New York City-based startup, Schoology, wants to disrupt one of the industries most resistant to change—education. The company hatched out of a class project among four college friends in 2009, and has since morphed into an edtech giant that wants to make learning more personalized.
Schoology provides educators and students with a comprehensive learning management system (LMS) that facilitates collaboration, communication and resource sharing on one platform. Today, Schoology announced that the company has raised a $32 million Series D round, led by growth equity firm, JMI Equity. The latest financing brings Schoology’s total funding to $57 million.
Over the past year, Schoology has seen rapid expansion. The company hired multiple high-level executives on to its staff and added 400 new enterprise customers to its clientele. Schoology currently has over 12 million users in more than 130 countries. The company also has a little over 200 employees, most of whom are based in New York City.
The new funding will be used to expand the company's product engineering investments and invest aggressively in higher education.
Until now, Schoology has primarily focused on growing its presence in the K-12 space, where it is currently the fastest growing LMS provider. In October, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD)—the second largest school district in the country—purchased Schoology's LMS. The company’s robust lineup of customers also includes Seattle Public Schools and Boulder Valley School District.
Now, Schoology wants to tackle the realm of higher education. With a slew of clients that run the gamut from purely virtual institutions to traditional brick and mortar universities, Schoology is already on its way to innovating college.
“We want to give educators all the tools and resources they need to personalize education,” said Jeremy Friedman, CEO and cofounder of Schoology, "We want to do that all in one platform, and that means connecting the people, content and systems that are going to fuel education.”
Schoology is currently present on Colorado State University’s global campus, as well as at Mohave Community College. Ultimately, Schoology hopes to grow beyond singularly providing an LMS to schools.
“We see Schoology as an education cloud, and when teaching and learning experiences align, there will be a highly engaged user base that has all the tools they need.”
