Chegg announced that it has agreed to acquire InstaEDU, an online platform for on demand tutoring sessions, for $30 million in cash. InstaEDU’s co-founder and CEO Alison Johnston Rue will join Chegg as head of its tutoring business. Key Takeaway Founded in 2012 by Alison Johnston Rue, her brother Dan Johnston and Joey Shurtleff, InstaEDU quickly grew to over 3000 individually screened tutors (August 2013) covering more than 2500 subjects ranging from high school and standardized test prep through advanced college concepts. The main premise of the service is that students who get stuck can get immediate access to a tutor who is available on the platform at that moment. When we last talked to Alison the average waiting time to get connected was under 30 seconds. The pricing for students is at around $0.40 per minute, tutors on InstaEDU earn $20 per hour with the difference going to the platform. According to the press release Chegg expects to generate revenue with InstaEDU as early as next year. "Students have been coming to Chegg for years to get homework help using our Chegg Study service when they've been stuck on a subject or need help mastering a concept. Now, they'll have the ability to connect any time, day or night, with an expert tutor who can provide personalized assistance on practically any subject," states Dan Rosensweig, Chairman and CEO of Chegg in the press release. The acquisition follows Chegg’s strategy to become the one-stop-shop for students and lifelong learners. Over the past couple of years Chegg has acquired Zinch, Notehall, Students of Fortune, and Cramster. InstaEDU raised two rounds of venture funding. In May 2012 a $1.1 million Seed Round led by Social+Capital Partnership followed by a $4 million Series A in August 2013 led by Battery Ventures with participation of The Social+Capital Partnership. Before founding InstaEDU, Alison and Dan Johnston founded and ran Cardinal Scholars, an in-home tutoring service which they sold to Course Hero in 2012. "We started this business because we recognized the opportunity to bring greater efficiency to a $60 billion global market through technology that makes one-on-one tutoring fundamentally more affordable and accessible for students anywhere" states Alison Johnston Rue in the press release. Further Reading Chegg Agrees to Acquire a Leading Online Tutoring Network, InstaEDU | PR Newswire Exciting news: InstaEDU is joining Chegg! | InstaEDU Blog Chegg to buy online tutoring matchmaker InstaEDU for $30 million | San Francisco Business Times EduTech Team-Up: Course Hero Buys Cardinal Scholars In-Person Tutoring Business From InstaEDU | TechCrunch Related Chegg is Beginning to Connect People through the Student Graph | EDUKWEST HEDLINE: Chegg Career Center to launch later this month | EDUKWEST Who is going to be Chegg's next acquisition? Here are three Options. | EDUKWEST A Tutor Cloud in a MOOC World - InstaEDU raises $4 million | EDUKWEST InstaEDU: On Demand Tutoring When You Need It Most | EDUKWEST Links instaedu.com | Twitter | CrunchBase

In today’s EdTech Startups Japan Edition we take a look at three startups that are based in Japan, two of which founded by immigrant entrepreneurs from the US. Translation platform Gengo surpassed 200 million translated words, Eigooo wants to teach English via text chat to shy students and Mana.bo wants to disrupt the $10 billion Japanese cram school industry. Gengo surpasses 200 million translated words Founded in 2008 by Robert Laing and Matthew Romaine, Tokyo-based translation service provider Gengo surpassed the milestone of 200 million translated words. Gengo has a network of over 10.000 translators across the globe who now translate about four words per second. According to an interview with Tech in Asia, Gengo plans to reveal even more service related data in the future to add more transparency to the translation market and to show the effectiveness of Gengo’s platform. The translation market is getting quite competitive with companies like Smartling which recently raised a $25 million Series D, Duolingo which builds its business model on crowdsourced translations through language learning, or Microsoft and Google who heavily invest in new, automated translation technologies. Further Reading Gengo cracks 200 million mark for words translated | Tech in Asia Smartling Raises $25M to Help Companies Translate Anything Digital | WSJ Links gengo.com | Twitter | Facebook | CrunchBase Eigooo wants to help shy Japanese students to learn English Eigooo, another Tokyo-based startup, aims to help Japanese English learners who feel too shy to practice the language with strangers through a text chat app. Founded by English teacher Peter Rothenberg, Eigooo lets students and teachers communicate via text chat. Teachers can correct spelling and grammar directly in the app. According to Tech in Asia, the service signed up over 10.000 users since launching in February and has currently 1.500 active monthly users. Other than the last startup in this list, Eigooo does not want to compete with classic language schools but rather sees itself as a supplement to other ways of learning English. Further Reading This English conversation app says no to video and focuses entirely on text chat | Tech in Asia Links eigooo.com | Twitter Mana.bo wants to disrupt Japanese Cram Schools Mana.bo aims to disrupt the established Japanese cram school market, a $10 billion USD industry, by moving the lessons on the Internet. Sounds familiar? US-based InstaEDU followed the same approach and just got acquired by Chegg for $30 million. Of course, Mana.bo’s founder and CEO Katsuhito Mihashi took notice of the deal. InstaEDUがCheggに買収された！！！ http://t.co/eDOqoe2ps3 — katsuhito MIHASHI (@katsuhito384) June 3, 2014 Like almost any edtech startup that aims to disrupt an established industry, Mana.bo is focused on convenience and price. According to Tech in Asia, monthly fees in brick and mortar cram schools are between $500 and $1000 USD, Mana.bo charges between $100 to $200 per month. Like many services in Asia, Mana.bo has a heavy mobile component. Students can take a picture of a math problem with their smartphone and send it to a tutor. Sessions take place in a virtual classroom environment with shared whiteboard. The startup partnered with Japanese textbook publisher Benesse and is currently exclusively available to Benesse’s clients. Video Further Reading Mana.bo wants to shake up the $10 billion Japanese cram school industry with online tutoring | Tech in Asia The Emergence of the Japanese Juku Industry | openpop.org Links man.bo Picture "Postcard Tokyo" by Les Taylor, Some Rights Reserved

Tokyo-based adaptive learning and memory management company Cerego announced the launch of free online oceanography courses in partnership with Mission 31, a project by Fabien Cousteau. With Mission 31, Fabien Cousteau takes on the legacy of his grandfather Jacques-Yves Cousteau. 50 years after the Conshelf Two expedition in which Jacques Cousteau and his team lived for 30 days on the ocean floor, Fabien and his team will go deeper and add one day to the mission. The entire mission is broadcasted live via the Mission 31 website and the team also offers Skype calls to classrooms around the world. Based on Cerego’s adaptive learning and memory management platform, teachers and students will be able to access courses that focus on building fundamental knowledge about factors impacting climate change, ocean pollution, overconsumption and the decline of biodiversity. All courses are accompanied by flexible lesson plans, teachers can access and download the entire curriculum for free. Mission 31 started on June 1st and Cousteau and his team will emerge on July 2nd. Full Release Cerego Teams Up with Fabien Cousteau’s Mission 31 to Introduce Free Online Oceanography Courses Fabien Cousteau Deepens His Commitment to Oceanographic Education Worldwide; Cutting-Edge Cerego Technology Helps Students Learn Faster and Remember Longer May 30, 2014 12:01 PM Eastern Daylight Time MILLBRAE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cerego, the essential memory management tool, today announced that they are teaming up with Mission 31, led by oceanic explorer Fabien Cousteau. "Cerego’s technology is exciting and will help us meet our education goals for the mission" Starting June 1, Mission 31 will offer free general-interest oceanography courses online, powered by Cerego. The two teams have been collaborating since March to create a groundbreaking online experience for anyone inspired to learn more about Cousteau’s journey, and the science and technology behind the mission. Mission 31’s online courses will be accompanied by flexible lesson plans for ongoing use. Teachers will be able to access and download the full curriculum for free. Additionally, Cousteau and his team will conduct Skype video calls with classrooms around the world to bring discoveries to life. The relationship with Mission 31 is the latest in a long list of platform deals for Cerego, including integrations with Harvard and MIT’s massive open online course EdX; the K-12 curriculum of award-winning national charter school network Academica; a new adaptive study application for health professionals developed with world-leading scientific publisher Elsevier; and the "Quantified Brain" project with neuroscientific technology company Interaxon and Professor Jan Plass of New York University. The overarching theme for Mission 31 is the human-ocean connection within the lens of exploration and discovery. Cerego, a digitally-savvy advocacy organization, sought a way to engage the Mission 31 community worldwide, not only during the mission, but long after it is complete. "Cerego’s technology is exciting and will help us meet our education goals for the mission," said Cousteau. "The platform is a unique way for us to generate more STEM content beyond the traditional classroom through an intuitive learning system." Mission 31’s courses will focus on building foundational knowledge about factors impacting climate change, ocean pollution, overconsumption and the decline of biodiversity. Each course will be enhanced by Cerego’s patented learning algorithms, which track performance on an item-by-item level, measuring pace, speed of response, and accuracy to predict the best time to review. The result will be an experience optimized for each individual that leads to long-term retention, and a core learning engine that gets more effective the more students use it. More on the science behind Cerego can be found here. "Mission 31 is an opportunity for parents, teachers and