($15 million) and Toppr ($12 million) leading the list.

About two thirds of the Indian edtech startups on the list are consumer focused (122), about a quarter target corporate clients (41), the rest offer their products to both.

Verticals

About a quarter of edtech startups are offering services and products for Higher Education (39), a third for K-12 (55). Other strong verticals in India are Test Prep (26) and Continuing Education (16).

EdTech Hubs

The majority of edtech startups (63) is located in Bengaluru (Bangalore). In second place comes Delhi / New Delhi (43), third place goes to Mumbai (20). Other edtech hubs in India are Hyderabad (12) and Chennai (6).

Founding Date

The majority of edtech startups on the list were founded in the past five years

2005 (2) 2007 (3) 2008 (7) 2009 (12) 2010 (13) 2011 (22) 2012 (30) 2013 (32) 2014 (32) 2015 (19)

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What is a Startup List

EDUKWEST Startup Lists exclusively contain startups, companies whose image is one of a digital company, and whose main business, if not exclusively, is generated through their online presence. We therefore exclude traditional businesses from our lists that have added online components to their portfolio as an additional revenue stream but remain focused on their real-life operations.

Startups in our definition are new companies with high future growth potential that are exploring a new area or niche in the education market, and are (often) in search of their business model. They don’t need to be venture funded but can be entirely bootstrapped, or have an “exit” strategy. Startups included in our lists are often, but not exclusively, rather young companies.

Purchasing this Startup List will help you to analyze the most promising markets and verticals for education technology products in India and to evaluate the different market segments within edtech.

The Startup List comes in Excel format, so you can sort it easily by market segment, investment and other variables or add your own data to it.

With this Startup List you will be able to see how startups approach the Indian edtech market, track down competitors and what they do. In many cases you also get data on how many users the listed edtech startups have today as well as how much venture capital the startups raised from whom.

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News Corp completed the sale of data analytics and assessment platform Amplify and its assets. The company was acquired by parts of the management team and a group of private investors for an undisclosed amount.

Founded in 2011, Amplify provides a digital curriculum for K-12. The company discontinued the production and marketing of a dedicated tablet device in August.

News Corp Completes Sale of Amplify Digital Education Businesses

New York, NY – September 30, 2015 – News Corp [NASDAQ: NWS, NWSA; ASX: NWS, NWSLV] announced today that it has sold its Amplify Insight and Learning businesses to a management team supported by a group of private investors. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

As a result of the sale, beginning in First Quarter of Fiscal 2016, News Corp will reflect the results of its Digital Education segment as discontinued operations.

“We are extremely proud of the crucial work that the Amplify team has done to create a digital platform for the future. It is tragic that so many children are digitally literate but functionally illiterate, and it has been the cherished vision of all at Amplify to ensure that students, regardless of their background, have access to a contemporary curriculum delivered on a contemporary platform,” said Robert Thomson, Chief Executive of News Corp. “There is no doubt that the foundations laid by the creative team at Amplify will be profoundly influential in coming years as both curriculum and classroom evolve. All who have been involved in the Amplify business at News Corp should be conscious of their contribution to education in the US and beyond.”

Amplify was founded in 2011 and is a leading provider of educational analytics and assessments. To date, Amplify has supported more than 200,000 educators and 3 million students in all 50 states, empowering teachers to offer more personalized instruction, so that students become more active, engaged learners. Amplify’s best-in-class digital curriculum targets K-12 reading, math and science, using immersive and rigorous learning experiences and a comprehensive portfolio of educational games.

As previously announced, Amplify has ceased marketing tablets to new customers, and support will continue to be provided to existing tablet customers.

###

Forward-Looking Statements

This document contains certain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on management’s views and assumptions regarding future events and business performance as of the time the statements are made. Actual results may differ materially from these expectations due to changes in global economic, business, competitive market and regulatory and other factors. More detailed information about these and other factors that could affect future results is contained in News Corp’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The “forward-looking statements” included in this document are made only as of the date of this document and we do not have any obligation to publicly update any “forward-looking statements” to reflect subsequent events or circumstances, except as required by law.

About News Corp

News Corporation (NASDAQ: NWS, NWSA; ASX: NWS, NWSLV) is a global, diversified media and information services company focused on creating and distributing authoritative and engaging content to consumers throughout the world. The company comprises businesses across a range of media, including: news and information services, book publishing, digital real estate services, and cable network programming and pay-TV distribution in Australia. Headquartered in New York, the activities of News Corporation are conducted primarily in the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom. More information is available at http://www.newscorp.com.

