D.C.-based EverFi Inc. has a plan for 2021 — double down on mental health, social and emotional learning online courses at a time when the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic makes those subjects more important than ever.
That follows a 2020 when the company grew its online learning platform for K-12 schools, colleges and employers to include more offerings centered on social justice.
And it all comes as the pandemic is forcing big cuts in state and local funding for education — and EverFi is hoping to position itself to help fill that gap.
“We really have a very aggressive and ambitious plan for 2021. We are really laying the infrastructure for our future five, 10, 15 years from now,” said Ray Martinez, co-founder and president of EverFi. “The private sector and foundations are going to play a critical role in getting students and families where they need to go."
The company's accelerated lineup of courses comes after a year in which systemic inequality, health care gaps and an economic crisis have mixed with the isolation of the ongoing pandemic.
“I don’t think we have ever seen in our lifetime such a dangerous collection of crises playing out across the country," Martinez said.
The phenomenon also put a laser focus on distanced, digital learning. Martinez declined to provide a specific number, but said EverFi surpassed the $100 million in revenue it had recorded for 2019, which was a 20% hike from its $83 million in 2018 revenue, according to Washington Business Journal research. The company has stayed relatively steady at about 500 employees, with roughly half based in Greater Washington, per that research. In 2019, it had expanded into larger headquarters at 2300 N St. NW, spanning 58,000 square feet.
In all, EverFi has said it's reached about 41 million learners across 7,100 schools and inked deals with high-profile companies such as Sallie Mae, NFL agency Athletes First, the Anti-Defamation League, Citizens Bank, Beyond Meat, Walmart and HSBC Bank USA, among others.
EverFi also made waves in September with a $100 million pledge to tackle systemic injustice and economic inequality in its online courses, including new digital courses for elementary schoolers, professional development for teachers, and research and development within the company. As part of that initiative, EverFi said it's adding 12 new topic areas for courses, including insurance literacy; financial capability; diversity, equity and inclusion; and violence prevention and response.
The pandemic also pushed the company to start its own internal dialogue about what it wanted to do, and how to increase offerings it felt would make a difference at this time. That discussion resulted in the creation of more “emotional learning” courses and others that more directly addressed financial inequality, including tax preparation and savings.
“That adaptation was an internal reflection on: Are we doing enough, and are we fast enough? And I think we realized the answer was no,” Martinez said.
But Martinez waved aside any near-term plans for an initial public offering or other exit, often the future route for companies that have topped $100 million in revenue. EverFi — which is also led by fellow co-founders Tom Davidson, its CEO, and Jon Chapman, also president — has raised a considerable $251.6 million since its 2008 founding from the the likes of Amazon.com Inc. CEO Jeff Bezos and The Rise Fund, which invested $190 million into the company in 2017 and counts among its investors U2 singer Bono.
“We’re really not focused on, nor do I think we have ever talked about or discussed, an IPO,” Martinez said. “My role as the president of the organization is that we really need to be focused on the work that is right in front of us.”
For 2021, that also means continuing to grow on the international stage, he said. 2020 saw EverFi opening its first global office in London, joining others in Toronto and Dubai. Martinez said many of its customers are multinational companies, such as MasterCard and the Premier League, and these larger companies are interested in international offerings.
“One of the things that we have learned after deploying our programs in the U.S. is that there is a need and there is a demand for some of these topic areas for a global audience,” Martinez said. “Our customers and our partners are going to continue to push us to do more on an international stage.”
