A Phoenix-based education technology company has received an infusion of capital to further its mission of connecting families with schools.
Schola Inc. in December closed on a $10 million Series A round led by San Diego-based Channel Equity Partners, whose investment was partly backed by an undisclosed New York private equity firm.
Other investors include Arizona Venture Development Corp., Revolution’s Rise of the Rest, EduLab Capital Partners and Portfolia.
Schola will use the funding toward launching a new marketing campaign to expand its nationwide reach and add employees to its software team, said Jaime Martinez, the company’s founder and CEO.
“We’ll be hiring engineers,” Martinez said. “We’re growing and expect to be over 100 people in 2023. We’ve gone from hiring generalists to hiring specialists that really understand software.”
Schola, which currently has 65 employees, is an online platform that allows parents to select K-12 schools for their children based on specific needs and interests.
The platform is free for parents to use. Schools can claim listings at no cost. Schola makes money via premium services it offers to schools to streamline their recruiting process.
Martinez founded Schola in 2016 after working with Teach for America in Phoenix. While there, he helped students enroll in schools that better fit their needs, although he was reprimanded for doing so. Martinez joined Phoenix-based incubator Seed Spot and the company launched the first version of its software platform in 2017.
Since then, the company has revamped its software platform and previously brought in $2.5 million in venture capital funding in 2021. Schola’s online platform now operates in all 50 states and it has raised a total of $15 million.
“We’ve made a lot of strides on a national level,” Martinez said. “When we last raised our seed round, we were able to grow by setting up teams and infrastructure needed to service families across the country."
Schola serves more than 100,000 families nationwide that use its online platform to search public, private, charter and online schools.
Schola CEO: 'We are going to come out swinging'
Families in New York and Los Angeles are driving a rise in demand for Schola’s online platform, although the company’s customer base is growing in Phoenix too, Martinez said.
The company’s automated system allows families to navigate the school enrollment process, eliminating the need for several back-and-forth emails with school leaders, Martinez added.
“Now, we’re working toward achieving our mission — helping students and families find their ideal schools based on the needs of students,” Martinez said. “As we continue working with partners all over the country, trying to understand what we can do to help them is the biggest lesson learned. We are helping schools save time and resources.”
Schola aims to add a transportation component to its software that focuses on carpooling options in the future. It’s also looking to raise a Series B round of funding by early 2024, Martinez said.
“We’ve learned a lot in the past couple of years since we received venture capital funding. It has accelerated our growth,” Martinez said. “In 2023, everything comes to fruition. We are going to be very aggressive. We are going to come out swinging and show we’ll be the owner of the [edtech] space and help families across the country.”