Contacts

News Corp Investor Relations Michael Florin 212-416-3363 mflorin@newscorp.com

News Corp Corporate Communications Jim Kennedy 212-416-4064 jkennedy@newscorp.com

Aceable, an Austin-based edtech startup that offers app based courses in drivers education, raised a $4.7M Seed Round led by Silverton Partners with participation from Floodgate Ventures, NextGen Angels and Capital Factory.

Founded in 2012, Aceable has around 100,000 users and is available in Texas and Florida.

AUSTIN, TX – October 1, 2015 – Today, Aceable, the creators of the first state approved drivers education app, announced a $4.7M Seed Round led by Silverton Partners to expand its national presence in drivers ed, grow the existing team and enter into new markets and verticals where professional certifications are required.

Aceable currently offers courses in drivers education, defensive driving and traffic school in Texas and Florida. The content is modern, engaging and available across all mobile platforms, allowing students to learn when they want and how they want. Aceable’s convenient courses save users both time and money over traditional classroom courses.

“Our goal is to make the required driving education and certification process enjoyable and accessible to everyone,” said Blake Garrett, Aceable CEO. “Just in drivers education alone, we’ve already seen 80 percent of our courses completed on a mobile device. Now with additional funding, we’re excited to be able to offer our mobile drivers ed courses in other states and continue to add new applications.”

Aceable has shown considerable growth over the last 15 months, including scaling up to 20 employees, roughly 100,000 users and taking 20 percent of the market share in Texas. In addition to Silverton Partners, other investors include Floodgate Ventures, NextGen Angels and Capital Factory.

“We recognize the future of education is in mobile learning,” said Morgan Flager of Silverton Partners. “Aceable’s product offering is best-in-class and puts them in a position to bring mobile-first education to new markets and verticals.”

According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, non classroom drivers education (classified as PTDE)* results in a lesser collision rate than commercial driving school.

*Parent Taught Driver Education (PTDE)

About Aceable

Aceable is the first mobile app that allows students the convenience of completing accredited driving courses, on the go. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Aceable’s mission is to make Drivers Ed enjoyable and accessible to everyone, by replacing boring classroom lectures with fun, educational content that’s affordable and easy-to-use across all mobile platforms. The company is starting with Drivers Ed and plans on using the platform as the foundation for many types of education moving forward. For more information about Aceable, visit www.aceable.com.

CampusLogic, a student financial aid platform, raised a $7.5 million Series A led by Continental Investors with participation from Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation.

Founded in 2011, CampusLogic today has over 300,000 active students at 40 higher education institutions in the United States.

CampusLogic Announces $7.5 Million in Series A Financing

October 1, 2015

New round of funding led by Continental Investors

PHOENIX, October 1, 2015 – CampusLogic, creator of the first student financial aid self-service platform, has announced the completion a $7.5 million Series A financing led by Continental Investors, a Chicago-based private investment company with deep experience in financial technology. The round included an investment from Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation, which services in excess of $200 billion in student loans for over 8 million borrowers.

“In 2014, CampusLogic launched the first and only student self-service platform that allowed schools to move all of their financial aid processes into the cloud,” said Gregg Scoresby, founder and CEO of CampusLogic. “Since our launch last year, we have added over 300,000 active students at nearly 40 colleges and universities across the country. With the additional support and connectivity from our investors, we expect to have over 100 colleges on board in the coming year and over 200 by 2017.”

The CampusLogic platform makes student financial aid entirely digital, mobile, and self-service so colleges and universities can significantly reduce financial aid processing time, increase enrollment, and help students borrow responsibly. US Colleges and universities award almost $250 billion in student financial aid annually; CampusLogic simplifies the entire financial aid process, so students can complete financial aid quickly and get into the classroom.

Paul Purcell, of Continental Investors, commented “The intersection of financial technology and education technology is here to stay. CampusLogic has developed an innovative and highly functional solution that both reduces student debt consumption and improves institutional efficiency in higher education. We are really excited to be part of that.”

Brett Lindquist, Chief Marketing and Sales Officer of Great Lakes Higher Education commented, “Students and their families borrow money for college because it is an important investment in their future. Helping them do so responsibly while streamlining the process for schools is a focal point for both Great Lakes and CampusLogic.”

In addition to the investment from Continental Investors and Great Lakes, this round also includes participation from University Ventures, Select Venture Partners, Peak Venture Capital as well as the conversion of convertible notes previously raised by the company. The proceeds will be used primarily to grow software engineering and product support. The company expects to hire 20 new employees in its Arizona-based headquarters in the next 6 to 9 months.

