Koofers

In its pursuit to help college students study smarter, Koofers, Inc. today announced that it has raised $5 million in Series A equity funding. This round includes Revolution LLC, created by AOL co-founder Steve Case, and QED Investors, started by Nigel Morris, and its existing investors, New Atlantic Ventures and Altos Ventures, which previously provided seed funding in 2008. The new capital will be used to scale the company’s presence by expanding product development and customer adoption while adding even more content to enhance the user experience.

Koofers, Inc. is a social learning company that empowers students to help each other learn by providing open and free access to: course materials, class and professor ratings, study aids and more. Today, Koofers has aggregated data from more than 400 universities and leveraged the power of social networks like Facebook to attract more than 310,000 college students who use the service to prepare for class, study more efficiently and save money. By using social media and the “social graph” – a map of people and how they're related on the web – Koofers can create a rich learning opportunity for college students by connecting them to relevant educational content and to one another.

“Koofers is driving the reinvention of our university system,” said John Backus, founder and managing partner, New Atlantic Ventures. “Traditionally, academic education has been top-down, with the wise teacher imparting knowledge, one way, to the blank-slate mind of the student. Social media on the web destroys this hierarchy and creates a level playing field for knowledge around the world, where students and professors learn from and teach each other.”

• Free Academic Course Materials: Much like preparing for the SAT, Koofers lets students study for exams by practicing with previous ones. Notes, study guides and other resources can be accessed, just like using the local library.
• Public Course and Professor Ratings: Based on reviews, students can find the right classes, professors and teaching styles that fit them.
• Historical Grade Distribution: Koofers makes millions of grading histories available by department, course and professor, at no cost.
• Digital Flashcards: Koofers allows students to study on-the-go on their phone (through a free iPhone app), or simply at their computer by creating their own digital flashcards, or borrowing from the shared repository, which includes "Wikipedia Suggests."
• Textbook Price Comparison: Koofers compiles a list of textbooks, based on course schedules or search terms, and shows students purchase and rental prices from the top online retailers. This means students never overpay for required reading material.
• Class Schedule Maker: Students can create the perfect schedule by using Koofers to find the right classes, times and professors, without spending a cent.

"By connecting students with their peers in similar classes, we are building the academic extension of the social graph – we like to call it the Academic Graph,” said Gio Hunt, CEO, Koofers. “We appreciate that our investors share our vision to give students entirely new ways to collaborate with one another, master course material and advance their college careers.”

Koofers, Inc. is a social learning company transforming higher education through student-driven, intercollegiate collaboration. Founded in 2008, Koofers is headquartered in Reston, VA and funded by Altos Ventures, New Atlantic Ventures, QED Investors and Revolution. For more information, go to: Koofers, Facebook, and Twitter.

Maggie Hatfield
Koofers
703.889.5347
maggie@koofers.com

Meghan Roman
Stonerose for Koofers
415.260.1857
meghan@stoneroseadvisors.com