Newsela, a US-based children’s learning curricula provider backed by educational services group Kaplan, has raised $100m in a series D round led by investment firm Franklin Templeton.
Growth equity firm TCV, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Owl Ventures, Tao Capital Partners and Waycross Ventures also took part in the round, which came after TCV provided $50m in series C funding for the company in early 2019.
Founded in 2013, Newsela provides educational materials software for primary and secondary school instructors. The cash will be used to improve its products in a bid to help educational facilities digitalise the learning environment.
The TCV investment came after a $15m series B round in 2015 led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and backed by Owl Ventures, Knight Foundation, Women’s Venture Capital Fund and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative co-founders Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan.
Owl Ventures had led the company’s $4.1m series A round, which included Knight Foundation and various private investors, in 2014.
Newsela graduated from Kaplan EdTech Accelerator, a startup accelerator scheme run by Kaplan, in 2013. It received $1.2m in a seed round co-led by NewSchools Venture Fund and Kapor Capital later in the year that included the corporate’s investment arm, Kaplan Ventures, as well as Silicon Badia and multiple individuals.