About Continental Investors

Continental Investors is a private equity firm founded in 2006 by Phil Purcell. Continental invests in private companies primarily in the financial service industry. Continental Investors is a strategic source of capital and looks for opportunities where their industry experience and relationships can benefit management and other private investors. Prior to Continental, Phil was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Dean Witter, Discover & Co. from 1986 until they acquired Morgan Stanley Group Inc. in 1997. He then served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Morgan Stanley until his retirement in 2005. Paul Purcell has 15 years of experience deploying capital in public and private markets for financial services and payments companies.

About Great Lakes: Dedicated to making college education a reality since 1967.

Knowing that education has the power to change lives for the better, Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation & Affiliates was established as a nonprofit group focused on a single objective: helping students nationwide prepare for and succeed in post-secondary education and student loan repayment. As a leading student loan guarantor and servicer, we have been selected by the U.S. Department of Education to provide assistance and repayment planning to more than 8 million borrowers – as well as assistance to colleges and lenders nationwide. Our group’s earnings support one of the largest and most respected educational philanthropy programs in the country. Since 2006, we have committed nearly $154 million in grant funding to promote higher education access and completion for students of color, low income students, and first-generation students. For additional information, visit home.mygreatlakes.org.

About CampusLogic

CampusLogic is transforming the way colleges and universities provide financial aid with its student self-service platform. Modern, mobile, and smart, the platform simplifies financial aid management. With 300K+ active students across 35+ colleges and universities, we help higher ed deliver an exceptional financial aid experience at a fraction of the time and budget institutions spend today.

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In recent years, the development of information technology has progressed in leaps and bounds. The advancement of programming techniques, rapid productivity growth of semiconductor chips, the development of special means of information transmission, as well as feedback devices (head-mounted stereoscopic displays, gloves and suits that have embedded sensors that transmit information to a computer about a user's movements) – the culmination of these advancements have yielded a momentous technology in the shape of virtual reality.

No longer are user experiences confined to the realm of an observer; they have taken a turn for the lucid as he/she is transported into a completely different world where interaction with programmed objects are possible just like in reality. The ramifications of VR education are endless. It can change the way we learn about our world and even the way we live in it.

Virtual Reality helps shorten the learning time

On the education front virtual reality can see widespread implementation. As research has shown, students remember 20% of what they hear, 30% of what they see and up to 90% of what they do or simulate. Virtual reality yields the latter scenario impeccably; students can interact with the virtual environment in person and manipulate the various objects within it. This supports “learning by doing” and also results in creativity by constructionism.

There are other ways in which virtual reality supports learning as well. It helps shorten the learning time because a multisensory approach is used which can be conductive to various learning styles. Additionally, virtual reality facilitates the analysis of complex and abstract ideas through the mode of reification; where a tangible model is created that can be analyzed from every perspective.

Virtual Reality can give you experiences no educational book or video could.

One of the best benefits of using virtual reality as an educational medium is the immersive experience it brings to the table. Bland and vague subjects like history and space, along with experiment-oriented subjects like physics, chemistry and biology will be greatly impacted by virtual reality. This will be so because the students will be exposed to sensorial stimuli; may it be testing the concepts first hand or reliving the events that lead to them. You can see that virtual reality will lead to fun learning and better retention using these methods.

At Unimersiv, we strongly believe in that.

Imagine studying in a classroom of students and teachers all over the world. - Mark Zuckeberg

The best way to support distance learning

Virtual reality will also support distance learning as the whole educational experience won’t be confined to a classroom and students could virtually access a class they are interested in. In addition to local students, any foreign student who is interested in a certain subject, taught at a certain virtual school or university could enroll in it. This would result in diversity in the classroom and students could easily accomplish cultural exchanges thereby broadening the horizons of the students involved.

Virtual reality will be especially beneficial in yielding professionals that are adept at what they do. This holds special significance for areas such as medicine, engineering and air travel. By acclimatizing professionals in these fields to future tasks beforehand, and that too in an immersive way, is bound to lead to less instances of potentially disastrous mishaps happening in their working lives. While simulations are currently commonplace in these cases but gradually virtual reality is getting into the picture with world’s leading universities working on virtual testing grounds for the likes of ophthalmological surgeries, mid-air refueling etc.

What is the future of VR education?

I would love to hear your thoughts about that, do you agree on the fact that virtual reality can be used to help us learn faster?

The tutoring industry is a booming market worldwide, currently estimated at around 100 to 150 billion USD annually and with the potential to grow to 190 billion USD, depending on whose research you take as basis.

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For this Reading List: Tutoring Markets Overview we want to give you an in-depth overview on traditional, brick and mortar based tutoring. Therefore, we will publish a separate list on the burgeoning online tutoring market and its huge untapped potential soon thereafter.

