Pathbrite Secures Venture Financing to Fuel Continued Growth

I’m thrilled to announce that Pathbrite has secured $2.5 Million in Series A funding from one of the leading EdTech investors, Rethink Education with strategic investment from ACT, the U.S. leader in college and career readiness assessment.  We’ve alerted the press and blogosphere so look out for coverage of our announcement throughout the day.  With this fresh infusion of capital, we intend to continue product development and our focus on user acquisition.

The round brings the total outside investment raised to just over $4 Million, which includes support from a dynamic list of Angel Investors such as: Ben Cohen, Founder of Ben & Jerry’s; Golden Seeds Angel Fund, Silicon Valley; Joshua Mailman of Serious Change and Jalia Ventures; Karen Riley, SVP, Global Services for Siebel at IBM; David Rose of Rose Tech Ventures and Silicon Alley Angels; and Steve Schoettler, Co-Founder of Zynga and Founder of Junyo.  Rethink Education Managing Directors, Rick Segal and Matt Greenfield, and ACT’s David Cumberbatch will join Angel Investor Joshua Mailman and myself on Pathbrite’s Board of Directors.

So what is Pathbrite about? I like to say life is an endless series of evaluations, and Pathbrite enables individuals to truly differentiate themselves and to stand out from the crowd.

Currently, much of a student’s learning data, including certified transcripts, report cards and earned credentials, has been trapped in digital “walled gardens,” making it difficult for them to easily share this data with potential colleges or employers. Pathbrite offers students the opportunity to aggregate all of their digital artifacts – no matter what kind, no matter the source – into a single place where they are able to curate and publish portfolios for either targeted or broad audiences.  By including certified, official transcripts in a portfolio side-by-side other artifacts that tells the whole story of an individual, reliance on outmoded ways to transmit official documents is eliminated.  Students can also share their portfolios across their social graphs, including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, to bolster job-networking efforts.

In fact, for most young people, landing that first internship or job is more competitive than ever. Pathbrite Portfolios are the best way to collect, chronicle and showcase a lifetime of learning and personal achievements, enabling students to differentiate themselves and to stand out from the crowd. On the other side of the equation, evaluators of all kinds, including employers, institutions, teachers and administrators, can better assess academic or lifelong learning progress, predict future performance, and gain institution-wide knowledge of learning outcomes.

The current basic version of Pathbrite Portfolios will always be free to individual users.  Overtime, Pathbrite will introduce premium features for both individuals and institutions for which fees will be charged (hey — we’ve got to make money somehow, right??).

I’m grateful for the confidence our investors have in our vision and look forward to their ongoing support and guidance as we grow the company.

Here’s some quick resources to learn more about Pathbrite:

• Any individual can build Pathbrite Portfolios for free: http://www.pathbrite.com
• Institutions interested in learning more about the Pathbrite Portfolio platform and knowledge graph should visit: http://www.pathbrite.com/institutions
• Current college students can become a Pathbrite Campus Ambassador: http://www.pathbrite.com/ambassadors/
• Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Pathbrite
• Follow us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Pathbrite
• Subscribe to us on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/Pathbrite?feature=mhee
• Follow us on Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/100056636393637471522/posts

Tags | ACT, EdTech, Pathbrite, ReThink Education, Series A, Venture Funding