Milwaukee edtech startup Fiveable is getting backing from someone who knows their way around the playing court.
On Tuesday, the company announced it has received a fresh round of funding from Serena Williams through the tennis superstar’s investment firm, Serena Ventures. The startup additionally announced funding from Swell Partners, an early-stage venture capital firm based in NYC, bringing its total funding raised to $4.2 million since 2019, according to the company.
In a statement, Williams said she was impressed by Fiveable’s ability to understand and connect with today’s students.
“That’s what initially piqued our interest,” Williams said of the investment. “The way they’ve brought students in to help guide their roadmap is unlike anything I’ve seen. Based on their growth in users and engagement, it’s evident that their social learning community has cracked the code on peer-to-peer learning.”
The add-on funding comes on the heels of a $2.3 million round completed in October, which was led by New York’s BBG Ventures and included investors such as Chelsea Clinton.
Founded by Amanda DoAmaral in 2018, Fiveable has developed an interactive student tutoring platform. The company operates live-streamed study sessions for high school students preparing for Advanced Placement exams. Since launching, the company has served roughly 4 million students and has achieved a 92 percent pass rate on AP exams, according to the company.
Fiveable plans to use the latest round of funding to grow its student support community, add to its team, and manage its growing user base. In March, the company reported a 118 percent bump in the number of new accounts from the previous month, and a total student user base of 609,716 — an increase of four times, year-over-year.
A spokesperson said the edtech startup is currently gearing up for AP exams, the company’s busiest time of the year. In addition to creating open-sourced study guides for units in all 38 AP subjects, Fiveable is offering live reviews and pep talks to help prepare students for the “cram season.”
To further assist students during the stressful period, it has also focused on expanding its support resources, including by growing its community with Discord.
Currently, about 9,400 students actively participate in the Fiveable community on the voice, video, and text service tool, where they can “collaborate and study together, address mental health and identity challenges and connect on topics they care about, like gaming, politics, creative writing, engineering and more,” the spokesperson said.
“It’s another way for students to support each other and receive peer-to-peer support, and it’s where Fiveable has seen so much success,” she added. “We help bring them in and empower them, and the extra support students get from each other is what makes the experience so special.”
A blog post said Fiveable is focused on achieving “educational justice” through its online community and by using digital tools to share educational and support resources with students in an effort to overcome institutional barriers present in the educational system.