One thing to keep in mind is the term tutoring itself covers everything from agencies providing families with in-house trained tutors, to commission based work, and also increasingly subscription-based online platforms as a form of the beforementioned increasing demand in online tutoring. Also, rates for private tutoring vary greatly in different countries.

We see large growth in the Asia-Pacific region with an average 10% CAGR, namely in Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, and China with their superstar tutors making millions each year.

But the tutoring industry has been growing in the U.S. and in Europe over the past decade as well.

In Britain 24% of students, in London around 40%, are getting tutoring nowadays. In Germany it is commonplace that children take private after school lessons. Eastern Europe has also become a profitable market for private tutoring companies as a result of decreasing quality of instruction in public schools as well as a decrease in teachers’ salaries.

Purchasing our curated reading list on the booming tutoring industry will give you access to 21 select articles delivering insight into the dynamics of the most important tutoring markets worldwide.

Coming at a price of 10 EUR for an individual or 20 EUR for an enterprise-wide license, this means that you get the entire list of articles along with our key insights and takeaways at the competitive price of 50 cents per article. Conveniently pay via PayPal or contact us for other payment options.

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Newsela, a personalized learning platform for literacy, raised a $15 million Series B round led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) with participation of Mark Zuckerberg, Priscilla Chan, Women's Venture Capital Fund, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and Owl Ventures.

Founded in 2013, Newsela has raised a total of over $22 million. The product is used by over 400.000 teachers reaching over 4 million students. The funding will be used to accelerate Newsela’s machine learning algorithm.

October 06, 2015 07:30 ET

Newsela Secures $15 Million Series B to Promote Literacy and Captivate Students and Teachers

Led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) With Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, Knight Foundation, Owl Ventures and Women's Venture Capital Fund

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Oct 6, 2015) - Newsela, the publishing platform that promotes literacy by personalizing daily news to help teachers get their students excited about reading, today announces a $15 million Series B round led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB). New investments from Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan and Women's Venture Capital Fund, and follow-on from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and Owl Ventures complete the round. Newsela will use these funds to accelerate its machine learning capabilities and expand its footprint to help more teachers, students and school districts with the most effective literacy learning tools, while also helping to get students more engaged with what they're learning.

In addition to leading the round, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers' partner Brook Byers will join Newsela's board of directors.

"There are more than 20 million U.S. students who are not reading at grade level," said Byers. "Newsela is uniquely positioned to address that problem, since it leverages technological tools that can help all students achieve grade-level literacy. This will be critical in setting them on the right path for the rest of their educational and professional lives."

Newsela builds reading comprehension with nonfiction that's always relevant: daily news. The platform publishes daily articles from top news sources like the Associated Press, Scientific American and Washington Post, adapts articles to five reading levels and attaches comprehension quizzes for each level. Now entire classes can participate in the same conversation by reading the same content, but at a level that's accessible to each student. Newsela keeps students engaged with quizzes that test critical thinking and close reading, and teachers and administrators can view results in a clear, visual format.

"We offer a meaningful way for teachers to provide current materials, include every student in the conversation and measure how students are doing," said Matthew Gross, founder and CEO of Newsela. "Our goal is to give teachers the best technology available to make reading exciting and important to each student in their classroom. We want to build a future where teachers can teach the way they dreamed of teaching -- with tools that transform education and make kids excited about learning."

Doubling the number within the last year, Newsela is now being used by 70 percent of all U.S. public schools. It has tripled the number of teachers using the platform to 400,000, which includes educators specializing in all subjects, from science and social studies to art. As a result, there are now more than 4 million students who have read more than 57 million articles through Newsela (even reading 1.3 million articles over the summer while school was out).

"Newsela leverages technology to build literacy among the next generation of news consumers, while informing them about the issues that affect their lives," said Ben Wirz, Knight Foundation director for venture investments. "It holds great potential for driving engagement with the world for people everywhere."

As a company, Newsela has grown significantly in the last year, with new offices opening in both New York and Silicon Valley. The team grew by 50 percent, with experts in computational linguistics and machine learning joining the team, while also adding former employees of Facebook and Google.

For more information about Newsela or to join the team, visit Newsela.com.

About Newsela

Newsela unlocks the written word by publishing daily news articles from the best media sources like the Associated Press, Washington Post, Tribune News Service and Scientific American at five reading levels to engage students in grades 2-12 in high-interest topics from immigration and diplomacy to drones and animal extinction. More than 400,000 teachers have assigned more than 57 million Newsela articles to their students. When students read articles and take Common Core-aligned quizzes online, they are developing the critical nonfiction literacy skills that empower them to take part in conversations about complex issues, and prepare them for academic and professional success. To read more, visithttp://www.newsela.com and follow @newsela.

About Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) partners with the brightest entrepreneurs to turn disruptive ideas into world-changing businesses. The firm has helped build pioneering companies like Amazon, Electronic Arts, Genentech, Google, Nest, Netscape and Twitter. KPCB offers entrepreneurs years of operating experience, puts them at the center of a vast and influential network, and accelerates their success through expertise and support in recruiting, product design and delivery, business development, strategic partnerships and brand building. KPCB invests in all stages from seed and incubation to growth companies and operates from offices in Menlo Park, San Francisco, Shanghai and Beijing. For more information, visit https://www.kpcb.com and follow us @kpcb.

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On-demand tutoring, the possibility to connect with a live tutor anytime - anywhere, is quickly becoming a must-have feature for edtech startups. Instead of booking a session with a tutor at a fixed date and time, students can now go online and pick from a list of tutors who are available at this moment.

This instant gratification or instant service mindset is partially driven by services like Apple’s Siri or Google’s Google Now. Sure, those are not humans giving the answer to questions, still users around the globe quickly got used to this new world where an answer is just an “OK Computer” away.

It’s easy to imagine a not so distant future where Siri, Google Now, and other services will be able to answer more complex questions and help with homework or exam preparation. In the meantime humans have to fill the gap and, telling by the number of edtech startups who implement on-demand tutoring, there are enough people who are willing to work as on-demand tutors.

The thing that worries me is that those tutors are increasingly shifting from the core of an education service to a mere feature. Like an API or extension they are attached to a core product that provides most of the service. The tutor becomes a helpdesk worker, a trouble shooter.

Adaptive or personalized learning algorithms are taking over the lesson planning and individualization of a course. Interactive quizzes and apps are taking care of repetition, and pre-recorded video lessons are the new lecture. The only space that is left for human interaction in this scenario is the moment a student gets stuck and the algorithms are not able to explain or help the learner solve her problem.

But what will happen when algorithms are capable of adapting the way they understand and explain complex problems? Though we might still be far away from a program that will pass the turing test, it is also clear that learners are more interested in getting a quick answer to solve a problem rather than chatting with a machine anyway.

At that moment the teacher will have become a retired feature.

AdmitSee, a marketplace for college admission and career readiness, closed a $1.8 million Seed round from Social + Capital Partnership, FOUNDER.org, and Imagine K12’s Start Fund.

Founded in 2013, AdmitSee has collected over 50,000 application files and signed up over 1,000 mentors.

Further detail on TechCrunch.

Phoenix E-Learning Corporation has received a $30 million investment from TAL Education Group. Through the investment TAL Education will hold a 32% equity interest in the company.

Founded in 2003, Phoenix E-Learning operates zxxk.com, an online platform serving the Chinese K-12 sector. The portal is used in over 30,000 public schools totalling more than 15 million registered users.

TAL Education Group Invests in Phoenix E-Learning Corporation

BEIJING, Oct. 9, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- TAL Education Group (NYSE: XRS) ("TAL" or the "Company"), a leading K-12 after-school tutoring services provider in China, today announced a strategic investment of US$30 million in Phoenix E-Learning Corporation ("Phoenix E-Learning"), which operates zxxk.com, the largest online educational platform serving the public school system in China.

Founded in 2003, Phoenix E-Learning has built an national online education services network serving mostly primary and middle schools and their teachers and students. It offers a full range of online educational products and services to support an information-based educational environment, including databases for teaching and learning materials and data and software and cloud platforms.Zxxk.com is used in over 30,000 public schools and has accumulated more than 15 million registered users, 80% of whom are teachers. Upon completion of the investment, which is subject to filing with the relevant government authorities, TAL will hold 32%equity interest in Phoenix E-Learning.

"TAL's investment in Phoenix E-Learning is an important step to enter the market of digitalizing public schools. We have achieved strong organic growth in our own business while proactively building an ecosystem for education through strategic investments and acquisitions. Through our direct investment in Phoenix E-Learning, we have the opportunity to enter a white space market with our advantages in proprietary content and tutoring services," said the management of TAL.

"We welcome the strategic investment by TAL in the transformation of the public education system and digital education upgrading. Phoenix E-Learning and TAL are highly complementary in the field of education and we look forward to the two sides working together to open up the education market within the public school system to the outside," said the management of Phoenix E-Learning.

