{"id":339414,"date":"2017-04-27T10:16:10","date_gmt":"2017-04-27T02:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techcrunch.com\/?p=1481962"},"modified":"2017-04-27T10:16:10","modified_gmt":"2017-04-27T02:16:10","slug":"everfi-raises-190-million-to-teach-life-skills-and-touchy-subjects-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/everfi-raises-190-million-to-teach-life-skills-and-touchy-subjects-online\/","title":{"rendered":"Everfi raises $190 million to teach life skills and touchy subjects online"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Everfi Inc.<\/a> has raised $190 million in Series D funding to teach students online the life skills and touchy subject matter that they never learned in school. A sampling of courses offered by Everfi range from \u201cHarassment Prevention Training\u201d for the workforce, to \u201cAlcohol EDU\u201d for college students and \u201cVault Understanding Money\u201d for fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders.<\/p>\n

TPG Growth<\/a> and The Rise Fund<\/a> led the Series D investment, contributing $150 million combined, along with Main Street Advisors<\/a>, Advance Publications<\/a> and earlier backers of Everfi including Jeff Bezos, Eric Schmidt, Ev Williams and Allen & Company<\/a>, according to a company statement.<\/p>\n

Everfi CEO and co-founder Tom Davidson said his startup operates as a for-profit, for-good venture. \u201cWe look at these major, intractable social problems and aim to eradicate them by educating citizens from second graders to seniors,\u201d he said, \u201cbut we also want to be the dominant learning platform for major institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Students using Everfi.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The company\u2019s clients\u2013 and many do not want to be named, Davidson said\u2013 include: Airbnb, Google, Harvard, MIT, Oracle and several professional sports teams as well as 20,000 K-12 schools. More than 16 million individual students have earned certificates for completion of Everfi courses, he noted.<\/p>\n

Everfi sells its software-as-a-service and digital curriculum to schools and other organizations rather than giving it away. The startup also allows sponsors to pick up the tab for a community\u2019s use of the platform.<\/p>\n

Everfi COO Tammy Wincup explained that the reason for this sales approach is to ensure Everfi\u2019s technology isn\u2019t only accessible to schools or institutions with financial resources. Similarly, the company designs its apps and courses to be utilizable on crappy old PC\u2019s, or conversely, the newest tablets and smartphones, she said.<\/p>\n

Based in Washington D.C., Everfi has been profitable for years. It raised the capital to develop additional courses, and to hire people in communities where it believes its online education can make a difference. A high preponderance of its employees are former teachers. Fifty-seven percent of the company\u2019s employees are women.<\/p>\n

After acquiring two smaller competitors, Everfi already reaches thousands of college campuses including many with high historic rates of alcoholism, addiction and student sexual assault. The company will continue outreach to campuses, but is also focused on reaching impoverished groups in the US across large cities with a high percentage of low-income residents, and rural areas throughout the South; as well as Native Americans living on Federal Indian Reservations.<\/p>\n

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Everfi CEO Tom Davidson visiting students.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cWe want to reach multiple generations and break the cycle of financial illiteracy and poverty,\u201d Davidson said. The new investment in Everfi sounds hefty, especially in education, an industry where startups are more likely to be acquired than to go public. But Davidson said, \u201cIt feels like a drop in the ocean when you are going after such big issues. Too many education companies are going after giant problems with small bats. That doesn\u2019t work.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Partner at TPG who leads the firm\u2019s technology investments, Nehal Raj, said the Everfi\u2019s social mission is not the only appealing thing about it. \u201cWe are very focused on vertical software leaders,\u201d he explained. \u201cEverfi has high relative market share, and is in a specialized or niche market. We also see a strong founder in Tom, who we expect to see this company all the way through to an exit, whether that\u2019s through an IPO or a sale.\u201d Earlier, TPG invested in Lynda.com which was acquired by LinkedIn for $1.5 billion.<\/p>\n

The Everfi deal also marked the first investment of the Rise Fund, a $2 billion impact fund within the TPG portfolio co-founded by TPG Partner Bill\u00a0McGlashan and U2 lead singer and activist, Bono. The Rise fund only generates returns when\u00a0companies it invested in\u00a0perform well, financially. But it also requires its portfolio companies to measure and deliver positive social or environmental changes in the world.<\/p>\n

Featured Image: EVERFI<\/a> UNDER A EVERFI LICENSE<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\" Everfi Inc. has raised $190 million in Series D funding to teach students online the life skills and touchy subject matter that they never learned in school. A sampling of courses offered by Everfi range from “Harassment Prevention Training” for the workforce, to “Alcohol EDU” for college students and “Vault Understanding Money” for fourth-, fifth- and… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n

\n<\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n

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