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==Funding==
==Funding==


The company secured $27 million in round B funding on January 31, 2008 from existing investors Ignition Partners and Knowledge Universe Education. This was on top of a previously undisclosed $15.5 Million of Round A funding the company raised early last year. The funding included additional investments from Knowledge Universe Education, a leading global education company; Ignition Partners, a premier [[venture capital]] firm; and an added investment from Peter Neupert, an existing board member;<ref>[http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2004157366_bizbriefs01.html "InfiLearn changes name, launches tutors"] '' Seattle Times''</ref><ref>[http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/brierdudley/2007/12/13/ "Kal Raman's learning startup stepping out"] ''Seattle Times''</ref> Excelsior Software, with long-standing relationships in the education community, was also acquired.<ref>[http://seattle.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2008/02/04/story3.html "GlobalScholar's acquisition of Excelsior opens door to new markets"] ''[[Puget Sound Business Journal]]''</ref><ref>[http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/39477 GlobalScholar.com lands $27 Mn, buys Excelsior] on SiliconIndia.com</ref>
The company secured $27 million in round B funding on January 31, 2008 from existing investors Ignition Partners and Knowledge Universe Education. This was on top of a previously undisclosed $15.5 Million of Round A funding the company raised early 2007. The funding included additional investments from Knowledge Universe Education, a leading global education company; Ignition Partners, a premier [[venture capital]] firm; and an added investment from Peter Neupert, an existing board member;<ref>[http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2004157366_bizbriefs01.html "InfiLearn changes name, launches tutors"] '' Seattle Times''</ref><ref>[http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/brierdudley/2007/12/13/ "Kal Raman's learning startup stepping out"] ''Seattle Times''</ref> Excelsior Software, with long-standing relationships in the education community, was also acquired.<ref>[http://seattle.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2008/02/04/story3.html "GlobalScholar's acquisition of Excelsior opens door to new markets"] ''[[Puget Sound Business Journal]]''</ref><ref>[http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/39477 GlobalScholar.com lands $27 Mn, buys Excelsior] on SiliconIndia.com</ref>


==Products==
==Products==

Revision as of 18:35, 9 November 2011

GlobalScholar
Company typePrivate
Industryeducation software
FoundedDecember 2006
HeadquartersBellevue, Washington (United States)
Key people
Kal Raman (Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer); Thomas Boysen (Chief Learning Officer);
Number of employees
~300+ (November 2010)
Websitehttp://www.GlobalScholar.com

GlobalScholar is an operating unit of Scantron based in Bellevue, Washington dedicated to empowering educators, parents and students throughout the entire learning lifecycle. Its instructional enterprise resource planning (ERP) software solution, Pinnacle Suite, supports all aspects of managing education at K-12 schools, including a student information system (SIS), gradebook, learning management system (LMS), and teacher development, analytics and online learning. The Pinnacle Suite improves productivity so that teachers are able to spend more time with students, and empowers educators with data and insights needed to advance teacher effectiveness and student performance. The company's software is used by some of the most progressive and innovative school systems in America, including recipients of funding from President Obama’s Race to the Top initiative and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

GlobalScholar.com is the company's on-demand collaboration platform for tutors, parents, and students. Parents and students can find pre-screened tutors on a variety of subjects and school levels, and pay for one-time homework help or engage in ongoing tutoring sessions. The sessions occur on GlobalScholar’s website, which provides an online whiteboard, audio/video IM, archiving, and billing.[1]

History

GlobalScholar, formally known as InfiLearn, was founded in December 2006 by Kal Raman, a former drugstore.com chief executive and Amazon.com senior vice president [2] The company has grown to about 250 people in March 2008, roughly half in the US (Bellevue, WA and Greeley, CO) and the rest in Chennai, India.[3][4]

In January 2008, GlobalScholar launched two new services, SchoolFinder and CollegeFinder; two new websites dedicated to parents and students to discover and learn more about their current and future schools.

GlobalScholar.com made a strategic decision on January 31, 2008, to acquire Excelsior Software to expand the solutions it offers school districts and in order to offer Excelsior’s many loyal customers an even broader collection of educational services.

Funding

The company secured $27 million in round B funding on January 31, 2008 from existing investors Ignition Partners and Knowledge Universe Education. This was on top of a previously undisclosed $15.5 Million of Round A funding the company raised early 2007. The funding included additional investments from Knowledge Universe Education, a leading global education company; Ignition Partners, a premier venture capital firm; and an added investment from Peter Neupert, an existing board member;[5][6] Excelsior Software, with long-standing relationships in the education community, was also acquired.[7][8]

Products

The company's Pinnacle Suite combines seven modules to deliver the only end-to-end solution for managing student data and instructional resources. Specifically, Pinnacle Suite includes a standards-based gradebook; tools to help educators create, manage and align instructional content, assessments, curriculum, standards, and supplemental resources; a student-centered SIS with performance-based scheduling; and a platform to support continuous professional development for teachers.

Services

GlobalScholar.com offers a unique online education platform, where parents and students can connect with tutors/educators who provide one-on-one tutoring, homework help or self-paced learning. The platform can also be used by schools and school districts to enable teachers and administrators to more efficiently and effectively create, manage and align content, assessments, curriculum, standards and supplemental learning.[9][10]

In addition to GlobalScholar, the company also launched two other Websites in January 2008. SchoolFinder pulls together relevant information for elementary and high schools and lets parents compare one school against another. CollegeFinder does the same for colleges, pulling in rankings from U.S. News & World Report and the Princeton Review. [11]

References

  1. ^ GlobalScholar Raises $27 Million B Round To Tackle Online Education By Erick Schonfeld in TechChrunch
  2. ^ The New Awakening In Modern India: Interview With Kal Raman By Dhanyasree M in OneIndia.
  3. ^ "GlobalScholar lands $27 million in VC plus new purchase" Seattle Times
  4. ^ GlobalScholar.com raises $27 m By K. T. Jagannathan in The Hindu
  5. ^ "InfiLearn changes name, launches tutors" Seattle Times
  6. ^ "Kal Raman's learning startup stepping out" Seattle Times
  7. ^ "GlobalScholar's acquisition of Excelsior opens door to new markets" Puget Sound Business Journal
  8. ^ GlobalScholar.com lands $27 Mn, buys Excelsior on SiliconIndia.com
  9. ^ "GlobalScholar.com lands $27 million, buys Excelsior" Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
  10. ^ Business Bytes in IndiaInteracts
  11. ^ "GlobalScholar Raises $27 Million B Round To Tackle Online Education" TechCrunch
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