Pearson, the UK-based education publisher, has selected six businesses out of 200 applicants, which will pilot its startup accelerator programme Pearson Catalyst. The six startup businesses are Spongelab , a global science community; ClassOwl , a social academic platform ; VLinks Media, for delivering courses on mobile devices and the web; ActivelyLearn, for teachers to transform the power of reading; Ace Learning Company, for browsing online educational materials; and Full Stack Data Science, a full stack data analysis shop.
Pearson will invest $10,000 and provide three months support to each of the six businesses, taking no equity in return.
Diana Stepner, head of future technologies at Pearson, said: “The six companies selected for the first Pearson Catalyst for Education programme were chosen for their innovation and talented teams, along with their ability to address specific business opportunities and challenges in the education sector.”