Fiveable, a Milwaukee-based online social learning platform, has raised $2.3 million in new venture capital funding to bridge the gap between content and community.
The round was led by BBG Ventures with participation from other investors including Metrodora Ventures (Chelsea Clinton’s newly launched fund), Matchstick Ventures, Spero Ventures, Deborah Quazzo, Cream City Venture Capital, 27V, Golden Angels, and SoGal.
Founded in 2018 by Amanda DoAmaral, Fiveable seeks to democratize learning and empower high school students through educational content, community, and collaboration. By providing students with free and engaging resources, the platform helps them master complex concepts and skills through interactive live streamed lessons and discussions, fun reviews, and study guides.
Fiveable was founded with the goal of delivering high quality, virtual teaching for advanced high school courses. It aims to bring more content to more students and allow all students to reach their potential. The company claims to have supported 1.5 million high school students and helped them achieve a 92% pass rate on the Advanced Placement (AP) exam.
Speaking about the company and expressing her gratitude to the investors, Amanda DoAmaral, founder and CEO of Fiveable, said in a statement,
“When we brought students into the product development process, we found that their main challenges were more about isolation and motivation rather than a lack of resources. While COVID-19 has escalated this, a community to connect students across school boundaries has been sorely needed for a long time. We’re grateful to have an incredible group of investors behind us who share our vision and support our student-first approach.”
Fiveable’s primary goal is to blend together education and socialization with a platform that provides a library of more than 5,000 pieces of content and community, where students are seen holistically and can support each other socially and safely online. Fiveable said that the latest funding will help propel the company forward towards a new, reimagined social learning experience.
Commenting on the investment, Nisha Dua, General Partner at BBG Ventures, said,
“Amanda’s experience as a teacher who has grown AP programs and improved test scores, combined with her student-first approach to building product and her understanding of peer-to-peer interactions makes her uniquely positioned to build the new social network for education, democratizing access at a time when students need it most.”
According to a press statement, the new Fiveable community, which the company said will launch in beta this winter, will have dedicated spaces, which will allow students to discuss issues around social justice, mental health, LGBTQIA, affirmations, and much more, to allow students to expand their learning and perspectives beyond the content being taught in the classroom.
Chelsea Clinton, Co-founder of Metrodora Ventures, also commented on the funding,
“Investing in solutions that answer young people’s needs and challenges is an investment in our country’s future. As we launch Metrodora Ventures, we’re thrilled to be supporting a leader like Amanda, whose passion for democratizing access to high quality education is at the core of every decision, and a company like Fiveable that fosters creativity and critical thinking for students inside and outside the classroom.”
Fiveable had recently launched a Fall and Spring offering of Fiveable Courses to provide an extra layer of support for students this year. The courses are available for all 38 AP subjects and include 15 weeks of live, online instruction, study guides for every unit, practice assignments, feedback from exam readers, live chat help, etc.
Meanwhile, the latest round brings Fiveable’s fundraising total to $3.5 million.
