Online and Mobile Content Provider EdCast Receives Funding
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EdCast, an online and mobile platform for the distribution of educational content from a network of industry experts, has announced that it has raised $ 16 million in its latest round of funding.
The new round, which was led by G.E. Asset Management, is expected to be put toward the expansion of the company’s sales and marketing efforts, as well as toward the continuation of product development.
The company features two tracks. The first puts its focus on a consumer bid for lifetime learning based on mobile access to the company’s content, which is generated by its users. Meanwhile, the second is a curated content feed that is selected through both human expertise and precise algorithms using customer data, which the company then distributes to subscribers and businesses around the world.
“We bring [businesses] relevant curated knowledge and insights as micro-learning every day,” says EdCast CEO Karl Mehta.
Mehta went on to say that the company currently has “a few hundred” customers who each pay a subscription fee for the service.
Those that subscribe have relevant educational materials delivered to their employees on a regular basis. Mehta said the model used for these materials is similar to that of a daily briefing.
“Imagine that President Obama gets his briefing every morning at the breakfast table,” Mehta says. “This is similar. If you’re an executive or an employee at a company, we bring you relevant, curated information.”
EdCast currently has 1 million users on its consumer and enterprise channels. These users are accessing the company’s educational content each day. In addition, the company has partnered with several leading universities in an effort to offer mobile access to professors across the globe who then provide lessons created through their own classes, reports Jonathan Shieber for TechCrunch.
Mehta said the majority of the company’s success to date has been on the enterprise front, where the user base has increased by double digits each month.
The company currently offers its educational services to companies in IT services, consulting, healthcare, and manufacturing. However, it is looking to expand its offerings into other areas in the next few months, including telecommunications, consumer media, banking and financial services, and retail.
Mehta added that close to 80% of the company’s users are millennials, who he believes enjoy the “short bite-sizes” that coincide with the size of their attention spans. He added that the group is used to learning from outside sources rather than receiving on-the-job training.
EdCast has previously raised money from Penta Global, SoftBank Capital and Cervin Ventures. In all, the company has raised $ 22 million to be put toward completing its goal of offering educational tools for lifelong learners.
“We are excited about EdCast’s vision, innovation, and the disruptive power of its technology in enterprise knowledge discovery, sharing and learning,”, said Carlos Monfiglio, partner at GE Asset Management in a statement. “The list of Fortune 500 companies using EdCast is impressive and we believe the company is on its way to defining and leading a new category in enterprise knowledge and intelligence.”
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