Kaplan and Pearson, two of the largest education companies in the country, are launching separate startup incubator programs for emerging companies in the ed tech sector.
Kaplan provides educational services for more than 1 million students annually, and Pearson provides educational services and products to customers worldwide, employing people in over 70 countries. Both companies are putting their investment dollars into promising new education enterprises that currently lack funding.
Kaplan announced its three-month mentoring program called the Kaplan EdTech Accelerator. It will guide 10 technology startups in all levels of education, from K–12 education to higher education and lifelong learning programs. Each company will receive $20,000 from TechStars, Kaplan’s collaborating partner, after gaining acceptance into the program. The startups will use Kaplan’s office space and the resources necessary to build their products throughout the program, which will take place in New York City this summer.
Kaplan EdTech Accelerator is meant to serve as a beginning point for helping the startups. The summer ends with Demo Day, which is an opportunity for each startup to present their educational products to a group of potential investors and industry professionals. Kaplan can also help the startups with its large network of relationships, including thousands of corporate customers and more than 300 school districts.
Pearson’s program, called Pearson Catalyst, has a slightly different structure from the Kaplan program. It will choose up to 10 startup ed tech companies, but they will work from their current locations and receive remote support from Pearson executives and product experts. The program will last for at least three months. Each company will get up to $10,000, and they also have the opportunity to be partnered with an appropriately matched Pearson company. Pearson will have a demo day in November 2013 very similar to the one at Kaplan.
Pearson Catalyst will only invest in startups in the ed tech sector that already have a viable product that is technologically oriented. According to the press release, Diana Stepner, Pearson’s Head of Future Technologies, said that the future of learning will be “digital, personal and driven by data.”
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