image credit : DreamBox

Seattle based interactive education startup Dreambox Learning has now raised $130 million in investment from TPG’s social impact focused The Rise Fund taking a majority position the the ed-tech startup which began 2006 and counts the likes of Kleiner Perkings, GSV Capital, Owl Ventures and Netflix co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings as previous backers.

This marks a major investment for DreamBox whose service is already used by nearly 3 million students and 120 thousand teachers across the U.S. providing a good load of capital for the company which was acquired in 2010 by a partnership between Reed Hastings and the Charter School Growth Fund and has since grown its service by a notable and bigger statistic since then.

With this investment, Former U.S. Education Secretary and senior education advisor to The Rise Fund Arne Duncan is joining the 12 year old ed-tech initiative’s board with Duncan stating in a press release, “I am a big fan of DreamBox Learning and of Jessie Woolley-Wilson,”, “We know that education technology helps students and supports teachers. Providing more effective tools for teachers that drive student learning gains is a win-win for our schools.”

“DreamBox was founded with the mission to transform the way the world learns by using intelligent adaptive technology to dynamically and continuously personalize each student’s learning experience,” said Jessie Woolley-Wilson, DreamBox president and CEO. “As a company, we have been committed to unlocking the learning potential of every child regardless of what zip code they live in, what they look like, or what language they speak. By joining forces with The Rise Fund, DreamBox gains a partner whose mission of social impact is perfectly aligned with ours.”

DreamBox’s funding marks the 14th known investment round participated in by The Rise Fund with the firm also known for its previous investments in several companies from diverse areas including Kenyan payments firm Cellulant, medical device maker RefleXion, Argentine coding school Digital House, edtech company EverFi and Internet of Things unicorn C3 IoT.

“DreamBox is an example of how innovative thinking and transformational leadership come together to create a great, impactful business,” said Bill McGlashan, co-founder and CEO of The Rise Fund. “With Jessie at the helm, the team at DreamBox has built a company poised to continue to grow and deliver on its mission of improving education for millions of students.”

DreamBox’s CEO Jessie Woolley-Wilson has a long and in-depth experience in K-12 educational technology having been in the sector for nearly 20 years and notable for previous stints as President of education entertainment/technology companies LeapFrog Enterprises and Blackboard Inc.

The Seattle based ed-tech firm bases its adaptive learning platform around narrated games and animated adventures providing a much more interactive experience for its nearly 3 million learners.

“Companies like DreamBox and founders like Jessie are why The Rise Fund was created and why TPG is so excited about this opportunity,” added Jim Coulter, co-founder and co-CEO of TPG. “Globally, we are seeing dynamic companies like DreamBox doing transformative work and setting themselves up for significant growth.”

TPG’s The Rise Fund has invested across various technology and healthcare sectors and counts the likes of U2 superstar Bono and Virgin Group founder Richard Branson as backers along with a high profile board and advisor group consisting of renowned individuals across various fields including Laurene Powell Jobs, eBay first employee and Billionaire internet entrepreneur Jeff Skoll, former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, eBay founder and former Chairman Pierre Omidyar, Richard Branson, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and several other notable names.

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