Flashnotes Makes Studying Pay

Secures seed funding; set to launch nationwide offering

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Flashnotes, the online student-to-student marketplace for buying and selling class material, has closed a seed round of $1.8M. The financing was led by Ryan Moore of Atlas Venture and Jordan Levy of Softbank Capital, with participation from angel investors Michael Lazerow (Founder, Buddy Media), Paul Sethi (Founder, RedBooks) and Paul Tedeschi (Founder, Mr. Youth), Sachin Jade (Klifer Capital) and Abigail Coxsen.

“This is a passionate, engaged community, so our technology is all about empowering them to recognize and reward the best members and the effort they put into their materials.”

Flashnotes enables students to set their own price for the notes they upload and the flashcards they create; and they earn up to 80% on each sale. The crowd-sourced rating system weeds out poor content very quickly and incentivizes the best note takers. Flashnotes also offers a 100% money back guarantee.

“High-quality class specific content can make a big difference in learning,” said Jordan Levy, partner at Softbank Capital. “By allowing students to earn significant incremental income, Flashnotes provides an incentive for students to take the best notes possible.”

“Flashnotes has made superior quality the foundation of its business and the standard to which it holds itself,” said Ryan Moore, partner at Atlas Venture. “That’s the reason for its rapid adoption and popularity with students; and it will serve them well as they enter new markets and roll out innovative new offerings.”

Flashnotes aims to arm students with the ability to harness the latest technologies to assist them in all their academic needs. More than 65% of Flashnotes’ student buyers have increased their grade point averages (GPA).

“The key to our success is maintaining a high level of quality, while making it incredibly simple for students to join and post content,” said Steven Maggs, CTO and Co-founder of Flashnotes. “This is a passionate, engaged community, so our technology is all about empowering them to recognize and reward the best members and the effort they put into their materials.”

Flashnotes is currently available in 75 schools and will begin a national rollout with this new funding. With the launch of its new site this semester, Flashnotes has introduced an enhanced flashcard feature that allows students to create, study and download their cards for free. Students also have the option to post their cards for sale.

About Flashnotes

Flashnotes powers the student-to-student exchange of high quality academic materials to help supplement and complement the learning experience. For more information, visit www.flashnotes.com.