SINGULARITY UNIVERSITY, a Mountain View, Calif.-based company that offers short-term educational programs in business and technology, has raised $32 million in a Series B funding round led by WestRiver Group and Boeing. Silicon Valley Bank, TAL Education Group, Mukita, and PeopleFund also contributed to the investment.
The latest funding likely won’t eclipse the company’s troubled past. Bloomberg reports “a teacher allegedly sexually assaulted a former student, an executive stole more than $15,000, a former staffer alleges gender and disability discrimination,” and the company laid off 14 staffers after Google ended its $1.5 million annual grant, which covered nearly half of the costs for the school’s Global Solutions Program.
The company, which was founded in 2008, faces other strategic challenges, like conveying its business message and model. Singularity University has instructors and students, but the Bloomberg report also notes that the company is putting a focus on conferences and executive education. As Frank Catalano in GeekWire put it: “In many ways, Singularity University looks more like a modern iteration of a think tank, with paid events and programs, than a traditional degree-granting institution.”