students to dive deep into the fascinating world of underwater life. We’re delighted to collaborate with Fabien Cousteau and his team at Mission 31 to help educate students around the world about the importance of the oceans we share," said Andrew Smith Lewis, co-founder and executive chairman of Cerego. "Together we are going to inspire the next generation of aquanauts with an unforgettable educational experience." Mission 31 begins on June 1st. While underwater, they will live and work in Aquarius, the world’s only underwater research lab. This will be the first time a mission of this length has ever taken place in the history of Aquarius, which is deployed 63 feet beneath the sea off the coast of Key Largo, Florida, operated by Florida International University. Cousteau and his team will emerge from the mission, after 31 days, on July 2. This will be Fabien Cousteau’s first saturation dive, making him the first Cousteau of his generation to become an aquanaut. His grandfather and oceanic pioneer Jacques-Yves Cousteau originally proved the viability of saturation diving with a 30-day journey more than 50 years ago. To learn more about Cerego and Mission 31, visit the Research and Education page here. About Cerego: Cerego is the essential memory management tool. We partner with great teachers, administrators and institutions to amplify growing minds everywhere. Our team is comprised of experts in adaptive learning and memory science. Through our core adaptive learning platform, web application and full suite of mobile applications, we have been helping students to enrich their lives, by learning and retaining knowledge more effectively for over a decade. Cerego is located in San Francisco, CA and Tokyo, Japan. For more information, visit: http://cerego.com/. About Fabien Cousteau: Fabien Cousteau is an oceanographic explorer, conservationist and documentary filmmaker. As the first grandson of Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Fabien spent his early years aboard his famous grandfather’s ships, Calypso and Alcyone; and learned how to scuba dive on his fourth birthday. Today, Fabien continues to fulfill his family’s legacy to protect and preserve the planet’s extensive and endangered marine inhabitants and habitats (www.fabiencousteau.org). Fabien’s nonprofit organization, Plant A Fish is designed to empower communities and children to help restore local water ecosystems through the healthy "replanting" of key marine species with the ultimate goal of planting 1 billion "fish" worldwide (www.plantafish.org). Fabien’s Mission 31 expedition, commencing June 1, 2014, will break new ground in ocean exploration and also coincides with the 50th anniversary of a monumental legacy left by his grandfather, who is also credited with creating the first underwater habitats for humans and leading a team of ocean explorers on the first attempt to live and work underwater. Mission 31 will go deeper, longer and further while broadcasting each moment on multiple channels exposing the world to the adventure, risk and mystique of what lies beneath (www.mission-31.com). Contacts Jones-Dilworth, Inc. John Robert Reed, 512-567-9768 johnrobert@jones-dilworth.com

iParadigms, the company behind the anti-plagiarism software Turnitin and content verification service iThenticate, is to be acquired by Insight Venture Partners and GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund for $752 million. Turnitin is used by over 24 million students and 1.6 million educators at 10,000 institutions worldwide according to the company. In 2008 private equity investment institution Warburg Pincus acquired a controlling stake in iParadigms. Insight Venture Partners is also an investor in Udemy, Chegg and OpenEnglish. Founded in 1999 by Dr. John Barrie, iParadigms is headquartered in Oakland, CA with an international office located in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. PRESS RELEASE iParadigms, creators of Turnitin, today announced the company has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $752 million by Insight Venture Partners, a leading global private equity firm focused on high-growth investments in the technology sector, and GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund. iParadigms is a leading provider of cloud-based educational technologies to prevent plagiarism, verify content, and evaluate student learning. Its flagship product, Turnitin, is used by over 24 million students and 1.6 million educators at 10,000 institutions worldwide to improve student outcomes. iParadigms also delivers iThenticate, the leading content verification service for research, corporate and government markets. "We are very excited to be partnering with Insight Venture Partners and GIC as we execute our vision to be the most innovative and effective technology for evaluating and improving student work," said Chris Caren, chairman and CEO of iParadigms. "This partnership will provide the resources and support to accelerate our product investment plans and expand our reach into international markets." "iParadigms operates an incredible business that solves some of the most persistent and universal challenges in education," said Deven Parekh, Managing Director at Insight Venture Partners. "We look forward to working with the team to