It may not seem too surprising that one of the best-funded edtech startups in the past year of pandemic has been a company that piggybacks on the success of Zoom to add tools for running online classes. But the sheer size of its fundraising may raise some eyebrows.
Class has raised more than $165 million from a mix of sources including GSV Ventures, Owl Ventures and Reach Capital since it was founded nearly a year ago. Last month EdSurge sat down with its founder and CEO, Michael Chasen, to find out what he’s seen so far and where the company hopes to go next.
Chasen is a familiar figure in edtech: he co-founded Blackboard, one of the largest providers of learning management systems to colleges and schools, and served as its CEO for years. As he watched his own kids adjust to online schooling during the pandemic, he felt that Zoom lacked features to let teachers handle standard classroom activities such as taking attendance or giving quizzes.
He knew that Zoom had a development kit, or SDK, that let other software integrate on top of the video platform, so he decided to build those features into what became Class.
Read more in EdSurge...
