One Month, a startup that aims to teach learners new digital skills in 30 days, has raised a $770k Seed Round from investors including Winklevoss Capital, Innovation Works, Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, Start Fund, Oliver Jung, Lew Moorman, Y Combinator, FundersClub, and crowdfunding platform WeFunder. One Month also took part in the Y Combinator 2013 Summer batch where it had received an initial $14k in seed investment. Launched in 2013 by Mattan Griffel and Chris Castiglione One Month created the hugely popular One Month Rails, a Ruby on Rails course for beginners which is still one of the best-selling programming courses of all time according to the startup. To date over 14.5k leaners signed up for One Month, generating over $500k in sales and completing 150k lessons on the platform. There are currently two courses available on One Month: Rails and HTML & CSS, both cost $99. With the funding the team aims to extend its offering into new topics, breaking them down following the startup’s accelerated learning philosophy. "We think that when it comes to learning a new skill, the first 30 days are the most important to determine whether someone is going to quit or not." states Mattan Griffel. For more information on this and all other deals along with analysis and commentary from founders and investors sign up for EDUKWEST Pro to receive our monthly EdTech Deal Overview right to your inbox. Links onemonth.com | Twitter | CrunchBase

Fingerprint, a mobile app network for children, announced that it has raised a $10.85 million Series B from Reed Elsevier, Corus Entertainment and Dreamworks. Fingerprint previously raised $7.75 million led by Corus in August 2012 which brings the total funding raised to more than $20 million. Key Takeaway Founded in 2011 by Nancy MacIntyre, a former executive vice president of product innovation and marketing at learning tablet maker LeapFrog, Fingerprint’s own network grew to over 3 million users who download 2.5 games on average according to WSJ. In the same time Fingerprint’s revenues have grown ten-fold according to the press release. Fingerprint currently offers 250 apps in its own network called Fingerprint Play and aims to reach 600 by the end of the year. The startup also created networks for Samsung (Samsung KidsTimeTM), Sylvan Learning (SylvanPlay) and Astro (AstroPlay). According to Common Sense Media and Kaiser Family Foundation, kids between the age of 1-8 spend nearly two hours per day using devices, and between 8-18 years of age they spend eight hours per day. The challenge for game makers is the short attention span of kids states MacIntyre in an interview with WSJ. Children typically spend just two weeks playing a game, especially an educational game. To counter that, Fingerprint attempts to create new games on a regular basis. Fingerprint also invites developers to add content to the network. Since the launch of the global content initiative in December, Fingerprint has received more than 400 submissions from developers in 30 countries including content from Smart Education, Ducky Deck, BabyBus, TinyTap, Speakaboos and BabyFirst. By the end of 2014, Fingerprint expects to have launched seven new networks with a global footprint that will span the US, Canada, SE Asia, Australia and Europe. As part of the funding both Corus and Dreamworks will be doing commercial partnerships in terms of distribution of content and alignment with Fingerprint’s various partners. Further Reading Fingerprint Secures $10.85M Series B Financing from Top Media and Entertainment Companies to Expand and Create New Kids’ Mobile Networks | Press Release Kids’ App Maker Fingerprint, Snubbed by VCs, Backed by DreamWorks | WSJ Links fingerprintplay.com | Twitter | Facebook | CrunchBase

What is the Amazon Fire? It is Amazon’s latest offering and is a smartphone. The cost is $199 with a plan from AT&T and $649 without a service plan. You can pre-order the phones for release July 25, 2014. The $199 phone offers 32 GB of memory and you can get a 64MB phone for […]

Coursmos, a learning platform offering micro-learning courses for the "generation distracted", raises $530k from Russian VC Imperius Group and an undisclosed angel investor. The startup previously raised $310k from Happy Farm Business Incubator and a group of angels. Coursmos aims to chop larger subjects into bite-sized lesson units, each not longer than 3 minutes and with a micro-course not containing more than seven lessons. The courses can then be linked to related courses, forming knowledge clouds for a variety of fields. Courses are created by the users and can be either offered for free or for a fee. Coursmos currently features over 1500 courses with over 6600 lessons and has 70.000 registered users of which 30.000 are active according to TechCrunch. The funding will be used to expand the team and create a course recommendation system based on learning history and interest of the individual user. Links coursmos.com | Twitter | Facebook | CrunchBase

