Clever has successfully raised $43.3 million over four funding rounds, achieving a valuation of over $500 million. The platform is designed to improve education by providing a secure portal for all applications and single sign-on for everyone.
Keep reading to explore the intricacies of Clever's fundraising journey and the investors backing this innovative platform.
What Is Clever?
Clever, founded by Dan Carroll, Rafael Garcia, and Tyler Bosmeny, is an innovative platform designed to enhance education through technology. Established by educators and technologists, the company aims to unlock new ways to learn for all students.
Headquartered in San Francisco with additional locations in Durham and remote work options, Clever integrates all educational applications into one secure portal, providing single sign-on for everyone. This approach makes school more engaging, personalized, and fun.
With a team of 51-200 employees, Clever is already used by more than 60% of U.S. K-12 schools, demonstrating its significant impact on the education sector.
How Much Funding Has Clever Raised?
- Seed Round
- Amount Raised: $3,000,000
- Date: October 2012
- Lead Investors: SV Angel, Mike Maples of Floodgate, SoftTech VC’s Jeff Clavier, Google Ventures (Kevin Rose), Bessemer Venture Partners, Mitch Kapor, Ben Parr, and Ashton Kutcher
- Motivation Behind the Round: To support the rapid growth and adoption of Clever's technology in K-12 schools and to address the challenges of data integration and standardization in education.
- Series A
- Amount Raised: $10,300,000
- Date: March 2014
- Lead Investors: Sequoia Capital, Y Combinator's Paul Graham and Sam Altman, Deborah Quazzo of GSV Advisors
- Motivation Behind the Round: To develop technology that streamlines the process of managing students' user accounts, login, and password data for school districts.
- Series B
- Amount Raised: $30,000,000
- Date: December 2014
- Lead Investors: Lightspeed Venture Partners
- Motivation Behind the Round: To expand its team and product, and to consider new international markets.
Total Amount Raised: $43.3 million. Current Valuation: Over $500 million.
Key Investors
- Y Combinator
- Details: Y Combinator is a startup accelerator that has funded numerous successful startups since its inception in 2005. It is known for its intensive three-month programs that help startups refine their ideas and pitch to investors.
- Investment Focus Areas: Early-stage startups, technology, education, healthcare.
- Notable Investments: Airbnb, Dropbox, Stripe.
- Sequoia Capital
- Details: Sequoia Capital is a prominent venture capital firm that has been investing in early and growth-stage companies since 1972. It has a strong track record of backing some of the most successful tech companies in the world.
- Investment Focus Areas: Technology, healthcare, consumer, financial sectors.
- Notable Investments: Apple, Google, WhatsApp.
- Lightspeed Venture Partners
- Details: Lightspeed Venture Partners is a venture capital firm that focuses on early-stage investments in the enterprise and consumer sectors. It has a global presence and a diverse portfolio of successful companies.
- Investment Focus Areas: Enterprise technology, consumer, health sectors.
- Notable Investments: Snapchat, Nest, GrubHub.
- GSV Capital
- Details: GSV Capital is an investment firm that focuses on high-growth, venture-backed private companies. It aims to identify and invest in the most dynamic and innovative companies in the market.
- Investment Focus Areas: Education technology, high-growth startups, venture-backed companies.
- Notable Investments: Coursera, Spotify, Dropbox.
- Peter Thiel
- Details: Peter Thiel is a renowned entrepreneur and venture capitalist, co-founder of PayPal and Palantir Technologies. He is known for his investments in disruptive technology companies.
- Investment Focus Areas: Technology, innovation, disruptive startups.
- Notable Investments: Facebook, SpaceX, LinkedIn.
What's Next for Clever?
As Clever continues to grow, the opportunity to become the industry standard for the login layer in the U.S. education system is immense. With only 20% of U.S. schools currently using its platform, there is a significant 80% market still untapped. Additionally, international expansion represents a vast, largely untapped market, offering further growth potential.
Future fundraising opportunities are likely as Clever scales its operations and expands its market reach. Strategic investments or partnerships with international investors could support this growth. However, challenges such as overcoming the bureaucratic nature of the education industry, competition from other companies, and ensuring data privacy and security will need to be addressed.
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