College students can’t always get into the courses they want, even online ones. That’s why many schools share online courses across institutions to give students more flexibility in scheduling the classes they want and help them graduate.
Austin-based edtech startup College Consortium Inc., which does business as Acadeum, is one of the biggest players in this ecosystem, working with big schools like Texas A&M and smaller systems. Today, Acadeum announced it has closed an $11.9M series B funding round led by Austin-based Green Street Impact Partners. It is the fund’s first investment. Other investors included ECMC Group’s Education Impact Fund and Pearson Ventures.
Acadeum’s platform provides course sharing across national and regional schools, and the company has partnered with Coursera to expand offerings of professional certificates. Through course-sharing, schools can offer courses that they might not otherwise be able to.
For example, last year Complete College America launched a course-sharing initiative in partnership with Acadeum to help two-year schools aiming to start or expand technical programs.
“Today’s learners are older, and more likely to be parents or working, than at any point in our nation’s history. That new majority of learners are putting pressure on institutions to align course offerings with the realities of their schedules and responsibilities beyond the classroom,” David Daniels, CEO of Acadeum, stated. “At a moment when some are questioning the role and relevance of American colleges, we’re building tools to leverage the collective strength of our nation’s higher education system to unlock new opportunities for both institutions—and students.”
Acadeum was co-founded in 2016 by Joshua Pierce, Luis Felipe Rincon, Nathan Green, Osei Bonsu and Robert Manzer. It has now raised a total of $23.9M, according to Crunchbase.