Gamified Education Startup Quizizz Is About to Expand in Santa Monica
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.
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.
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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.
Photo: Relativity Space 