serve its very loyal customer base and to invest in product innovation that will continue the company’s amazing track record of high growth. " "As a leading global investor, we are enthusiastic about the opportunity to partner with Insight and management to help iParadigms further expand its international footprint," said Eric Wilmes, Head of the North America Direct Investments Group, at GIC Special Investments. "The company, with its best-in-class education platform, is very well positioned for long-term success." Leading up to this transaction, Warburg Pincus, a leading global private equity investment institution, played a significant role since 2008 as the majority owner of iParadigms. Mason Slaine, chairman of Interactive Data Corporation, has also been a significant investor since 2006. "This is a great company that does important work to help maintain the integrity of the educational system. We are very pleased by what the management team has accomplished," said Mark Colodny, Managing Director and Co-Head of the Technology, Media and Telecommunications Group, Warburg Pincus. iParadigms will remain headquartered in Oakland, CA with its international offices in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2014, subject to the waiting period under the HSR Act and customary closing conditions. Credit Suisse acted as financial advisor to Insight Venture Partners and GIC. Goodwin Procter LLP acted as legal advisor to Insight Venture Partners and Sidley Austin LLP acted as legal advisor to GIC. Evercore acted as financial advisors to Warburg Pincus. Willkie Farr & Gallager LLP acted as legal advisor to Warburg Pincus. About iParadigms iParadigms is the world’s leading provider of web-based solutions for plagiarism prevention and student feedback. The company’s products include Turnitin, used by educators worldwide to check students’ papers for originality, to enable web-based peer review and for digital grading of student work. iParadigms’ iThenticate solution is the leader in plagiarism detection in research, publishing government markets. The company’s solutions check over 100 million documents annually and are used in 19 languages in over 100 countries. iParadigms was founded in 1999 by Dr. John Barrie, and is headquartered in Oakland, CA with an international office located in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. http://www.turnitin.com and http://www.ithenticate.com. iParadigms Press Contact: Chris Harrick (510) 764-7579 About Insight Venture Partners Insight Venture Partners is a leading global venture capital and private equity firm investing in high-growth technology and software companies that are driving transformative change in their industries. Founded in 1995, Insight has raised more than $8 billion and invested in more than 200 companies worldwide. Our mission is to find, fund and work successfully with visionary executives providing them with practical, hands-on growth expertise to foster long-term success. For more information on Insight and all of its investments, visit www.insightpartners.com or follow us on Twitter: @insightpartners. Insight Venture Partners Press Contact: David Satterfield (408) 802-6767 About GIC GIC is a leading global investment firm with well over US$100 billion in assets under management. Established in 1981, the firm manages Singapore’s foreign reserves and is uniquely positioned for long-term and flexible investments across a wide range of asset classes, including public equities, fixed income, real estate, and private equity. In private equity, GIC invests through funds as well as directly in companies, partnering with our fund managers and management teams to help world class businesses achieve their objectives. GIC employs more than 1,200 people across offices in Singapore, Beijing, London, Mumbai, New York, San Francisco, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai, and Tokyo. For more information, please visit www.gic.com.sg. GIC Press Contacts: May Lah Choon - (65) 6889-6841 Jennifer Lewis - (65) 6889-8383 About Warburg Pincus Warburg Pincus LLC is a leading global private equity firm focused on growth investing. The firm has more than $37 billion in assets under management. The firm’s active portfolio of more than 120 companies is highly diversified by stage, sector and geography. Warburg Pincus is an experienced partner to management teams seeking to build durable companies with sustainable value. Founded in 1966, Warburg Pincus has raised 13 private equity funds, which have invested more than $48 billion in over 700 companies in more than 35 countries. Since inception, the firm has invested more than $15 billion in technology, media and tech-enabled services companies, including investments in A Place for Mom, BEA Systems, Bharti Airtel, Cobalt, Coyote Logistics, Endurance International Group, FacilitySource, FIS, GrubHub, iParadigms Holdings LLC, MLM Information Services, NeuStar, New Breed, Nuance, RDA Microelectronics Inc., Service Repair Solutions, UGS Capital Corp., and VERITAS Software. The firm is headquartered in New York with offices in Amsterdam, Beijing, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London, Luxembourg, Mumbai, Mauritius, San Francisco, Sao Paulo and Shanghai. For more information please visit www.warburgpincus.com.

