TOP 10 EdTech startups in the USA
TOP 10 EdTech startups in the USA

EdTech startups are on a rise throughout the world and especially with the onset of the novel coronavirus and the subsequent shutdown of schools and colleges everywhere. Students have been studying and learning online for the last 5-6 months and all due to the presence of multiple online educational platforms.

The USA leads the team with 43% of the EdTech companies having their headquarters located there. 

With the projected market value of this sector expected to reach US$ 252 Billion in 2020, let’s have a look at the Top 10 EdTech Startups in the USA:

1. Coursera

Founders: Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller

Founding Year: 2012

Headquarters: Mountain View, California

Funding received: US$ 443.1M

Investors: New Enterprise Associates, Kleiner Perkins, International Finance Corporation, EDBI, Learn Capital, G Squared, SuRo Capital, IFC Venture Capital Group, Times Internet, Future Fund, SEEK, Sailing Capital, THE WORLD BANK, EG Capital Advisors, Black River Ventures, GSV Asset Management, Laureate Education, Lampert Foundation

Coursera is an educational technology startup that caters to over 20 million registered learners by collaborating with 140 of the world’s premium universities and education institutions. Anyone anywhere can access over 1,000 open online courses, specializations, degrees, professional and mastertrack courses on Coursera in multiple fields so as to learn and achieve meaningful career, educational, and personal improvement goals throughout their lives.

Coursera was declared a unicorn startup in 2019.

2. MasterClass

Founders: Aaron Rasmussen and David Rogier

Founding Year: 2012

Headquarters: San Francisco, California

Funding received: US$ 236.4M

Investors: New Enterprise Associates, IVP, Harrison Metal, Bloomberg Metal, Atomico, Advancit Capital, Fidelity Management and Research Company, Gaingels, Javelin Venture Partners, GSV Ventures, Brendan Wallace, Novel TMT Ventures, Owl Ventures, Evolution Media, UTA, Ventures and 7 other investors.

MasterClass offers online classes created for students of all skill levels. With MasterClass, you can learn and train yourself from the best of the best minds out there such as Anna Wintour, Timbaland, Neil Gaiman, Serena Williams, Shonda Rhimes, and Chris Hadfield among many others belonging to different fields like the arts & entertainment, design & style, music, writing, business, food, home & lifestyle, sports & gaming, science & tech and the community & government. You can access their video lessons by subscribing to its All-Access Pass which costs US$ 180 per year.

3. Guild Education

Founders: Brittany Stich and Rachel Carlson

Founding Year: 2015

Headquarters: Denver, Colorado

Funding received: US$ 228.5M

Investors: Bessemer Venture Partners, General Catalyst, Silicon Valley Bank, Redpoint, Salesforce Ventures, Felicis Ventures, Social Capital, Harrison Metal, Ulu Ventures, Cowboy Ventures and 13 other investors.

Guild Education’s all-time education platform offers classes, programs, and degrees for working adults. It provides these adults support from start to finish, by giving them access to a network of nonprofit universities, learning providers, a variety of educational programs, tuition payment management, end-to-end coaching support and extra support with their tech-driven student counseling model.

4. Udemy

Founders: Eren Bali, Gagan Biyani and Oktay Caglar

Founding Year: 2010

Headquarters: San Francisco, California

Funding received: US$ 223M

Investors: 500 Startups, Norwest Venture Partners, Insight Partners, Lightbank, Naval Ravikant, Learn Capital, Version One Ventures, Signia Venture Partners, Benjamin Ling, Stripes, MHS Capital, Keith Rabois, Prosus & Naspers, Manhattan Venture Partners, Jeremy Stoppleman, Larry Braitman, Darian Shirazi, Joshua Stylman, Russ Fradin, Benesse

Udemy is an online learning platform that helps students, companies, and governments gain beneficial skills to thrive in today’s time. 35 million students currently learn from 57K educators teaching 130K courses in over 65 different languages at Udemy. Students present anywhere can master new skills through self-paced, on-demand courses, while experts also get a chance to share their knowledge with the world.

For companies, Udemy for Business offers subscription access to 7,000+ business-related courses in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, and Japanese, influential learning analytics, as well as an easy-to-use platform to host and deliver their own content in one place.

Udemy also provides governments with a highly personalized learning platform to upskill their employees and prepare them for the jobs of today and tomorrow.

5. Skillshare

Founders: Malcolm Ong and Michael Karnjanaprakorn

Founding Year: 2010

Headquarters: New York, New York

Funding received: US$ 116.8M

Investors: SV Angel, Spark Capital, Founder Collective, BoxGroup, Union Square Ventures, Omidyar Network, VTF Capital, Collaborative Fund, David Tisch, Clark Landry and 11 other investors.

Skillshare is an edtech platform offering online learning for creative and artistic fields. It offers thousands of inspiring classes for creative and inquisitive people, on topics such as illustration, design, photography, video, freelancing, and more. 

