Gamified Education Startup Quizizz Is About to Expand in Santa Monica

Francesca Billington

Francesca Billington is a freelance reporter. Prior to that, she was a general assignment reporter for dot.LA and has also reported for KCRW, the Santa Monica Daily Press and local publications in New Jersey. She graduated from Princeton in 2019 with a degree in anthropology.

Gamified Education Startup Quizizz Is About to Expand in Santa Monica

Edtech startup Quizizz will build out their Santa Monica offices with a $12.5 million Series A round announced Tuesday.

The platform, which lets teachers make gamified quizzes and interactive lessons spanning subjects from elementary school math to technical education, plans to use the funding boost hiring in the U.S., where a majority of Quizizz users live. The startup says it instantly reviews student submissions, cutting down on the time teachers usually spend grading tests by hand.


"Quizizz runs on teacher feedback so it's incredibly important for us to be close to our users here in the U.S. ," said Connor Pierson, the startup's head of growth. "We think that the EdTech community in Los Angeles is going to grow significantly over the next few years and there's no place we'd rather be."

In the era of remote learning, investors have flocked to companies building tools to supplement class time. The company has customers in more than 100 countries and says over 65% of U.S. schools use the platform. And it's turned a profit, although a company representative declined to elaborate.

Quizizz was founded in 2015 by Ankit Gupta and Deepak Cheenath, who tested the first version of its platform with remedial math volunteers in Bangalore, India, where it's based.

"No matter what is being taught, we think the best and most personalized learning happens when an educator is freed from busywork like grading worksheets and rigid, out-of-the-box curriculum," said Gupta, the company's chief executive, in a statement announcing the raise.

Tuesday's round was led by Eight Roads Ventures. GSV Ventures, Rocketship VC and existing investors Nexus Venture Partners and Prime Ventures Partners also participated in the round. To date, Quizizz has raised $15.5 million.

https://twitter.com/frosebillington
francesca@dot.la

Subscribe to our newsletter to catch every headline.

LA-Based Apex Is Tapping Into the Small Satellite Market by Making Buses for Spacecraft

Spencer Rascoff

Spencer Rascoff serves as executive chairman of dot.LA. He is an entrepreneur and company leader who co-founded Zillow, Hotwire, dot.LA, Pacaso and Supernova, and who served as Zillow's CEO for a decade. During Spencer's time as CEO, Zillow won dozens of "best places to work" awards as it grew to over 4,500 employees, $3 billion in revenue, and $10 billion in market capitalization. Prior to Zillow, Spencer co-founded and was VP Corporate Development of Hotwire, which was sold to Expedia for $685 million in 2003. Through his startup studio and venture capital firm, 75 & Sunny, Spencer is an active angel investor in over 100 companies and is incubating several more.

​Ian Cinnamon
Ian Cinnamon

On this episode of Office Hours, Apex founder and CEO Ian Cinnamon discusses the importance of investing in space exploration and shares his thoughts on the evolving space ecosystem in Los Angeles.


Read moreShow less
https://twitter.com/spencerrascoff
https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencerrascoff/
admin@dot.la

This Week in ‘Raises’: Measurabl Snags $93M, Selva Ventures Grabs $34M

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

Raises
Image by Joshua Letona

A local data management platform company lands fresh funding to help commercial real estate owners reduce carbon footprint, while one Los Angeles-based venture firm closes its second fund to accelerate the growth of emerging companies across health, wellness, beauty and personal care.

***

Read moreShow less

McKinsey & Company Launches InLA Accelerator To Help Underrepresented Founders Tackle Startup Challenges

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

McKinsey & Company Launches InLA Accelerator To Help Underrepresented Founders Tackle Startup Challenges
InLA

In 2022, female founders saw a 28% decline in overall U.S. funding, while Black-led startups saw a 38% decline in total capital received. In an effort to increase funding for minority-led startups, global venture firm McKinsey & Company is launching InLA, an accelerator program for underrepresented founders.

“This effort is something that the firm has been really excited about for a long time,” Engagement Manager Elkhyn Rivas Rodriguez said. “There's obviously a meaningful and growing startup community out here and just from a diversity standpoint, LA is incredibly diverse and multi-ethnic and multicultural. So we think that there will be a really great pool of potential companies to partner with.”

Read moreShow less
RELATEDEDITOR'S PICKS
LA TECH JOBS
interchangeLA
Trending