AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 3, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via PRWEB - Civitas Learning, the Austin-based predictive analytics Software-as-a-Service (Saas) innovator on a mission to help a million more students graduate every year by 2025, today announced $16 million in funding led by new investor Rethink Education, a venture capital firm that invests in progressive companies that are at the forefront of the education technology industry. Returning investors include Austin Ventures and Emergence Capital.
The company will use the funding to continue its remarkable growth trajectory, which has already seen the company more than double the size of its team to nearly 100, while continuing to add success-driven higher education institutions to its growing community, including recent additions Texas A&M University, University of Washington, The University of Texas at Austin, and Florida International University. As the fastest growing start-up selling to the higher education market, Civitas Learning currently manages data across hundreds of campuses, helping more than 2.3 million students navigate the complex journey through college.
The Civitas Learning platform provides data-driven, visually compelling and educationally valuable insights to students, faculty, advisors and administrators, ultimately helping college and university students learn well and graduate with a credential in hand. From developing personalized major and course recommendations for students to helping faculty and advisors identify students in need of outreach and support, Civitas Learning is a pioneer in helping both students and institutions achieve their goals.
"Civitas Learning's intense focus on quantifying its impact on student success rates is a breath of fresh air for the education sector, and continues to produce remarkable results," said Rick Segal, Managing Director of Rethink Education. "Their unique approach to working in close collaboration with higher education institutions and building a community of thought leaders is very powerful. The company and its partner institutions are truly bringing actionable data science to the front lines of education."
"We're thrilled to add these investors to the fold," said Charles Thornburgh, Civitas Learning's co-founder and CEO. "With their help, we can bring even more skill, will, and resources to our student success mission. This support puts us in a great position to help our partners make a major difference in the months and years to come."
For more information about Civitas Learning and how to become part of the transformation, visit: http://www.civitaslearning.com.
About Civitas Learning, Inc.
By building a community of forward-thinking higher education institutions, Civitas Learning™ brings together the best of new technology, design thinking, and data science in its mission to help a million more college students learn well and finish strong. Using a cloud-based, predictive analytics platform and engaging applications, Civitas Learning helps partner institutions bring deep insights to decision makers, and personalized, real-time recommendations directly to the front lines for students, faculty, and advisors to measurably improve student learning, persistence, and graduation. The reach of Civitas Learning's partners includes more than 733 campuses reaching more than 2.3 million students. Civitas Learning is based in Austin, Texas. For more information, visit: http://www.civitaslearning.com or email partnerships(at)civitaslearning(dot)com.
About Rethink Education
Rethink Education is an education technology venture capital fund investing in early-stage companies that have demonstrated success in implementing business models that leverage technology to re-imagine how traditional education is delivered. Rethink's investments include Education Elements, EverFi, Engrade, Pathbrite and StraighterLine.
About Austin Ventures
Austin Ventures ("AV") has worked with talented entrepreneurs to build valuable companies for over 30 years. With $3.9 billion of capital raised, AV is the most active venture capital firm in Texas and one of the most established in the nation. AV invests in early stage and middle market companies, and its strategy is to partner with talented executives and entrepreneurs to build industry-leading companies predominantly in Texas.
About Emergence Capital Partners
Emergence Capital Partners, based in San Mateo, Calif., is the leading venture capital firm focused on early and growth-stage SaaS and technology-enabled services companies. Its mission is to empower business users and organizations around the globe by unleashing the power of technology-enabled Services. The firm's investments include Salesforce.com (CRM), SuccessFactors (acquired by SAP), Yammer (acquired by Microsoft), Lithium, YouSendIt, Box, and Veeva Systems. Founded in 2003, Emergence Capital has $575 million under management. More information on Emergence Capital can be found at http://www.emcap.com.
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