LightSail Raises $11M in Series B Funding

LightSail_LogoLightSail, a NYC-based edtech company focused on K-12, raised $11m in Series B funding.

The round was led by Scott Cook (the co-founder of Intuit) and his wife, Signe Ostby, via their foundation, the Valhalla Charitable Trust, with participation form the Bezos Family Foundation as well as new and existing investors.

The company, which has raised more than $23m to date, intends to use the funds to hire edtech talent and expand adoption of the product via increased sales and marketing efforts.

Led by CEO Gideon Stein, LightSail provides an adaptive literacy solution for K-12 education that uses predictive algorithms to match students to a customized library of texts. The reading experience incorporates persuasive learning technologies designed to challenge students to read more texts, for longer durations and with enhanced comprehension.
The solution currently offers nearly 5,000 texts from more than 60 publishers, complete with assessment questions embedded within every text, measures literacy growth in real time and automatically adapts each student’s library to the reader’s precise reading level; and provides real-time insights to students and educators on a variety of key metrics, including reading stamina, comprehension and reading level growth.
LightSail is currently partnered with more than 500 schools and districts across the country including the New York City Department of Education, Los Angeles Unified School District, Boston Public Schools, Denver Public Schools, Evergreen Public Schools and many others.

FinSMEs

05/03/2016

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