SAN FRANCISCO, CA — (Marketwired) — 08/14/13 — InstaEDU (), the leading online service for on-demand, high-quality tutoring, today announced that it has closed a $4 million Series A financing from top-tier investors. Battery Ventures led the round, and General Partner Brian O-Malley will be joining InstaEDU-s board of directors. The financing also includes follow-on funding from The Social+Capital Partnership, which led InstaEDU-s seed round. The new capital will help InstaEDU scale its online product offerings and grow its team as it moves to become a global tutoring leader.
To learn more about InstaEDU, visit:
The InstaEDU service combines the effectiveness of face-to-face private tutoring with the convenience and affordability of an online service. The site-s 3,000+ tutors can help with any academic subject or major standardized test, up to a graduate level. Once connected in the lesson space — through either an on-demand or scheduled lesson — students can use video, audio or text chat, and have access to a collaborative whiteboard, text editor and coding environment.
“We built InstaEDU to make it possible for anyone, anywhere to receive academic support at exactly the right moment,” said Alison Johnston Rue, InstaEDU-s CEO and co-founder. “With education increasingly moving online and expanding outside the classroom, the need for personal tutoring is growing exponentially. This funding will enable us to better serve students everywhere as we work on initiatives like a nonprofit tutoring program, mobile options and expanding our global reach.”
Since launching its marquee on-demand tutoring service in May 2012, InstaEDU has experienced remarkable growth, adding more than 2,000 tutors and growing revenues and usage 50 percent month-over-month. The service now sees an average lesson length of almost an hour, with the most popular subjects for students to seek help with being Computer Science, Statistics and Calculus. When a student requests an immediate lesson, the average wait time is under 30 seconds. InstaEDU-s tutoring starts at $24/hour.
“Even though the online tutoring market has been experiencing rapid growth, no previous company has been able to address the real pain point… answering student questions at the moment of need,” said Brian O-Malley, general partner at Battery Ventures. “When it is 11 p.m. at night and the assignment is due the next day, InstaEDU is more a lifesaver than a tutoring marketplace.”
InstaEDU-s investors also include Bobby Yazdani (founder of Saba Software), Dylan Smith (co-founder and CFO of Box), Todd Bradley (EVP of Hewlett-Packard), John Johnston (general partner at August Capital), Nicolas Berggruen and Nirav Tolia (co-founder and CEO of Nextdoor).
Battery invests in cutting-edge, category-defining businesses in markets including software and services, Web infrastructure, e-commerce, digital media and industrial technologies. Founded in 1983, the firm backs companies at stages ranging from seed to buyout and invests globally from offices in Boston, Silicon Valley and Israel. Past and current investments include Akamai Technologies, Angie-s List, Bazaarvoice, BladeLogic, Coupa, ExactTarget, Glassdoor, ITA Software, Omniture and Wayfair. To learn more, visit and follow them on Twitter @BatteryVentures.
The Social+Capital Partnership (“Social Capital”) is a partnership of philanthropists, technologists and capitalists utilizing venture capital as a force to create value and change on a global scale. The Partnership is based in Palo Alto, California.
InstaEDU makes it easy for any student to instantly connect with a top tutor in an online lesson space. The website combines the effectiveness of face-to-face private tutoring with the convenience and affordability of an online service. InstaEDU was founded by Alison Johnston Rue, Dan Johnston, and Joey Shurtleff in 2011 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. The company is backed by The Social+Capital Partnership and Battery Ventures. Learn more at .
Laura Oppenheimer
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