Educelerate XV: Founding and Funding an EdTech Startup

Thank you again to our generous event hosts and sponsors BenchPrep, WyzAnt and Educated Ventures.

Join us for a panel featuring practical advice and stories on founding and funding start-ups in education and EdTech. Learn from industry experienced entrepreneurs, investors, and advisors with panelists to include:

The Bootstrapped Entrepreneur

• Andrew Geant: CEO and co-founder of the online tutoring marketplace WyzAnt. Co-founding WyzAnt with Mike Weishuhn following their graduation from Princeton in 2006, they bootstrapped this business for 7 years before raising $21.5mm from Accel Partners, one of the largest first round EdTech investments in 2013 and from one of the leading venture funds in the world.

The Funded Entrepreneurs

• Ashish and Ujjwal: Founders of the adaptive test preparation platform BenchPrep. With early backing from one of the leading Chicago-based venture funds Lightbank, Benchprep has further raised venture funding from pioneering venture fund NEA as well as Steve Case's Revolution.

The Early Stage Entrepreneur

• Matt Tullman: President of DigEdu, a comprehensive, tablet based platform supporting schools in the move to digital. DigEdu recently raised a $2.5mm Series A round that included 7wire Ventures, a Chicago based investor with a core focus on education.

The Late Series A Investor

• Corey Greendale: VP specializing in research and investment in education, training, and knowledge-based businesses. He also provides research coverage of leading private and publicly traded companies in the education sector.

The Early Series A Investor

• James Dugan: Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of OCA Ventures, where he has invested in nearly half a dozen education companies, including ED MAP and Campus Explorer, serving on both company boards, Sed de Sabor (Retention Education), and previously TechSkills.

The Seed Investor

• Alan Matthew: The founder of Tribal Ventures, LLC where he has made seed investments in 14 Chicago-based start-ups, including such edtech ventures as Scholastica, Packback and Youtopia. In addition to his angel investments, Alan draws upon over several decades of futures trading, world travel, photography and shamanic healing.

The Seed Investor and Advisor

• Christopher Nyren: Founder of Educelerate and Educated Ventures, where he has led 5 seed investments and advised on $50 million of institutional capital raises, all for education companies; previously led several education industry acquisitions and investments for Apollo Group (University of Phoenix) and its international focused joint venture with Carlyle.

The Tech Lawyer

• Michael Gray: Partner at Neal Gerber Eisenberg, representing investors, companies, and executives in venture capital and private equity financings; M&A; executive compensation; general contract and intellectual property agreements and the structuring of partnerships, corporations and LLCs. Prior to joining private practice, Michael was an investor at OCA Ventures.

Please note, there is a parking garage and lot across the street from the building, or street parking can be found if you're lucky. Please note, only confirmed attendees will be able to attend - please register in the lobby of the building and then head up!