O’Reilly Alpha Tech Ventures (OATV) has participated in a $7m series A round in LearnZillion, the Washington DC-based digital curriculum and professional development platform.
The round was led by DCM, the early stage venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley, Beijing and Tokyo. NewSchools Venture Fund, Calvert Social Investment Fund and DC Community Ventures, a community development venture capital firm based in the US capital, also participated.
It brings total fundraising to date to $9.4m, which included a $2.4m seed round from a consortium also including OATV.
LearnZillion said it would use the latest funding to hire key talent, enabling it to fuel technology development, scale more quickly and reach more educators.
The online platform provides teachers with the tools they need to implement the common core state standards via a video library of three to five minute maths and literacy lessons. To date, 46 US states have announced their plans to adopt the education standards.
The company currently has over 120,000 registered teachers, reaching some 1.4 million students, and is adding about 5,000 new teachers every week.
Eric Westendorf, CEO of LearnZillion, said: “The common core is the biggest shift in education in decades. It creates a major pain point for teachers, school administrators, parents and even students.
“Teachers need new materials and professional development to get up-to-speed. We’re creating a national community of teachers that are embracing the challenge head on. Our platform provides a digital curriculum that’s been created ‘by teachers, for teachers’ and is built directly from the common core state standards.”