It’s not too often edtech companies get funding outside of a pitch competition, so when Center City startup KickUp raised some money for the second time we quickly took note.
Backed by New York-based VC firm Red House Education, the company just closed a $730,000 seed round, with follow-up capital from former investor Reach Capital. The previous round raked in $1.5 million.
“We raised some additional seed capital to allow us to accelerate hiring and launch a new suite of event management tools in time for the upcoming school year,” said cofounder and CEO Jeremy Rogoff, who along with cofounder Victoria Kinzig moved the company to Philly in March 2016 after developing the idea at Virginia-based pre-accelerator program Lighthouse Lab.
The set of tools Rogoff is referring to will let K-12 school districts create and manage registrations for teachers’ professional development “events” on the KickUp platform, later using that data to measure what impact there was to a teacher’s practice.
Here’s a quick explainer video:
Rogoff, 29, of Merion, said the new features address client needs. Currently at 13 full-timers, the company has two full-time openings, with more hiring expected throughout the year. Some 50 school districts around the country now use the firm’s software, which equals about 1,100 schools.