Learning portfolio platform Pathbrite has raised a $3.7 million Series B led by Cengage Learning with participation of existing investors ACT and Serious Change. This latest round brings the total funding raised by Pathbrite to $11.7 million. Pathbrite will use the funding to expand its sales and customer care team and plans to offer its platform in other markets including Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa. Key Takeaway Founded in 2012, Pathbrite provides students, teachers or entire schools with a cloud based learning portfolio platform. The service includes features like student portfolios, course planning and delivery, assessment tools and student management. With Pathbrite students can create portfolios for free by either uploading material or embedding 3rd party content from a variety of sources. Teachers can build assignment-based portfolio templates which can be tracked and assessed. Pathbrite also integrates with existing management systems in schools or higher education. Analysis [member] The aim of Pathbrite is to create an alternative to classic résumés by collecting more data around ones education than just test results and transcripts and therefore make it easier for individuals to stand out from the crowd as well as for employers to get a better sense about the qualifications of job applicants beyond test scores. Before Pathbrite another edtech startup offered a very similar service. Zinch, founded in 2009 and acquired by Chegg in 2011, had the tagline "more than a test score". By the time of its acquisition Zinch had 3.5 million users. Today Zinch which is now branded as Chegg Admission Services is used by 75% of college bound high school students according to the Q1 2014 results. David Blake, one of the founding team members of Zinch is currently working on another startup in the same space. Degreed scores and validates a user's lifelong education from accredited and non-accredited sources. Based on its investment in Pathbrite, Cengage Learning will integrate the portfolio platform in its 300+ MindTap courses by fall 2015. Pathbrite also plans to offer services for employers who will be able to build templates for job openings including the skills and experiences needed as well as the responsibilities. Applicants will then be able to run their portfolio against the job opening to get immediate feedback if they have the necessary skill set to apply. Apollo Education is offering a similar service via its new course aggregator platform Balloon. Job candidates can browse job openings on the site and learn which skills are required to apply. They can then search the course database by either the skill they need to learn or the job title. Further Reading Pathbrite Announces $3.7 million in New Investments | PR Newswire Cengage Learning and Pathbrite Partner to Add ePortfolio Solutions to Deliver Today's Most Robust Course Solution | PR Newswire Pathbrite lands $3.7 million for digital portfolios for students | VentureBeat Pathbrite Gets $3.7M to Grow 'Portfolio Learning Platforms' | EdSurge Related Chegg adds another Piece to its Student Graph - Acquires Zinch | EDUKWEST The Future is Digital: Chegg Quarter 1 2014 Results | EDUKWEST HEDLINE: Apollo Education launches Course Aggregation Platform Balloon | EDUKWEST Links pathbrite.com | Twitter | Facebook | CrunchBase [/member]

2U and its partner universities have surpassed 10k student enrollments, the company announced on Wednesday. Since its launch in 2009, more than 2.500 students have graduated from one of the programs offered through the 2U platform. The students come from all of the U.S. states as well as 60 countries from across the globe. 2U just recently announced a cross-university enrollment initiative, enabling students who are enrolled in one of the partner universities to enroll in select courses from other 2U-enabled programs. The average class size in 2U-enabled online graduate degree programs is 10,4 students. Instructors held over 97k live sessions and nearly 3 million hours of field training have been completed by students according to the 2U Impact Report from December 2013. 2U, Inc. and its University Partners Reach Company Milestone of Supporting More than 10,000 Students LANDOVER, Md., June 4, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- 2U, Inc. (NASDAQ: TWOU), a leading provider of cloud-based software-as-a-service solutions for leading nonprofit colleges and universities to deliver high-quality education to qualified students anywhere, announced today that more than 10,000 students have enrolled in its partners' programs since the first program launched in 2009. This milestone was reached with leading institutions of higher education including American University; the George Washington University; Georgetown University; Simmons College; University of California, Berkeley; the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; University of Southern California and Washington University in St. Louis. These 10,000 students hail from all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia as well as from more than 60 countries. They are true Trojans, Tar Heels, Sharks and Bears, who, upon graduation, join the vast alumni networks of these preeminent universities. Through 2U's cloud-based software-as-a-service platform designed to support learning and success, students in 2U-enabled