Boston, Massachusetts has long been known as “The Hub”, and
executives behind the new LearnLaunchX (www.learnlaunch.org)
educational technology accelerator aim to make it the new center for ed tech
startups.
The founding of LearnLaunchX was announced at the ed tech conference
“Across Boundaries: Innovation & The Future of Education”, held recently at
the MIT Sloan School, in Cambridge, MA. The
conference brought together leading educational technology visionaries,
academics, vendor company presidents, and public school administrators for two
days of intensive discussion on where educational technology investments stand
today, and where they need to go.
Keynoting the event were Anant Agarwal, president of the
online learning initiative of MIT and Harvard University; Seth Reynolds, a
partner with The Parthenon Group; Luis Rodriguez, director of the Office of
Digital Learning in the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary
Education; Gregory Bialecki, secretary of the Executive Office of Housing &
Economic Development; John Katzman, founder of Noodle and The Princeton Review;
and Anthony Kim, founder and CEO of Education Elements.
Just launched itself, the new startup accelerator has
already announced plans to invest in 40 companies in the first three years of its
program. LearnLaunch is the networking and advocacy side of the house, while
LearnLaunchX serves as the funding arm. LearnLaunch and LearnLaunchX “will
provide selected startups with early seed funding, deep domain insight, direct
access to learning marketplace leaders and channels, and mentoring by experts
in ed tech, learning markets and start-up investments,” according to a recent
announcement by the organization.
LearnLaunch was formed in December as a non-profit to foster
the creation and growth of ed tech companies in New England. It was started by
Boston area investor Jean Hammond, EdTechup founder Marissa Lowman (who is
serving as executive director of LearnLaunch), and Sankaty Growth Partners
founder Eileen Rudden.
The selection of Boston was no coincidence. “Boston is known
as a center for both excellent education and technology innovation,” explains
Lowman. “Massachusetts also has strong roots in the development of U.S.
education, having invented public education and currently leading the initiative
to promote high state standards, also known as The Common Core (www.corestandards.org)
The goal of LearnLaunch is to provide support to
entrepreneurs at critical stages of their development, and help them reach the
next level of growth by providing unprecedented access to peers, investors,
mentors, and even potential users. The company plans to offer five rounds of
funding over the next three years, and has begun taking applications for the
first round.
“Experts with deep connections to the market will provide
hands-on mentoring to help entrepreneurs transform startups into successful ed
tech companies,” Lowman says. “Startups will receive guidance and strategic
direction on a full range of issues, from product feature decisions and beta
testing, to the nuances of management team development and market entry in the
learning industry.”
Lowman notes that a growing number of venture capitalists
and angel investors are deciding to invest in the ed tech sector. She says that
134 ed tech companies nationwide received such funding in 2011, the largest
number in a decade. Investments in ed tech have also tripled over the past
decade, she says, increasing from a reported $146 million in 2002 to $429
million in 2011.
The local market is certainly a ripe one, and LearnLaunch
has already identified over 150 educational technology and learning-oriented
startups in the Boston area.
LearnLaunchX will work with approximately eight startups at
a time, and provide up to $18,000 in seed funding. In return, LearnLaunchX will
receive a 6% equity stake in each startup. To support the accelerator program,
LearnLaunch welcomed three co-investors -- Mark Miller, Vinit Nijhawan and
Jakan Satiroglu -- as co-founders of the accelerator.
Previously the chief officer of college and career
preparation for the Chicago Public Schools, Co-founder Eileen Rudden concludes:
“I was struck when I moved back to Boston in the fall of 2011 at the level of
excitement and activity in the learning and ed tech space. I attended EdTechups
(a networking program started by Lowman), which have brought together over 800
people, and Kids Club meetings, which have engaged over 50 companies in
collaborative peer learning. I found close to 150 startups and dozens of growth
firms. Jean, Marissa and I want to see the ecosystem grow even more rapidly to
create value for entrepreneurs, educators, investors and students.”
