Video Learning Company, Zaption, Announces $1.5 Million in Seed Funding
Infusion of Capital Bolsters Zaption Growth Across Education and Professional Training Markets
SAN FRANCISCO(19 May 2015)
Zaption, a leading video learning company, today announced it has raised $1.5 million in seed funding from investors including NewSchools Venture Fund, Redcrest Enterprises, Scion Capital and Telegraph Hill Capital. Zaption plans to use the funding to expand its video learning platform and increase its U.S. sales and marketing operations to further bolster growth across the education and professional training markets.
"Zaption helps educators and trainers harness the power of video to engage learners, deepen their understanding, and track what they learn as they watch," said Chris Walsh, CEO of Zaption. "As the use of online video for learning continues to skyrocket, our investors are excited about Zaption's potential to transform the video experience from passive viewing to active learning."
Instructors and trainers use Zaption to engage learners by adding text, images and relevant questions to existing videos from YouTube, Vimeo and private video libraries. In addition, Zaption's analytics provide instructors with immediate feedback on how students interact with content and understand key concepts.
Zaption has provided its learning platform to more than 200,000 users across K-12 classrooms, higher education programs, adult training settings, and fully online courses. The company has been revenue-generating from day one and expects to more than double its subscription-based revenue this year. Recently, Zaption was awarded two prestigious Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants from the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences, providing $1 million in additional funding. The 2nd phase of the grant will enable Zaption to develop new video learning tools and content in collaboration with leading education partners including Discovery Education, Canvas, Gooru Learning, San Francisco Unified School District, and many others.
Zaption offers the most comprehensive video learning solution on the market, with more interactive features, rich learning analytics, and deep integrations with learning management systems. The enterprise-ready platform is secure, scalable, accessible, and interoperable, seamlessly integrating with major video hosting services and learning platforms.
About Zaption
San Francisco-based Zaption is a leading video learning company founded in 2012 by father-son team Jim and Charlie Stigler. Charlie was one of Peter Thiel's "20 Under 20" fellows who left the computer science program atColumbia University to start Zaption. Jim Stigler is an accomplished professor, researcher, author and entrepreneur whose previous video learning company, LessonLab, was acquired by Pearson. In 2013, Chris Walsh joined as CEO, bringing a wealth of experience as a K12 educator, web & media producer, and entrepreneur. Prior to Zaption, Chris was a leader at New Tech Network, co-founded edtech startup Brightstorm and launched the Google Teacher Academy. Zaption was also recently named winner of the 2015 SXSW LAUNCHedu competition and recognized as one of the Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Video in 2015 byFast Company.