1871-based edtech incubator DV X Labs just announced its second cohort.
The education focused incubator supported by DeVry Education Group announced three new companies will join its second cohort: StudyCloud, Better Weekdays, and NoteBowl. In the meantime, four companies from its first cohort (Youtopia, YuJa, CENTURY-Tech, and Fletch) are moving onto the second stage of development.
“The world of educational technology is evolving rapidly, and each company in this new cohort shows incredible promise in helping us deliver an engaging learning experience that improves student outcomes across all of our programs," said Jeff Dunn, director of DV X, in a statement.
The new round of companies includes two Midwest startups, and a third from Tucson, Arizona.
- Chicago-based StudyCloud offers an online platform where professors and students can interact. This organization-based web tool includes features such as online office hours, an alert system that reminds students of deadlines, and easy grading.
- St. Louis-based Better Weekdays (an 1871 alum) is a career management system for universities that makes campus career services 50 percent more effective. The cloud-based system uses "career assessment and personalized job-matching tools" to better match job-seekers with employers.
- Tucson, Arizona-based NoteBowl creates a more interactive classroom experience through a learning management system. The multi-dimensional platform includes features that target university marketing, classroom management, student organization, and group collaboration.
In the meantime, the first round of startups are set to hit the next stage of development and beta-testing. For example, in the release DV X pointed out that Youtopia, a badging platform that seeks to improve student engagement, is testing their platform with a pediatrics course at
a nursing school in Phoenix. Marquett Davon Burton, founder of Fletch (formerly the SmartyPants app), said the last few months have helped them focus their mission.
“Whether providing technical education expertise or teaching us about navigating the intricacies of large universities, DV X’s ed tech incubator provided Fletch with the tools to be a leader in student-centered higher education technology,” he said in the release. “DV X was critical in teaching us about how we could create a product that made sense to college administrators while also being something that truly serves students.”
DV X Labs launched with four companies last December with the aim of helping early stage education companies refine their product.
