Dealflow | March 2, 2021

Newsela raises $100 million to bring daily news to K-12 classrooms

Roodgally Senatus
ImpactAlpha Editor

Roodgally Senatus

ImpactAlpha, March 2 — Edtech firm Newsela offers 14,000 classroom-ready texts in partnership with over 175 publishing companies, including the Associated Press, National Geographic, The New York Times and and USA Today. The company says 37 million students and 2.5 million teachers in 90% of all U.S. schools have registered on its digital platform.

It has raised $100 million in a Series D round led by Franklin Templeton and TCV. Owl Ventures, Tao Capital Partners, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and Waycross Ventures participated in the round. 

Kapor impact fund

Oakland, Calif.-based Kapor Capital co-led Newsela’s $1.2 million seed investment round in 2013. The investment firm of Mitch Kapor and Freada Kapor Klein is now looking to raise a $125 million third fund, reports Techcrunch. The fund will be led by Kapor partners Ulili Onovakpuri and Brian Dixon (see, “The 34-year-old African-American VC turning inclusion into a competitive advantage).

Recent Kapor deals include Brooklyn’s BlocPower, Oakland’s Promise and Fresno’s Bitwise Industries. The firm earlier released data showing its investments to ‘close gaps’ for communities of color have outperformed.