Ed Buckley, CEO of FitOn Health, is leaping into the education space by launching his newest company, Scholar Education.
With Gov. Ron DeSantis signing House Bill (HB) 1, which expands available school choice options for all students in Florida by eliminating financial eligibility restrictions and the current enrollment cap, Buckley saw this as his opportunity to push Scholar Education forward.
"It's been clear for several years that there is a great opportunity to help significantly modernize our approach and in-person education that we've seen during Covid a lot of digital acceleration," Buckley said. "Seeing Florida move toward school choice, we knew this would be a great opportunity to get involved and help all the key stakeholders."
Buckley has assembled a team to handle the daily operations of Scholar Education and will be working with Diamond View Studios and Vū to help create content, according to a release.
SourceToad, a software engineering company, will also be working with the company by shaping the underlying technology behind Buckley's vision.
"I certainly have the vision for where we were taking this business, and I've had great experiences over the last decade in innovating and running growth businesses," said Buckley. "I'm happy that we've attracted such great talent to make the vision a reality."
Buckley told Tampa Bay Inno that he expects to announce more details about the company and the resources it will provide in the upcoming weeks.
With artificial intelligence becoming more prominent in school settings, he thinks it's important to go with the trend, or there's a risk of being left behind.
"You've got to lean into technology and change. Otherwise, you're going to get dragged behind it," Buckley stated. "We believe the idea is to take things that work well in education, infuse 3D immersive content, and use AI to personalize that content for every student."
In the past six years, including several mergers and acquisitions and raising more than $60 million in venture funding, Buckley has made waves in Tampa Bay, receiving local and national recognition, including the TIECON Tampa Bay 2022 Startup of the Year award for his company Peerfit.
In 2022, FitOn acquired Peerfit, a Tampa-based startup with high-profile investors such as Jeff Vinik, Wyc Grousbeck and Florida Funders. Buckley will continue his role as CEO at FitON Health, the release states.
