Education.com Secures $9.75 Million in Series B Funding Led By California Technology Ventures
REDWOOD CITY, CA — August 5, 2008 — Education.com (www.education.com), the leading online destination for parents with kids in preschool through grade 12, today announced it has secured $9.75M in funding led by California Technology Ventures. The Company’s Series A investors, Azure Capital Partners and TeleSoft Partners, also participated in the round.
Education.com has achieved success in providing the right mix of information, resources and content, through a sophisticated understanding of, and ability to, deliver high quality education and parenting information online. With highly relevant original content and in depth reference information addressing critical issues, such as child development, special needs, bullying, kindergarten readiness, and hundreds more, Education.com estimates it has already reached about 10 million parents over the past year. Monthly pageviews have grown to 4 million* and partnerships now exceed 350, including the most respected universities and leading nonprofits in the country. Fortune 500 and other global brands are already finding Education.com an important place to advertise given its mission and highly coveted parent demographic. Additionally, revenue has doubled quarter over quarter.
The education world today is more complicated for children who face emotional challenges, relationship challenges, and family issues. It has become clear that parents are actively looking for this type of information online. They also have an interest in connecting with other parents that have been in similar situations, in an effort to help their children grow and succeed. Education.com helps parents make informed decisions about their child’s education and well being, by giving them access to tools and resources that address the social, emotional, and academic challenges facing children of all ages. It provides access to high-value applications and a community of engaged users to help fulfill specific needs, including SchoolFinder – a resource for researching all public and charter K-12 schools across the country – and a series of academic services ranging from a tool to help your child learn to read, to math homework help, to an online tutoring service.
“We are excited to have CTV join our board and the continued support of our investors to ensure that no parent gets left behind. The Series B investment will allow us to continue to produce world class educational content and to continue to build ground-breaking new resources, such as our SchoolFinder application,” said Ron Fortune, CEO, Education.com. “Parents today, more than ever before, need access to an authoritative and timely resource to ensure their child gets the most out of her education,” he added.
“We looked at dozens of companies addressing the needs of parents online but found Education.com to be the only one with a truly cutting edge approach that was meeting the information and resource needs of parents online,” said Dorothy Pavloff, Managing Director, California Technology Ventures. “The sophistication behind its use of analytics to assess what users are looking for on the site and delivering on that need is truly industry leading, and we’re pleased to support the company in its next stage of growth.”
* comScore Media Metrix, June 2008
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About California Technology Ventures California
Technology Ventures, LLC (CTV) is a venture capital fund that makes direct investments in technology and life science companies. CTV has built a strong reputation for its entrepreneurial approach to investing and working with companies. We believe in guiding entrepreneurs through the strategic, operational, and management decisions critical to a company’s success. We actively leverage our resources, people, and capital to help our companies achieve category leadership. For more information, please visit: www.ctventures.com.
About Azure Capital Partners
Azure Capital Partners is a venture capital firm with over $650 million under management, headquartered in San Francisco, California. Our goal is to identify, invest in and help build early stage information technology companies that are at the forefront of a transformative opportunity for growth. Our partners have a long track record of identifying and helping to build some of the most successful companies in communications, consumer, enterprise and Internet technology segments. The Azure team is recognized for industry thought leadership and a unique professional investment approach to venture investing. Our proven methodology and primary research enable us to identify young companies in attractive markets whose business models provide sustainable competitive advantage. For more information, please visit www.azurecap.com.
About TeleSoft Partners
TeleSoft Partners is a venture capital firm, founded in 1996 and based in Silicon Valley. TeleSoft focuses on multi-stage venture investments and special situations in the information technology, communications, and energy value chain industries. TeleSoft is typically a contrarian investor taking a lead or co-lead role as an operational value added partner. TeleSoft manages capital commitments in excess of $625 million in multiple funds. Over the last fifteen years, TeleSoft and its principals, pre-TeleSoft, have funded and helped build ~61 companies, resulting in ~32 mergers & acquisitions and IPOs to date. The TeleSoft team consists of 20+ world class professionals. TeleSoft's Strategic Partners include Alltel, Bechtel, Deutsche Telekom, and Salesforce.com. For more information, visit http://www.telesoftvc.com
About Education.com
Education.com is a one-stop online destination for educational information, tools, and services for parents of children in preschool through grade 12. The site gives parents free access to thousands of current reference articles from the Education.com.com editorial staff and some of the most respected non-profits, government agencies, and universities in the country. Education.com has educational activities for all grade levels and subjects, discussion boards to share and answer questions, and various tools and resources. Education.com is headquartered in Redwood City, CA and was founded in 2006. The company is backed by leading venture capital firms, Azure Capital Partners, TeleSoft Partners and California Technology Ventures. For more information, please visit www.education.com.
Media Contact:
Kat Eden
Education.com
(650) 366-3380 x2218
[email protected]
