NYU Steinhardt’s Edtech Accelerator Powered by StartEd Partners with Rethink Education to Invest in Early Stage Startups
New York, NY (PRWEB) October 05, 2017 -- NYU Steinhardt Edtech Accelerator powered by StartEd is teaming up with Rethink Education, an education-focused venture firm based in White Plains, NY, to fund startups that were accepted into the 2017 program, announced today. The three-month, mentor-led immersive held on NYU’s campus is dedicated to attracting and developing an army of edtech entrepreneurs to solve the world’s most urgent problems in education and to galvanize New York City as a global hub for education innovation.
A dozen companies were selected to participate in the program and all of them capture opportunities that address the realities of education spanning preK-12, higher education, career readiness, professional development, and lifelong learning. Chosen from over 500 applicants from around the world, each company will have the opportunity to receive funding of up to $170,000 from Rethink Education.
Half of the selected companies are founded by women, signaling a focus on gender equity and 75 percent of the companies hail from NYC, solidifying NYU Steinhardt and StartEd’s commitment to bolster the city’s education innovation ecosystem. All of the companies have already achieved some level of financing, product offering or revenues.
“NYU Steinhardt is at the intersection of education, technology, and entrepreneurship,” said Dominic Brewer, Gale and Ira Drukier Dean of NYU Steinhardt. “The accelerator is an exciting opportunity for our students and faculty to interact directly with startups and to collaborate on real-world, entrepreneurial ventures. And we are confident that Rethink Education’s investment in the new cohort will fuel even greater successes in the burgeoning edtech industry in NYC. ”
The 2017 cohort includes:
Cognitive ToyBox, New York, NY: Research-backed games to assess and accelerate kindergarten readiness.
Compliance World, New York, NY: The world's largest expertise on-demand platform that connects compliance professionals to experts.
Core Labs, New York, NY: A learner-first and Google Apps integrated software platform that is the easiest way to start or improve mentoring at any organization.
Invibed, New York, NY: A tech-based financial education company that makes successful money management a reality for young professionals through video lessons, customized financial plans, and one-on-one coaching.
KiraKira3D, San Francisco, CA: Teaching kids about engineering through our 3D modeling and 3D printing design app.
Localized, Washington, D.C.: Enabling universities in emerging markets to leapfrog over outdated career and alumni services models so students can find role models who share language, roots and cultural context and access to career guidance from top professionals.
MedAux, New York, NY: A HIPAA compliant patient education and messaging system among physicians, patients, and nurses working to fill the gap in patient education.
MoxieReader, New York, NY: A personalized reading growth plan that motivates young readers, leveraging modern fitness tracking analytics, social motivation techniques and blending the teachers classroom needs with a complete home and school independent reading system.
Quartolio, Long Island, NY: An AI-powered platform that accelerates research by connecting the dots across scholarly data and documents.
SecondAccent, New York, NY: Empowers English learners in “tuning” their accents for better understanding, greater confidence, and a higher degree of trust in their communications with colleagues and customers, using visual and audio recognition, accent assessment and video teaching from TV/movie celebrities.
Student Opportunity Center, Washington, D.C.: A platform for universities to connect students to real-world experiences.
Wonda VR, New York, NY: The all-in-one platform to create and publish next-gen learning and marketing experiences.
“Our startups have the talent, determination and limitless potential to reimagine the future of education,” said Ash Kaluarachchi, Co-Founder of StartEd. “Additionally, female founders account for 50 percent of the cohort and have an important opportunity to carry the torch for other women and underrepresented minorities to inspire more equity within the broader tech industry.”
The startups will receive the benefits of being in an open environment that enables collaboration with NYU Steinhardt’s faculty, researchers, and students and StartEd will unlock access to the industry’s largest and most influential network of more than 150 experienced leaders in the education and technology fields. Mentors and advisors include CEOs and founders of the most successful education companies, venture capitalists, leaders of the largest educational publishers, technology enablers and functional specialists from the largest technology giants, and academics and education policy experts, among many others.
The program wraps during NY EDTECH WEEK, the annual, global education innovation festival taking place December 18-20 at NYU. The founders of each startup will have three minutes to present “Shark Tank” style pitches on a global stage. They will also have an opportunity to showcase their products at the Gallery of Innovation, a curated exhibit of the hottest edtech companies from around the planet and a chance for 1:1 networking with qualified edtech investors and customers. The festival draws over 1,500 edtech entrepreneurs, education leaders, angel and venture capital investors, policymakers, researchers, media and educators.
“In partnership with NYU Steinhardt and Rethink Education, StartEd will coalesce the edtech community in New York City by driving economic development, stimulating jobs, and accelerating an army of edtech entrepreneurs who are tackling important education problems,” said Jonathan D. Harber, Co-Founder of StartEd. “Deep relationships matter in the education ecosystem and New York City is home to the largest K-12 district and top-tier universities, all the major publishers and the financial community, making it the perfect place to start and grow an edtech enterprise.”
About StartEd:
By galvanizing an eco-system of education innovation in New York City, StartEd aims to accelerate edtech entrepreneurs to tackle to world's greatest education problems. StartEd runs edtech Accelerators, 3-month intensive bootcamps for early stage edtech companies, and Incubators, communities of education innovators around the globe who share facilities and a virtual community, host speaker series', and learn from each other. For more information on StartEd, please visit: http://www.startedaccelerator.com or follow us on Twitter: @startedaccel
About NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development:
Located in the heart of Greenwich Village, NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development prepares students for careers in the arts, education, health, media, and psychology. Since its founding in 1890, the Steinhardt School's mission has been to expand human capacity through public service, global collaboration, research, scholarship, and practice. To learn more about NYU Steinhardt, visit steinhardt.nyu.edu or follow us on Twitter: @nyusteinhardt
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