Education technology startup Fiveable in Milwaukee said Monday that it has acquired Hours, a virtual study platform founded by 16-year-old Calix Huang, in a "six-figure acquisition," according to Huang's website.
Fiveable declined to disclose the terms of the deal, which was its first acquisition.
Huang, who's currently a high school junior in the San Francisco area, will join Fiveable as a part-time lead product manager until he graduates, according to Fiveable spokesperson Liza Vilnits. He has an offer to join the company full-time after that.
Huang launched Hours in October 2020, and it has since been used by more than 17,000 students across 120 countries, according to a press release.
Fiveable is a social learning platform for high school students that offers online study resources for Advanced Placement (AP) exams. The Hours acquisition will allow it to create single and multiplayer study rooms with capabilities for live text and video chat, editable task lists with visualized progress, customizable timers, a built-in music feature with a lo-fi playlist, as well as focus mode to minimize distractions.
Fiveable was founded in 2018 by Amanda DoAmaral, the current CEO, and Tán Ho, the chief experience officer. It has since raised $4.2 million in funding by investors including Serena Williams and Chelsea Clinton. Fiveable had more than 1 million unique users in April and expects a record of more than 3 million in May amid AP testing season, according to Ho.
"Virtual group studying is one of the many trends that took off during the pandemic and is indefinitely here to stay," DoAmaral said in a statement. "Having Calix and his team lead product strategy for Hours allows us to continue creating decentralized spaces where students can work directly with one another — one small step towards educational equity."
Huang is also the founder of Launch Tech LLC, which incubates student-focused ventures like Ortexo, NPO Core and w3Hacks — all of which were acquired by New York City-based NovaCrypt, an international student-led umbrella organization that supports science and engineering research and projects.
