Southern New Hampshire U, Rethink Education to Fund Ed Tech Startups
Southern New Hampshire University and Rethink Education today announced a new $15 million seed fund to invest in ed tech startup companies "tackling some of the most pressing challenges in education." Their goal: "to encourage the nation's best education entrepreneurs, researchers and technologists to explore new, innovative ways to improve access and affordability in the educational pipeline from K–12 into the workforce."
Funding will be allocated to more than two dozen seed-stage companies, to help with research, development, prototyping, market testing, etc. "The venture will specifically look for entrepreneurs in education who are mission-driven, have early evidence of product-market fit, demonstrate an innovative and scalable approach and show how their product can be distributed successfully," according to a press release.
In addition, the startups will have the opportunity to incubate their ideas within SNHU's Sandbox ColLABorative, a research and development lab and internal consultancy focused on innovation.
"Investing in this initiative with Rethink Education builds on SNHU's more than 85-year history of working to expand access to higher education for all students," said Paul LeBlanc, SNHU president, in a statement. "We are looking forward to working with, and learning from, bright, passionate entrepreneurs working to solve problems in which we share an interest."
Companies interested in the seed fund should e-mail their pitch deck to [email protected] with the subject line "Seed Fund."
About the Author
Rhea Kelly is editor in chief for Campus Technology, THE Journal, and Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].