programs are attending live small seminar-style classes and study groups and consuming high quality self-paced content. Students are also participating in on-the-ground learning experiences, attending campus graduation ceremonies and receiving degrees identical to those of their on-campus peers. These students, including more than 2,500 graduates, are using their educations to impact society, often contributing in areas of great need. They are social workers dedicated to serving the military, math and science elementary school teachers, public health professionals, entrepreneurs, advanced practice nurses and professionals in many other areas of business and service. "2U's model of delivering our degrees online without compromising our rigor and quality has helped to further our mission at the USC School of Social Work beyond Southern California," says Marilyn Flynn, dean of the USC School of Social Work. "Our relationship with 2U has been critical to extending the presence and impact of highly prepared social workers across the U.S. and the world." "Since UNC enrolled our first students in 1795, we have been committed to providing access to learning," says Doug Shackelford, dean of the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School and Meade H. Willis Distinguished Professor of Taxation. "When we explored how to extend that commitment beyond our campus, we found a great partner in 2U. Together we are making it possible for students around the world to benefit from the same transformative education that our on-campus students experience." "A superior education requires a superior commitment and, since 2008, 2U has dedicated itself to serving its university partners and its students," says Chip Paucek, co-founder and CEO of 2U. "I'm so proud of the faculty and staff of our university partners and the 2U staff for reaching this milestone and showing the world that the online programs we enable can successfully help universities reach and teach more students." A 2U Impact Report, which represents 2U-enabled online graduate degree programs as of December 31, 2013, shows average class sizes of 10.4 students, a post-graduation salary increase of 25 percent (compared with pre-enrollment salary), more than 97,000 instructor-led live class sessions, nearly 3,000,000 hours of field training completed by students and a Net Promoter® Score of 68.5. About 2U, Inc. (NASDAQ: TWOU) Founded in 2008 by a team of education and technology veterans, 2U enables leading colleges and universities to deliver their high-quality education to qualified students anywhere. Our cloud-based software-as-a-service platform provides schools with the comprehensive operating infrastructure they need to attract, enroll, educate, support and graduate their students. Our mission is to enable the education our clients provide to reach its highest potential so students can reach theirs. To learn more, go to 2U.com. Be sure to follow us on LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/company/2u), Twitter (http://twitter.com/2Uinc) and Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/2u). Media Contact: Shirley Chow, 2U, Inc. schow@2U.com 858-336-0358 SOURCE 2U, Inc.

Singapore-based editing services startup WritePath raised a $525k Seed Round led by B Dash Ventures with participation of Pinehurst Advisors and a group of angel investors. The funding will be used to set up offices in Japan, South Korea and the US. Key Takeaway WritePath’s goal is to become the world’s premier vertically integrated editing and translation service provider. The startup currently runs three services in the editing and translation space: TopAdmit offers editing services for university applicants, TopSCIedit the editing of academic research papers and BizEditors offers editing services to small business owners. Analysis [member] WritePath’s customer come mainly from China, India, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia and the Ukraine. According to e27, the offices in Japan and South Korea are necessary to set up legal entities in order to collect payments from those countries as global services like PayPal are not broadly used over there. "WritePath is not only a play on technology but a play on the rise of emerging markets such as Southeast Asia, MENA (Middle East North Africa) and India. We like the fact that many of the markets that WritePath is playing in are growing at 8 to 9% a year." states Hiroyuki Watanabe of B Dash Ventures. The founder Charles Chin also told e27 that WritePath has been profitable for the first two years since launch but was in the red in 2013 due to investments in growth and the gain of market-share. Chin expects to break even by the end of this year. "I think investors were encouraged to see a start-up that was not in perennial beta but had already built a service, was profitable and focusing on the blocking and tackling of building a business." Chin states in the press release. Founded in 2009 TopAdmit received orders from 22 countries in the 2013-2014 admission cycle and saw growth of 22% according to TechCrunch. While competitors like EssayEdge are focusing on clients in the U.S. and U.K., TopAdmit builds out its platform to cater to growing markets in Asia, especially China, Japan and South Korea. "The study abroad market globally is growing 8% annually and in many of the markets that WritePath is