KA’CHING: US edtech raised $225 million in May 2016, according to analysis by EdSurge. The funding was spread across 17 different deals; at least 34 unique investors participated.
Age of Learning lead the way in May funding with its $150M in Series D funding valuing the company at $1 billion. The Glendale, CA-based company was founded in 2007 by Doug Dohring and spent nearly four years with academic experts to design a curriculum to help children ages 2 to 7 develop the skills needed to succeed in school. These efforts laid the groundwork for ABCmouse, which was first released in late 2010 and now contains more than 650 lessons and 7,000 learning activities. The company currently enjoys more than one million family subscriptions, which cost $7.95 per month. (Each subscription allows for three individual child accounts.) Doing the math, the company rakes in more than $100 million in revenue each year.
Other big winners included $12.5M in Series B money to Speakaboos. Speakaboos was founded in 2008 and currently offers 200 interactive storybooks and songs. The tool also features illustrations, offline access, support for different reading levels, narration, word highlighting, animation and assessments. Kids can sort by bedtime stories, nursery rhymes, dinosaurs, princesses, and popular characters to find their favorite stories. Subscription costs $7.99 per month or $69.99 per year. New York City-based Skillshare has raised $12M in Series B funding from Amasia, Omidyar Network, with Union Square Ventures and Spark Capital Investment Group. Founded in 2010, Skillshare initially created an online platform where instructors can list local, in-person classes. A couple of years later, the company shifted its focus to allow anyone to teach online classes.
