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Saas startup Civitas Learning announced this week they raised a $16 million round of funding led by investor Rethink Education. Other contributros include Austin Ventures and Emergence Capital.
"We're thrilled to add these investors to the fold," said Charles Thornburgh, Civitas Learning's co-founder and CEO. "With their help, we can bring even more skill, will, and resources to our student success mission. This support puts us in a great position to help our partners make a major difference in the months and years to come."
The company will use the funding to continue its remarkable growth trajectory, which has already seen the company more than double the size of its team to nearly 100, while continuing to add success-driven higher education institutions to its growing community, including recent additions Texas A&M University, University of Washington, The University of Texas at Austin, and Florida International University. As the fastest growing start-up selling to the higher education market, Civitas Learning currently manages data across hundreds of campuses, helping more than 2.3 million students navigate the complex journey through college.
There’s a lot of data in school. B+ in calculus. A- in English lit. C+ in econ 101. But what about all the other data that’s fundamental to a student’s progress but perhaps not as visible? That’s where Civitas Learning comes in. They work with schools to collect data – often kept in different silos and thus inaccessible to decision makers – to help with a range of decisions.
Their mission is to help students learn better. They do that by developing predictive software to analyze student data. For example, the company helped one college by developing an app that students can use to gauge their progress through a major. If a student wants to switch majors, the app can show them how their classes will apply to the new major.
Another product is for teachers; with their real time dashboard, instructors can see how students are engaged in class and in their homework over the course of the semester. This can help professors intervene if a student suddenly starts lagging behind.
The company is relatively new to the space, but already has an impressive roster of colleges and universities signed on as clients.
"Civitas Learning's intense focus on quantifying its impact on student success rates is a breath of fresh air for the education sector, and continues to produce remarkable results," said Rick Segal, Managing Director of Rethink Education. "Their unique approach to working in close collaboration with higher education institutions and building a community of thought leaders is very powerful. The company and its partner institutions are truly bringing actionable data science to the front lines of education."