making strong inroads into, such as Vietnam, year-over-year growth is at 40%. The combination of scale and a rising market means that WritePath is well-positioned for accelerated growth." states Mark Hsu, General Partner at Pinehurst Advisors in the press release. TopSCIedit is used by over 300 researchers and also has signed long term contracts with research institutes. The latest service BizEditors is already in use in 190 multinational companies. Its main competitor is Gengo which just announced a milestone of 200 million translated words on its own. BizEditors sets its focus on the Chinese market, offering translation and editing services from Chinese into all other languages Chin told TechCrunch. Shanghai-based ChaseFuture, another edtech startup that targets the college admission vertical by offering college and grad school applicants personalized admissions consulting, recently raised a $400k Seed Round. easyuni, a search engine and review site for colleges and universities based in Kuala Lumpur signed a partnership with Yahoo Malaysia to provide a dedicated education channel on the country’s Yahoo News portal. Further Reading WritePath raises US$ 525,000 seed funding to speed up global expansion | WritePath [Updated] Singapore’s WritePath secures US$525K led by B Dash Ventures | e27 Editing Services Startup WritePath Nabs $525,000 In Seed Funding | TechCrunch Related HEDLINE: ChaseFuture raises $400k Seed Round | EDUKWEST EdTech Startups Asia: easyuni, MyBusMate, SchoolofTutors and Mettl | EDUKWEST Links writepath.com | Twitter | LinkedIn | CrunchBase [/member]

Chicago-based Learnerator, an online test prep platform for AP exams, raised a $300k Seed Round from Serra Ventures and a group of angel investors. With the funding Learnerator plans to expand its platform into other standardized tests such as the ACT, SAT and GRE. Key Takeaway Founded in 2013 by Luke Liu, Learnerator offers comprehensive practice questions & accompanying explanations developed by expert teachers. Following the freemium business model, Learnerator offers free access to part of its practice questions. Learners who want to practice with harder questions pay $17 per subject per year. Analysis [member] Liu had the idea for the business when he was able to sell practice questions for AP European History in January 2013 with no marketing effort at all according to Crain’s Chicago Business. He then started to recruit experienced AP teachers who develop practice questions for the different subject areas. Those teachers receive royalties from the students who sign up for the different packages. With Learnerator Liu and his team aim to prepare students better for the tests through a more interactive learning path. According to the website, students are often unprepared in a test situation when they are faced with unfamiliar questions that they did not come across in a textbook or classroom. By using Learnerator and its practice questions, Liu and his team aim to build confidence and deeper understanding of the underlying concepts. The platform currently offers over 11k questions with over 2.1 million questions have been answered by Learnerator users to date. Further Reading School software maker ThinkCERCA raises $1.5 million | Crain’s Chicago Business Links learnerator.com | Twitter | Facebook | CrunchBase [/member]

Coursera announced today that it has restored access to the majority of its courses for Iranian students after working closely together with the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control. The General License G now states that US institutions may offer undergraduate-level online courses in the humanities, social sciences, law or business to students in Iran. The sanctions still prohibit the offering of courses that deal with advanced STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math). Earlier this year Coursera and later edX had to block students coming from Iran, Syria, Cuba and Sudan from accessing the platform due to trade sanctions and a changing interpretation of how these sanctions relate to MOOC providers. Students from Syria already regained access to Coursera and the MOOC platform is working on providing access for students from Cuba and Sudan. Coursera says that about 20.000 students from Iran have taken courses on the platform to date. Further Reading Restoring Course Access in Iran | Coursera Blog Coursera restores access to Iranian students | The Pie News Related Education for Everyone but - Coursera blocks Students | EDUKWEST HEDLINE: edX expands Membership Structure - Has to Block Students | EDUKWEST Links

