Dive Brief:
- This week, education technology startup ClassWallet closed a round of seed funding that brought in $1.9 million, bringing total funding to $2.53 million.
- Investors include NewSchools Venture Seed Fund, Kaplan Ventures, and Accelerated Growth Partners.
- The platform is currently in use by the Albuquerque Public Schools Education Foundation in New Mexico, Harrington Public Schools in New Jersey, Broward Education Foundation in Florida, and more.
Dive Insight:
ClassWallet’s platform is intended to make accounting for payments like school supplies easier, especially when the funds come from outside the public system.
"As school budgets shrink, an increasingly larger portion of procurement is being funded by corporations, foundations, parents and teachers to meet student needs," said Jamie Rosenberg, ClassWallet's CEO. "The size of this market, up to $23 billion annually, and the amount of inefficiency and lack of transparency is staggering.”
Retailers ranging from Amazon and Office Depot to Scholastic accept the system as a form of payment, and a debit card for offline purchases is said to be on the way — along with a new version of the platform. The latest round of funding will help finance the launch of those products.