I was checking about the home decor on my favorite site, Zulily.com, and came across the plaque to the right. We just moved households and are still in the clean up process. I was looking for items that might look nice in the new house and came across this saying. While the plaque is very […]

Yik Yak, an anonymous local messaging app for college and university students, raised a $10 million Series A led by DCM with participation of Azure Capital Partners, Renren Inc. and Tim Draper. Alan Masarek, co-founder and former CEO of Quickoffice, and David Chao of DCM, join Yik Yak’s board of directors. The startup previously raised a $1.5 million Seed Round from Vaizra Investments, DCM, Azure Capital Partners and several other angels in April. Key Takeaway Founded in late 2013 by Brooks Buffington and Tyler Droll as a local communications app for their alma mater Furman University, Yik Yak quickly attracted users beyond the campus and beyond the target demographic. The app became very popular among high school students, leading to all sorts of problems ranging from bullying to bomb threats. The Yik Yak team answered by geofencing every high school in the US, making it unavailable outside of college and university campuses. The team recently launched PEEK, a feature that enables users to access conversations and updates in their local universities or communities from outside of the local radius in order to stay connected. Yik Yak and its investors see a shift towards anonymous, private and unfiltered forms of social networking and communications with the app being in the center of this shift. The new funding will be used to expand the team, further develop the Yik Yak iOS and Android apps as well as for international expansion. Further Reading Yik Yak Raises $10 Million to Grow Hyper-Local Social Networking | Marketwired Yik Yak Raises $10 Million to Move Beyond Being a Gossip App | WSJ Yik Yak, A 7-Month-Old School Gossip App That's Spreading Like Crazy, Has Raised $10 Million | Business Insider Anonymous Social Messaging Discovers That Location Matters | TechCrunch Anonymous messaging app Yik Yak grabs $10M to be the ‘Twitter of your college campus’ | VentureBeat Related Links Yik Yak, Geofencing and the Future of BYOD | EDUKWEST HEDLINE: Yik Yak raises $1.5 million Seed Round | EDUKWEST Links yikyakapp.com | Twitter | Facebook | CrunchBase | AngelList

Although I didn’t get to go ISTE this June, I am so touched by those who saw my husband and sent greetings to me through him. He told me about all of the people he encountered (thanks so much to everyone who took time to talk to him) in the vendor hall and throughout the […]

In today’s EdTech Funding News we have two seed rounds with Myagi raising $500k AUD for an online training portal and TeachBoost raising $1.5 million for teacher assessment. In the Series A range we have Bulb raising $1 million for a publishing and portfolio service. $1.7 million in follow-on funding goes to StudyBlue for its collaborative learning portal. Myagi raises $500k AUD Seed Round Myagi, a Melbourne-based edtech startup that offers an online platform for customer service product, sales and compliance training, raised a $500k AUD Seed Round from a group of local and international investors reports Startup Daily. According to Myagi’s CEO Simon Turner, only one in four consumers in Australia feel that they had a good customer experience while shopping. Myagi aims to streamline and refresh old forms of training through its online training platform that is also accessible via mobile devices and features incentives for employees as well as real time data analysis for employers. Further Reading Melbourne startup Myagi closes $500,000 funding round | Startup Daily Links myagi.com | Twitter | Facebook | CrunchBase TeachBoost raises $1.5 million Seed Round NYC-based TeachBoost, an observation, evaluation and feedback platform for school administrators and teachers, has raised a $1.5 million Seed Round led by Cue Ball Capital, with participation from Swift River Investments and the EdTech Fund reports EdSurge. TeachBoost is currently used by 20% of New York City schools, 25% of KIPP schools, and more than 300 schools across 20 states and five countries. Founded in 2012, TeachBoost aims to engage teachers and administrators in an ongoing, evolving dialogue that fosters the development of effective educators and improved student outcomes. Through the platform administrators can schedule and track the observation process whereas teachers can set and track their personal development goals. Further Reading TeachBoost Gets $1.5M To Simplify Teacher Feedback | EdSurge Video Links teachboost.com | Twitter | Facebook | CrunchBase Bulb raises $1 million Series A Bulb, a Fort Collins-based publishing tool for creating and sharing learning resources, closed a $1 million Series A from a group of angel investors. Founded in 2011, Bulb can be used for creating and publishing student portfolios and projects, as well as a delivery platform for courses, lectures and flipping a classroom at any grade level. The funding will be used for further product development and marketing. Further Reading Bulb, an app for publishing your work, secures more than $1M in financing from angels for growth | PR Newswire Links bulbapp.com | Twitter | Facebook | CrunchBase StudyBlue raises $1.7 million Madison, Wisconsin-based StudyBlue raised an additional $1.7 million from existing investors Great Oaks Venture Capital, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), and StudyBlue chairman Steve Wallman reports Xconomy. Founded in 2009, StudyBlue is a collaborative online learning platform, enabling students to create and share learning material like flashcard decks. To date over 200 million pieces of content have been created by the StudyBlue community that counts 5.5 million members in higher education and K-12. According to StudyBlue CEO Becky Splitt, over 1 million users have joined the platform in the past year alone. The startup raised more than $20 million in funding to date. Further Reading Wisconsin Edtech Startup StudyBlue Raises $1.7M | Xconomy Related Links Becky Splitt and Matt Messinger of StudyBlue | EDUKWEST review:ed #19 Interview with Becky Splitt of StudyBlue | EDUKWEST Video Links studyblue.com | Twitter | Facebook | CrunchBase