EdTech Europe announced its second annual EdTech 20 list. The EdTech 20 2014 were judged by a jury of industry experts in terms of innovation, scale, market impact and revenue growth over the past year and selected out of more than 100 entries from 15 countries. The three winners of this year’s EdTech 20 will be announced at the EdTech Europe event in London next week. Listed in alphabetical order, the EdTech 20 2014 are: bettermarks (Germany) Founded in 2008, bettermarks is an adaptive math learning platform. bettermarks offers over 100 interactive maths books covering primary and secondary level (grades 4 - 10; age 10 - 16). The platform is available in different markets throughout the EU and abroad. Links bettermarks.com | Twitter | CrunchBase Brightwave (UK) Brightwave creates learning platforms for companies including the latest technology to get employees more engaged in the onboarding process, compliance training and personal development. Links brightwave.co.uk  | Twitter busuu (UK) busuu is among the largest language learning communities with over 45 million members across the web and mobile applications. Following the freemium model, language learners can access parts of the website and apps for free, engage with other learners and participate in a global community. Links busuu.com | Twitter | CrunchBase Circus Street (UK) Circus Street offers online courses for businesses who need to train their employees on everything related to digital marketing. The courses cover topics such as SEO, mobile marketing and social media. Links circusstreet.com | Twitter | CrunchBase Creaza (Norway) Creaza offers learners an integrated, web-based toolbox for creative work, both at school and at home. Students use the toolbox along with various fully developed thematic universes: historical periods, fairy-tales, fantasy worlds, and current challenges, such as climate/environment. Links creazaeducation.com | Twitter | CrunchBase Dnevnik.ru (Russia) Founded in 2007, Dnevnik.ru is an online network for teachers, students and parents offering distance learning features, document sharing and a social networking. Other features of the platform include gradebooks, a media library and test prep for university entry exams. Dnevnik.ru is free to use. Links dnevnik.ru | Twitter | CrunchBase Docebo (Italy) Docebo is a B2B e-learning SaaS provider that enables organizations of all sizes to plan, deliver and certify online and classroom training activities. Docebo’s Learning Management System has been selected and used by more than 28.000 organizations worldwide. Links docebo.com | Twitter | CrunchBase Educations.com Media Group (EMG) (Sweden) Educations.com is a global meeting point for students and educators in over 210 countries worldwide. EMG helps educators market themselves to the right audience. Links educations.com | Twitter eduPad (France) eduPad builds educational apps in Math and English Language Arts for Elementary and Middle School students. eduPad has more than 2 million users. Links edupad.com | Twitter | CrunchBase Eliademy.com (Finland) Eliademy supports educators and students with free online classrooms that enable them to create, share and manage courses. Started in February 2012, Eliademy is backed by CBTec Ltd, a company founded by ex-Nokia veterans, who possess core expertise in Open Source Technology. Links eliademy.com | Twitter | CrunchBase eSchools (UK) eSchools offer a suite of products to schools, from LMS to a school website, communication and management tools for faculty and parents. Links eschools.com | Twitter | CrunchBase Immerse Learning (UK) Immerse Learning (formerly Languagelab.com) offers online language training, as well as complex corporate and vocational online training in virtual worlds including teaching air traffic control systems for leading airlines to mission critical oil and gas health and safety procedures. Links immerselearning.com | Twitter | CrunchBase ITycom (France) ITycom is a designer of solutions in the fields of Human Resources and Training, offering services around serious games and 3D simulations. Links itycom.com | Twitter KTM Advance (France) KTM Advance SA creates and develops custom e-learning and gaming solutions for professional skills-oriented training. The company delivers computer based training aids through Web-based or distance learning packages on CD ROM or DVD. Links ktm-advance.com | Twitter | CrunchBase Learning Technologies Group (UK) Learning Technologies Group (LTG) has been created with the purpose of building a market leading business of substance and scale within the exciting and fast-growing learning technologies sector. Links ltgplc.com | CrunchBase Lecturio (Germany) Lecturio is an interactive e-learning platform that provides online-courses which are available on the web and mobile devices. The company offers more than 4,000 online courses in the field of Business, Software, Languages, Law, Medicine, Accounting and Leisure Time. Links lecturio.com | Twitter | CrunchBase Quipper (UK) Quipper was founded in 2010 by Masa Watanabe who is also the co-founder of the very successful Japanese mobile social gaming company DeNA. Quipper’s flagship product is Quipper School which enables educators to create educational content and track student performance. Links quipper.com | Twitter | CrunchBase Squla (Netherlands) Squla provides core curriculum online adaptive learning solutions for K-12 pupils through social games on iOS and Android devices. Links squla.com | Twitter | CrunchBase The Student Room Group (UK) The Student Room Group helps 8.5m monthly visitors with a unique blend of social learning, peer-to-peer support and advice on student pathways. The UK’s largest student community - The Student Room - sits alongside social learning websites Marked by Teachers and Get Revising. Links tsrmatters.com  | Twitter Virtual College (UK) Founded in 1995, Virtual College supply training advice, resources and online courses to individuals and organisations across the UK including complete design, delivery and progress support training packages as well as its own Learning Management System. Links virtual-college.co.uk  | Twitter