The edtech investment wave rolls on.
Tech-heavy school operator AltSchool has raised the first $40 million (of a targeted $80 million).
AltSchool was launched in 2013 by Max Ventilla out of frustration with long waiting lists for San Francisco’s top school and outdated curriculums. The B-Corp’s model blends software-based individualized learning with “project-based learning” in mixed-age classrooms.
The investors in the latest round were not disclosed but the San Francisco-based educator previously raised more than $130 million from backers including Mark Zuckerberg’s foundation (before the launch of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative), Andreessen Horowitz, First Round Capital, Founders Fund, and Omidyar Network, among others.
Universal access is a challenge: tuition starts at $2,700 per month (a 2015 article reported that 40 percent of students received financial aid.)
Like other edtech “disruptors,” AltSchool’s goal is to get costs down, as it establishes schools beyond the Bay Area and New York and through its network of other educators.