Safe Harbor Statement

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates" and similar statements. Among other things, quotations from management in this announcement, as well as TAL Education Group's strategic and operational plans, contain forward-looking statements. The Company may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its reports filed with, or furnished to, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in its annual reports to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the Company's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: its ability to continue to attract students to enroll in its courses; its ability to continue to recruit, train and retain qualified teachers; its ability to improve the content of its existing course offerings and to develop new courses; its ability to maintain and enhance its brand; its ability to maintain and continue to improve its teaching results; and its ability to compete effectively against its competitors. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in the Company's reports filed with, or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. All information provided in this press release and in the attachments is as of the date of this press release, and TAL Education Group undertakes no duty to update such information or any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law.

About TAL Education Group

TAL Education Group is a leading K-12 after-school tutoring services provider in China. The acronym "TAL" stands for "Tomorrow Advancing Life," which reflects our vision to promote top learning opportunities for Chinese students through both high-quality teaching and content, as well as leading edge application of technology in the education experience. TAL Education Group offers comprehensive tutoring services to students from pre-school to the twelfth grade through three flexible class formats: small classes, personalized premium services, and online courses. Our tutoring services cover the core academic subjects in China's school curriculum including mathematics, English, Chinese, physics, chemistry, and biology. The Company's learning center network includes 303 physical learning centers as of May 31, 2015, located in 19 key cities in China: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Tianjin,Wuhan, Xi`an, Chengdu, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Taiyuan, Zhengzhou, Chongqing, Suzhou, Shenyang, Jinan, Shijiazhuang, Qingdao andChangsha. We also operate www.jzb.com, a leading online education platform in China. Our ADSs trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "XRS."

For further information, please contact:

Mei Li Tel: +86 10 52926658 Email: ir@100tal.com

Caroline Straathof IR Inside Tel: +31 6 5462 4301 Email: info@irinside.com

SOURCE TAL Education Group

RELATED LINKS

http://zxxk.com/

Instructure filed a S-1 form with the Securities and Exchange Commission, aiming for a $75 million IPO.

Founded in 2008, Instructure has raised close to $80 million in venture capital including a $40 million Series E in February. The two main products are the Canvas LMS for K-12 and Higher Education, and Bridge which targets corporate clients.

More details on Education Week and 24/7 Wall St.

Sustainability is not merely an environmental ambition, focused on EPA-administered programs and “small footprint” tips and tricks for changing lifestyles. Sustainability, literally, is about doing things in a way that ensures they can continue to be done indefinitely.

With this in mind, critics (especially current students and recent graduates) are apt—and not wholly mistaken—to point at the bubble-like characteristics of college tuition, student loans, and the leaky college-to-career pipeline that sees many more degreed applicants than high-paying jobs being filled by them. Clearly, these features indicate a lack of sustainability; all bubbles burst eventually.

But even if financing an education weren’t the headache it currently is, would our approach to learning truly be sustainable? The problem goes beyond time and money management, bolstering salaries, or even aligning degree programs to the demands of the economy.

Ten years ago, the United Nations convened a world summit, the culmination of many years’ of discussion and planning, to establish a series of global initiatives known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Taking aim at issues like poverty, disease, terrorism, and development, the MDGs were meant to represent a new, higher standard of global cooperation and humanitarianism that would push the whole world forward. These goals were meant to be reached by 2015, and as the year winds to a close, reports show that many of the targets were reached or exceeded on schedule; yet much remains to be done.

That is why the MDGs are being replaced by a new set of targets known as the SDGs: Sustainable Development Goals. Progress is great, but real change happens when it can be maintained and spread, and that is precisely what the new SDGs are meant to promote.

Central to each of the SDGs is an educational initiative. As UNESCO commented in reviewing the SDGs, “…education is a fundamental human right inextricably linked to the realization of other rights.” Whether the issue is gender equality or resource management, resilient solutions emerge from greater knowledge, and individuals become change agents when they are empowered through learning.

Important here is the difference between effective solutions, and resilient solutions: something effective works for now, but may not work tomorrow; a resilient solution is one responsive to change, and adaptable enough to be sustainable over the long term. And this is where, even as the UN’s summit ambitiously pursues resilience, America’s higher education culture and system falls short.

The fact that parents and presidential candidates alike tout the importance of a STEM education as a future-oriented approach to education does not make it resilient; and indeed, even the most cutting edge degree programs are limited by current understanding and the ad hoc demand that feeds them. There’s money in programming, so people take programming courses; management pays better than production, so people acquire MBAs in droves; Obamacare and demographic shifts are colliding, leading to a shortage of healthcare providers—predictably, students are promised jobs if they study medicine.

