Baltimore-based edtech startup Citelighter has closed a $2 million Series Seed-2 funding round this week led by Propel Baltimore Fund, along with Maryland Venture Fund, Gulf Ventures, New York Angels, Baltimore Angels and Blu Ventures.
The company that provides K-12 administrators, students and teachers with the writing tools they need to research, analyze and cite academic sources to produce quality school papers also received support for the funding round from George Roche, former CEO and chairman of T. Rowe Price Group; Ed Hajim, president at Diker Management LLC.; and Frank Bonsal Jr., founder of National Enterprise Associates.
According to CEO Saad Alam, the latest round of funding will help Citelighter "enhance the product and grow into new schools for a 21st century learning experience.” Citelighter is already in 3,800 schools nationwide after successful expansion in 2014, and this seed round will allow it to offer an array of new robust features, including a revamped teacher dashboard on its virtual writing platform.
Citelighter also plans on using the funding to hire 20 new employees, increasing its staff from 40 to 60 employees.
DC Inno first wrote about the $2 million in equity financing on Jan. 7. The company has already raised $2.6 million, $1.52 million of which came through in February from investors like John Cammack, managing partner of Cammack Associates; David Warnock, managing member of private-equity firm Camden Partners; and Bonsal, who also helped fund Citelighter's most recent $2 million round.
