Amplify, a publisher of next-generation curriculum and assessment programs, announced it has raised $215 million in a growth funding round with Learn Capital and A-Street Ventures, joining current investor Emerson Collective in this round. The funding will accelerate Amplify’s remarkable growth in providing students and teachers with high-quality, digital-forward instructional programs and helping districts address unfinished learning from the pandemic. Rob Hutter from Learn Capital and Marc Sternberg from A-Street Ventures have joined the company’s board, currently made up of Emerson Collective Managing Director and XQ Institute CEO Russlynn Ali, Amplify CEO Larry Berger, Monarch Global Strategies President and CEO Michael Camuñez, Emerson Collective Managing Director Brad Powell, and former Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings.
Amplify currently reaches more than 10 million students in 4,000 districts across all 50 states, with a growing international presence. All three of Amplify’s existing core programs have garnered top ratings on third-party curriculum evaluation site EdReports.org, resulting in strong demand across the country, including in California, where Amplify Science was the lead publisher and won approximately 35 percent of the market in the most recent adoption. Digital supplemental program Amplify Reading also continues to gain traction, as does Amplify’s gold-standard early reading assessment, mCLASS®, which was recently selected as the K-3 formative and diagnostic assessment for North Carolina’s Read to Achieve program. By meeting the demand for research-based, technology-enabled programs, Amplify’s bookings have grown by 50 percent year-over-year for the last four years (2017-2020).
“Our educators and our students have been hit hard by the events of the last two years, which have only exacerbated existing gaps in reading and math skills. Amplify is working to provide the best resources possible to schools and districts while they work to recover and support all students in achieving at high levels,” said board member and former secretary of education Margaret Spellings. “We are deeply grateful for our new partners, their K-12 expertise, and their ongoing commitment to investing in the high-quality, digital-forward learning our students need now and in the future.”
Amplify plans to use the funds to make strategic acquisitions in best-of-breed education companies and to accelerate product development across its portfolio, with a focus on its digital supplemental programs. “Amplify has experienced remarkable growth for six years in a row, is profitable, and is earning the trust of teachers and students. This moment is urgent for accelerating our ability to serve the needs of schools and districts. The magnitude of learning loss and the range of hybrid models for delivering instruction call for the kinds of products that Amplify builds,” said Larry Berger, chief executive officer of Amplify. “As impact-oriented investors, Emerson, Learn Capital, and A-Street Ventures raised a significant round in order to help us address these urgent needs by being a rapid reaction partner for districts across the country.”
Learn Capital, based in Silicon Valley, is one of the world’s leading venture capital funds with a dedicated focus on education technology and companies that leverage technology for better and smarter learning worldwide. “We focus on finding the most extraordinary teams working in education, and Amplify is a natural fit,” said Rob Hutter, head of Learn Capital. “Amplify stands at the center of a profound shift in K12 curriculum delivery that pairs an acceleration of digital learning with an unprecedented emphasis on quality in core instructional materials design. Amplify is uniquely positioned to benefit from both of these trends, and we’re thrilled to have this opportunity to participate in the company’s journey. ”
A-Street Ventures is a privately sponsored investment fund with a strategic focus on seeding and scaling innovative K-12 student learning and achievement solutions for students, families, and schools with a current focus on digital-first instructional materials in curriculum and new paradigms for student assessment. “At A-Street, we believe education can serve as a powerful engine of mobility, and now is the time for big leaps forward in transforming how students learn and how teachers teach,” said Marc Sternberg, Founder and Managing Director of A-Street Ventures. “That’s why we are excited to partner with Amplify, a company that is lifting up the quality of daily instruction and leaning into digital-forward tools to accelerate learning.”
“We could not be happier to have Rob Hutter and Marc Sternberg join the team,” said Brad Powell, board member and managing director of Emerson Collective. “Rob and Marc each bring deep knowledge about K-12 education and share a long-term, impact-oriented vision to investment in this industry. They, along with their firms, will bring important new expertise to our governance, our network, and our brain trust. We are grateful to have such strong partners supporting Amplify’s future growth.”
Source: Businesswire