The critical shortfall in primary care providers is not something that can be sustainably managed simply by training and employing more providers, or even by pushing more nurses and physician’s assistants into leadership roles; the numbers are important, but more necessary is training the individuals to be resilient teams, entrepreneurial thinkers and leaders, and ingrain the culture of lifelong learning not just as a matter of professional enrichment, but as central to competence altogether.

A fast-changing world comprised of volatile industries, disruptive technologies, and evolving scientific realities means lifelong learning has a much greater, more ubiquitous role to play in ensuring anyone’s health, career, lifestyle, and social engagement are all sustainable.

Lifelong learning is no longer a rich-world phenomenon relegated to hobby status among retirees and classroom enthusiasts. Lifelong learning is a core component of a modern, sustainable economy and society. Education, after all, is not merely a gateway to productivity and economic competitiveness (though it is certainly how it popularly presented), but a critical element of responsible citizenship, social development, and human stewardship of everything from the planet to raising future generations and even advancing the progress of knowledge and scientific curiosity.

Perhaps the most consequential element of the SDGs is the recognition that the goals are interconnected, and that progress on any single goal stimulates and builds upon progress on the others. Unfortunately, learning remains highly compartmentalized by a system that emphasizes high-demand degree programs over instilling a commitment, and set of skills, to learn continuously.

Your degree may be relevant now, but that does not mean that you will remain so. The answer is not to replace the old degree with a newer model; an education should not be treated (or packaged) like a smartphone. Disposability is anathema to sustainability, whether environmental or academic. It is time we decentralized higher learning, and made it more sustainable and accessible.

Bertelsmann continues to expand its education portfolio. The media, services and education company announced that it will invest $230 million in higher education solutions provider HotChalk. Through the investment Bertelsmann will become the largest stockholder of the company.

In September Bertelsmann combined its education activities into a separate business unit, Bertelsmann Education Group.

HotChalk provides universities with the tools to bring their degree programs online. Founded in 2004, HotChalk raised a $5 million venture round in 2008.

Bertelsmann Invests in Online Education Platform HotChalk

Bertelsmann continues to expand its strategic growth in the education sector. The international media, services and education company has entered into an agreement to invest in HotChalk, a leading online education platform serving universities and students across the United States. Bertelsmann plans to invest a total of approximately $230 million in HotChalk. This will make Bertelsmann the largest stockholder of the company. The transaction is subject to customary approvals and other closing conditions.

Bertelsmann Chairman and CEO Thomas Rabe says: “The investment in HotChalk is another important step in the expansion of our educational activities. Online services for higher education are one of our strategic segments in the education business. HotChalk is seeing annual growth rates in the double digits. We will now work together to further expand this successful business.”

HotChalk provides solutions to universities that enable them to successfully run online degree programs, including interactive course design and content development tools, marketing, and student recruitment leveraging proprietary data analytics capabilities. HotChalk enables online master’s and doctoral programs in partnership with seven nonprofit universities. The company, which was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Campbell, California, supports a total of 33 degree granting programs.

Kay Krafft, CEO Bertelsmann Education Group, adds: “This strategic investment in HotChalk is an important step for the Bertelsmann Education Group and reflects our commitment to making a positive impact on education outcomes for universities and students around the world. HotChalk is an industry leader serving nonprofit universities with best-in-class education outcomes. We’re excited about partnering with the HotChalk team to meet the growing demand for high quality online graduate degrees.”

“Traditional nonprofit universities and the faculty that make them great are now able to succeed online using the HotChalk platform,” said HotChalk CEO and Chairman Edward Fields. “Schools, faculty and students benefit from our outcomes focused design principles and data-driven education platform. We believe that, together with Bertelsmann, we have a shared vision for the critical role that education plays in people’s lives; a deep belief in the value of traditional nonprofit universities, and the capacity to meet the rapidly growing demand for online graduate degrees.”

“Bertelsmann is the right partner at the right moment for HotChalk,” said Bryan Stolle, Managing Partner of Mohr Davidow Ventures, which will continue to be a significant shareholder in the company. “With Bertelsmann’s worldwide reach and thought leadership in education, HotChalk is uniquely positioned to drive the digital transformation of ‘Higher Ed’ on a global scale.”

Bertelsmann is focusing its education activities on online education in the healthcare and technology sectors. In the medium term, education is to become a third mainstay of business for Bertelsmann alongside media and services, with revenues of around one billion euros.Morgan Stanley provided advisory services to Bertelsmann. Citi acted as exclusive financial advisor to HotChalk. Legal counsel included Wilson SonsiniGoodrich & Rosati, P.C. for Bertelsmann and Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian, LLP for HotChalk.