For the third year in a row, Google is hosting a free online Maker Camp. The camp is based on the premises of traditional maker faire and maker-movements but this is an online event designed for teens. The Google + social network is how the camp will be hosted. According to the online article by […]

Editor's Note: This post has first been published on edcetera - straight talk on edtech. Constant distraction is the bane of the digital age. Most of us are now connected 24/7, the Internet is just a click away for the good and for the worse. Especially education, or better the way we acquire and retain information, is shaped by mobile devices that can come up with answers and relevant information when and where we need it. Another factor is the fast pace of the technology space in general. Not only does it incessantly throw new gadgets and matching applications at consumers, but it also demands workers with skills in the latest programming language, social media product or design software. This environment seems to call for education solutions that drastically cut down the time spent to learn a skill in order to make sure that employers can access a pool of employees with the latest set of skills needed. What can one learn in 30 days? One Month started as One Month Rails, an online coding course that promised to teach anyone the popular coding language Ruby on Rails in one month to an extent where the learner would be able to launch a fully functional web application at the end of the course. The course became hugely successful, according to the founders Mattan Griffel and Chris Castiglione it is still one of the best-selling programming courses of all time. With a fresh round of seed investment One Month is now extending its courses into other verticals, implementing its accelerated learning philosophy. "We think that when it comes to learning a new skill, the first 30 days are the most important to determine whether someone is going to quit or not." states Mattan Griffel. Micro-Learning and Micro-MOOCs Coursmos, another edtech startup that announced new seed investment this week, aims to condense educational content even more. With micro-learning topics are chopped into 3 minute lessons with a maximum of seven lessons forming a micro-course. Of course, there is only so much you can teach in 21 minutes but Coursmos aims to link multiple micro-courses together, forming knowledge clouds. As the lessons tend to be around a video, Coursmos could be described as a media enhanced encyclopedia. When I look something up on Wikipedia, I tend to spend more time on the site reading related articles. The same could work for Coursmos as learners look up a certain subject and then get deeper into the subject, or a related topic, through the interlinked courses. Stackable Credentials On the other end of the scale of accelerated learning one can find nanodegrees. I already touched upon them in last week’s article about the partnership between AT&T and Udacity. Nanodegrees aims to teach a certain topic up to a credential within six to twelve months. Again, the product clearly caters to the needs of employers in the tech space. Those nanodegrees cover a very defined subject but also aim to be "stackable" meaning that the learner will be able to combine different nanodegrees in order to advance in her career. Risk and Advantages The advantages for employers and employees are clear. Accelerated learning will not only cut down on the time commitment but also cost to acquire a new skill. The One Month courses are priced at $99 which is a very compelling offer based on the premise that learners will be able to create a working product after 30 days. Nanodegrees are priced at $200 per month, again a good value as Udacity also hopes to get its learners into paid work after completion. To my mind the biggest risk in this way of learning is that people are more and more trained out of retaining knowledge in their memory. Internet connected technology and accelerated learning might lead to a mindset of outsourcing when it comes to learning. People might think they don’t need to remember information and also don’t need to cross reference in their minds anymore as Google Now or Siri do a much better job which I think is a rather chilling development.