Capital Campaign to Accelerate Education Launched by Startl

Innovation and investment in education technology will continue to be accelerated with Startl announcing the launch of a capital campaign in a press release. The infrastructure and success of Startl’s inaugural year will be leveraged by the campaign, Startl 2.0. Startl is a nonprofit created to identify and ramp up education technology companies and their innovations.

The John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have funded Startl which was launched in 2010. Startl also received initial seed funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Lumina Foundation. The founding team's understanding of the education space, business acumen and extensive professional networks has been leveraged by Startl over the year. Innovation in education technology has been therefore encouraged and facilitated.

In a release, Phoenix Wang, Co-Founder and MD of Startl said, “Startl was founded in an effort to support entrepreneurs interested in building learning-rich, market-smart digital products and services focused on anywhere, anytime learning. Startl 2.0 is the natural next step to expand and enhance the services we offer the EdTech sector for entrepreneurs but also for investors and consumers as well.”

A “laboratory” location designed to foster early-stage education technology companies will be the main feature of Startl 2.0. Co-Founders and Managing Directors Laurie Racine, Diana Rhoten and Phoenix Wang are also looking to create a community for stakeholders to interact. Emerging and incumbent companies alike can test out elements of product design at the laboratory which will be designed to be a creative workspace and playspace. Apart from getting real time user feedback, they will also be able to test marketing campaigns.

A Boost/Accelerator hybrid program will be also added in Startl 2.0. More entrepreneurs will be served each year due to the shorter more frequent cycles of the program. Startl 2.0 will also add a new annual innovators showcase event. The event will be for emerging EdTech companies and funders with interest in the market and will be co-hosted with Education Growth Advisors. Entrepreneurs will be able to reach testers and users during the product design and development phase with the introduction of a new testing and marketing program.

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