About Bertelsmann

Bertelsmann is a media, services and education company that operates in about 50 countries around the world. It includes the broadcaster RTL Group, the trade book publisher Penguin Random House, the magazine publisher Gruner + Jahr, the service providers Arvato and Be Printers, the music company BMG and the Bertelsmann Education Group. The company has more than 112,000 employees and generated revenues of €16.7 billion in financial year 2014. Bertelsmann stands for creativity and entrepreneurship. This combination promotes the creation of first-class media content and innovative service solutions that inspire customers around the world.

About the Bertelsmann Education Group

The Bertelsmann Education Group encompasses Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA’s education businesses. The group is shaping learning in the 21st century with online education offerings focused on the healthcare and technology sectors. Bertelsmann Education Group utilizes Bertelsmann's resources and global network.

Schoology, a LMS for K-12 and higher education, has raised a $32 million Series D led by JMI Equity with participation from existing investors FirstMark Capital, Intel Capital, and Great Road Holdings. The company has raised a total of $57 million.

Founded in 2009, Schoology is used in more than 130 countries, reaching over 12 million users. In the past year Schoology added over 400 enterprise customers, surpassing 1000 institutions in K-12 and higher education.

Schoology Raises $32 Million To Bring Personalized Learning to Every Student

JMI Equity Joins Existing Investors in Series D Round, Capitalizing on Recent Growth and Widespread Adoption of its Learning Management System

NEW YORK—November 10, 2015—Schoology, the education technology company that puts collaboration at the heart of the learning experience, today announced $32 million in financing led by JMI Equity, a growth equity firm focused on investing in leading software and services companies, with additional participation from existing investors FirstMark Capital, Intel Capital, and Great Road Holdings. This latest investment brings Schoology’s total funding to $57 million. Concurrent with the financing, Jit Sinha, General Partner at JMI Equity, will join the Schoology board.

A market leader in Learning Management System (LMS) adoption with more than 12 million users in more than 130 countries, Schoology will use the new funding to make product engineering investments to increase the scope and power of its education cloud, which connects the people, content, data, and systems that fuel education. It also plans to expand distribution so it can reach more schools, districts, colleges and universities around the globe.

“School districts and colleges have been striving to personalize the education of every student for years, but there hasn’t been a teaching and learning platform that could do it. The industry is littered with failed point solutions that didn’t integrate easily and weren’t easy to use—which resulted in extremely low adoption rates and failures to deliver real educational value,” said Jeremy Friedman, CEO, Schoology. “We built the first education cloud that allowed educators and students to collaborate and connect all digital resources on one intuitive platform. Because we designed our platform to be student-centric and we built the enterprise functionality out from there, we’ve been able to combine unparalleled user adoption with the strongest platform capabilities in the industry.”

More institutions are turning to a robust LMS to reign in disparate systems and create more opportunity for individualized learning. Entities like Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD)—the second largest school district in the country, who recently purchased Schoology—are leading the way for the more than 13,000 U.S. school districts. Estimates suggest that only 25 percent of school districts have deployed an LMS, and those that have are looking to replace legacy systems.

“In our conversations with customers, it was clear that they wanted a comprehensive platform that covers the entire education ecosystem—from course management to assessment, collaboration, and analytics—that allows school districts and colleges to achieve desired student outcomes,” said Sinha. “Schoology is the only company that delivers that in a single platform. The company is also unique in its ability to match enterprise-caliber technology with the intuitive usability of social networks. The company’s design, collaboration-first approach, and subscription cloud-based business model make it a leader in the space and we are excited to be partnering with Schoology to help drive the next phase of growth.”

This news comes during a flagship year for Schoology. The company has added 400 new enterprise customers in the past year—surpassing 1,000 total universities, colleges, and K-12 school districts—including deployments such as St. Paul (MN) Public Schools, Seattle (WA) Public Schools, Henrico County (VA) Public Schools, Boise (ID) Independent School District, and Mohave Community College. It also recently expanded its senior management team, with the appointments of Norman Weissberg as Chief Revenue Officer, Melton Littlepage as Chief Marketing Officer, and Michael Brinkman as Chief Technology Officer.

About JMI

JMI Equity is a growth equity firm focused on investing in leading software and services companies. Founded in 1992, JMI has invested in over 120 businesses in its target markets and has raised more than $3 billion of committed capital. Combining domain expertise and active partnership, JMI works with management teams to build market-leading businesses and create long-term shareholder value. Realized investments from JMI funds include Autotask, Axeda, BigMachines, Eloqua, Ellucian, Gemcom, PowerPlan and ServiceNow. For more information, visit www.jmi.com.