Kaplan,
Inc., the global education services company and largest subsidiary
of Graham Holdings Company (NYSE:GHC), and Techstars,
the global startup accelerator, jointly announced today they are
accepting applications for the 2014 class of the Kaplan
EdTech Accelerator, powered by Techstars.
Ten technology startups—focused on all areas of education, including
K-12, higher education, professional education, corporate training and
lifelong learning—will be chosen to participate in an intensive
three-month, mentor-led business development program in New York City
from July 25 to October 22, 2014. Applications are available at www.kaplanedtechaccelerator.com
and due by May 5, 2014.
In 2013, the first Kaplan EdTech Accelerator served as the launching pad
for these innovative, successful edtech companies: Degreed,
Flinja,
Mathify,
MentorMob,
Modern
Guild, Newsela,
panOpen,
Ranku,
Uvize,
and Verificient
Technologies. The entire inaugural class has or will soon close a
post-program funding round and to date has raised more than $10 million
in funding.
For the upcoming program, Techstars will invest $20,000 and Kaplan will
offer a $150,000 convertible debt note to each selected company as well
as office space and facilities. The startups will be mentored by several
dozen industry leaders, including Kaplan, Inc. Chairman and CEO Andy
Rosen, Techstars founder and CEO David Cohen, Graham Holdings Company
Chairman and CEO Don Graham, noted venture capitalist and Foundry Group
Managing Director Brad Feld, and many notable founders of edtech
companies, including Jose Ferreira of Knewton and Jeremy Johnson of 2U.
Additionally, the startups gain entrée to specialized
resources—including Kaplan’s proprietary learning products that leverage
the latest advances in cognitive science, instructional design, and
technology—and extensive industry connections. Kaplan has tremendous
reach in education, serving more than one million students annually,
relationships with 300-plus U.S. school districts, more than 1,000
university partnerships worldwide, and thousands of corporate customers.
The program culminates in Demo Day in the fall, when the startups’
founders present to a select group of angel and venture investors and
education industry influencers, with the goal of securing funding to
grow their companies.
“Education will change more in the next 20 years than it has in the past
200 years, fueled in part by the new, innovative uses of technology that
these startups and companies like Kaplan develop to help students
worldwide better attain their educational goals ,” said Andy Rosen,
Kaplan, Inc. chairman and CEO. “Based on the very encouraging results
from our inaugural class of startups in 2013, we’re excited to again
partner with Techstars to run the Kaplan EdTech Accelerator this year.
We invite startup companies from all sectors of education and across the
globe to apply and help us change education together.”
Kaplan has a history of pioneering notable education innovations. It
launched the first wholly online law school in the U.S.; built its
online university into one of the country’s largest; and, more recently,
created mobile delivery systems for its test prep and professional
education customers, a new prior learning assessment service for adult
learners, and an innovative, large-scale online instructional platform,
KAPx. Many of the Kaplan professionals who have driven these innovations
will serve as mentors.
“The inaugural Kaplan EdTech Accelerator was a tremendous success and we
are proud to again partner with Kaplan in helping change the face of
education,” said David Cohen, Techstars founder and CEO.
“We are looking for companies that can bring disruptive change to how
individuals learn and are educated, from cradle to grave,” said Don
Burton, Techstars Managing Director for the Education Technology Sector.
“There is probably no sector of our economy more ripe for change than
education, but also no sector that is more challenging to navigate. The
purpose of the Techstars model is to help entrepreneurs with great ideas
find the right path to succeed.”
“The Kaplan and Techstars teams were phenomenal and we could not have
been in a better accelerator program,” said Tim Dutta, co-founder and
CEO of New York-based Verificient Technologies, part of the
Accelerator’s inaugural class. “Kaplan was very heads into the game,
giving us access to their executives, businesses, and clients. Since our
first product release during the Accelerator, we’ve already successfully
integrated into several leading learning management systems at schools
around the world.”
The application deadline is May 5, 2014; early applications are due
April 4th. After selected companies are notified on or around June 18th,
the program begins on July 25th and culminates on Demo Day, planned for
October 22, 2014. Live, in-person information sessions in New York City,
Washington DC, San Francisco, and London will happen between now and
when applications are due. Further details and the application for the
program are available at KaplanEdTechAccelerator.com.
About Kaplan
Kaplan,
Inc. is a leading international provider of educational and career
services for individuals, schools, and businesses. Kaplan serves
students of all ages through a wide array of offerings including higher
education, test preparation, professional training, and programs for
kids in grades K through 12. Kaplan also operates an active venture
capital fund, Kaplan
Ventures, which invests in and supports early-stage education
companies. Kaplan is a subsidiary of The Graham Holdings Company
(NYSE:GHC) and its largest division. For more information, please visit www.kaplan.com.
About Techstars
Techstars
was founded in 2006 and is consistently ranked the #1 startup
accelerator in the world. Techstars executes an intensive 90-day,
mentorship-driven program for entrepreneurs. For each program, 10
companies are selected from a large pool of applicants. Techstars offers
programs in seven locations: Boulder, Boston, London, New York, Seattle,
Chicago, and the Cloud program in San Antonio. In addition, Techstars
offers the same successful model to corporations such as Nike,
Microsoft, Barclays, and Kaplan, Inc. as "powered by Techstars" programs.
Copyright Business Wire 2014