6. Course Hero

Founders: Andrew T. Grauer, Gregor Carrigan and Jared Grauer

Founding Year: 2006

Headquarters: Redwood City, California

Funding received: US$ 97.4M

Investors: SV Angel, Great Oaks Venture Capital, Maveron, GSV Ventures, Amidzad Partners, Interplay Ventures, Steve Chen, Raj Sandhu, 137 Ventures, NewView Capital, Mark Vadon, Andrew Boszhardt, Jr., Nils Johnson, Grauer Brothers Capital, Frederick Grauer, Andrew T. Grauer, A&G Investments, Jared Grauer, David Grauer

Course Hero is an online learning platform that provides a free and subscription-based online learning platform to empower students and teachers to succeed through unlocked study tools, documents, and resources. It provides practice problems, study guides, videos, class notes, and step-by-step explanations for every subject that students study, from economics to literature, biology to history, and accounts to psychology.

7. Clever

Founders: Dan Carroll, Rafael Garcia and Tyler Bosmeny

Founding Year: 2012

Headquarters: San Francisco, California

Funding received: US$ 43.3M

Investors: Y Combinator, Sequoia Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, SV Angel, Lightspeed Venture Partners, GV, Founders Fund, Uncork Capital, Floodgate, Kapor Capital, Streamlined Ventures, Paul Buchheit, Ulu Ventures, Alexis Ohanian, GSV Ventures and 8 other investors.

EdTech startup Clever functions as a single sign-on platform for K-12 education. Clever brings together all applications into one secure portal and provides a single sign-on for everyone in one district. It offers a range of educational solutions such as rostering, digital classrooms, clever badges, clever library, clever family portal, etc. hence bringing a lifetime of opportunity within reach of every student.

More than 60% of U.S. K–12 schools use Clever, including 95 of the largest 100 districts. 

8. Wonderschool

Founders: Arrel Gray and Chris Bennett

Founding Year: 2012

Headquarters: San Francisco, California

Funding received: US$ 24.1M

Investors: Andreessen Horowitz, First Round Capital, Lerer Hippeau, FundersClub, Uncork Capital, e.ventures, Omidyar Network, Correlation Ventures, MaC Venture Capital, Abstract Ventures, Learn Capital, Rethink Education, DTRIBE Capital, Jonathon Golden, Be Curious Partners, Lee Jacobs, Edelweiss.vc, Gary Community Investments

Wonderschool offers a platform where experienced educators and childcare providers can begin infant and toddler programs and preschools out of their homes. It provides help with licensing, program setup, marketing and everything that lies in between. The startup’s software platform empowers teachers to manage their students, parents, and their program from one dashboard. In consort with this, Wonderschool has built a marketplace for parents to search Wonderschool programs, plan visits, register their children, and make payments.

Wonderschool is dedicated to increasing families’ access to high-quality care and learning environments for their babies.

9. Fiveable

Founders: Amanda DoAmaral

Founding Year: 2018

Headquarters: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Funding received: US$ 3.8M

Investors: gener8tor, BBG Ventures, Matchstick Ventures, AT&T, Golden Angels Investors, SoGal Ventures, Spero Ventures, Silicon Ventures, Deborah Quazzo, Twenty Seven Ventures,

Cream City Venture Capital, Beta Boom, SoGal, Metrodora Ventures

Fiveable is a social learning community for education where students learn together through content, community, and courses. It is currently catering to high school students preparing for their Advanced Placement exams. Approximately 1.5 million students have studied with Fiveable since the last 2 years of its inception.

Fiveable endeavors to provide equal opportunities to all students to reach their maximum potential.

10. Encantos

Founders: Aliya LeeKong, Carlos Hoyos, Nuria Santamaria Wolfe, Steven Wolfe Pereira and Susie Jaramillo

Founding Year: 2016

Headquarters: Culver City, California

Funding received: US$ 2.8M

Investors: Lightspeed Venture Partners, Kapor Capital, MaC Venture Capital, MathCapital, Portfolia, Michael Kassan, Chingona Ventures, Human Ventures, Tom Chavez, Angeles Investors, Rich Greenfield, Boston Meridian Partners, Lydia Jett, Goldhirsh Foundation, Antonio Lucio

Encantos is an entertainment-driven edtech startup. By using entertainment and technology to redefine education fixated on 21st-century skills, Encantos is creating family brands that both kids and parents love. Encantos family brands include the Emmy-nominated and 2x Kidscreen award-winning No.1 bilingual preschool brand Canticos, the food-focused Issa’s Edible Adventures, the Day of the Dead-inspired resilience brand Skeletitos, and the adventure-based travel brand Tiny Travelers. You can access these family brands both digitally and physically through its apps, books, consumer products, music, subscription services, videos and more.

The startup is also an award-winning B-Corporation associated with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to build a healthier world for both the people and our planet. It has received industry awards and honors from the AP, ASU GSV, CNN, Common Sense Media, Forbes, Kidscreen, Kirkus Reviews, NBC News, The New York Times, NPR, Parents Magazine, Publishers Weekly, Romper, School Library Journal, Univision and USA Today

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Aishwarya writes about the startup ecosystem on VCBay. She is a third-year Computer Science engineering student who looks forward to exploring the world of startups and finance.

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