Imbellus, a US-based recruitment assessment software developer backed by business consultancy Gresham Lehrman Group (GLG), has completed a $14.5m series A round led by venture capital fund Owl Ventures.
VC firms Rethink Education, Upfront Ventures and Thrive Capital also invested in the round, which the company said increased its total funding to $23m. GLG had joined Upfront Ventures, Thrive Capital and Sound Ventures to invest $4m in Imbellus in September 2016.
Founded in 2015, Imbellus aims to replace standardised tests by creating simulation-based cognitive assessments that measure cognitive skills such as problem solving, imagination, analysis and decision making.
The company has also partnered researchers from institutions including University of California, Los Angeles’ National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards and Student Testing to design tests.
Rebecca Kantar, founder and chief executive of Imbellus, said: “We are working to decouple content mastery from the assessment of underlying cognitive skills and abilities in order to learn not just what people know, but how they think.
“Our long-term goal is to re-orient the education system to develop minds that ask the right questions, imagine the next problem to solve and navigate complex systems.”