Edmodo Acquires Education Technology Start-up Root-1

Social learning platform grows executive team, triples user base to 18 million, offers 400 third-party apps to deliver personalized learning at scale

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Edmodo, the free and secure K-12 social learning platform, today announced the acquisition of Root-1, an award-winning education technology start-up and developers of OpenMinds, a free platform that allows teachers to instantly customize education apps.

“Teachers are discovering new digital, common core and standards-aligned content in modern Edmodo classrooms every day.”

With the acquisition, Edmodo gains industry leading technology that will expand the capabilities of the company’s popular platform. The entire Root-1 team will join Edmodo, with co-founders, Manish Kothari and Ketan Kothari (former co-founders of AlphaSmart) taking on key roles in platform strategy and growth. Root-1 co-founder and early Google employee, Vibhu Mittal, will head up research and development for the organization. Co-founder Adam Stepinski will take on a key role within Edmodo’s platform engineering team.

“We’re excited to welcome the Root-1 team and have them join our efforts to expand the education app market. Gone are the days when the seven-year textbook purchasing cycle dominated education and controlled which content could reach the classroom,” said Nic Borg, CEO and co-founder of Edmodo. “Teachers are discovering new digital, common core and standards-aligned content in modern Edmodo classrooms every day.”

Last year at SXSWedu, Edmodo launched an API and platform for third-party developers. Since then, the platform has grown to support more than 400 apps while the main service has tripled its total user base, now exceeding 18 million registered users. Founded in 2008, the company’s growth to date has been largely organic, with teachers sharing Edmodo from classroom to classroom, around the globe.

Teachers have been quick to adopt Edmodo where they have direct oversight around the selection and deployment of high quality, tailored content and apps to students in the classroom, in their homes, and on their mobile devices. As teachers all over the country are being asked to do more with less, Edmodo’s social features meet a digital generation of students precisely where they are and help teachers save time and much needed resources.

Edmodo’s engaging, easy-to-use apps help teachers to scale personalized instruction for every student. With content from developers like MasteryConnect, Sokikom, and StudySync, the apps cover everything from biology to poetry, and grammar to fractions. Teachers can connect these apps to site features like badges, assignments, and quizzes in order to create highly effective learning experiences for their students.

“Edmodo’s apps facilitate collaboration and virtual teamwork to accelerate learning,” said Melinda Pierce, M.Ed., eighth-grade language arts teacher in Palm Beach County, Fla. “After twenty years in the classroom, I’m as excited as a first-year teacher these days. Edmodo apps help me keep my teaching fresh and interesting for my students.”

Over the past year, Edmodo has experienced significant organizational growth, doubling the size of its workforce and adding considerable pedigree to the executive team. Recent notable hires include Vice President of Engineering Damon Sicore (formerly of Mozilla), Vice President of Business Development Jackson Gates (formerly of Pandora), Head of Product and Platform Analytics Andreas Quandt (formerly of Facebook) and General Counsel Aden Fine (formerly of the American Civil Liberties Union).

Edmodo plans to have an active presence at SXSWedu this year. Developers are encouraged to join the Edmodo team at Tuesday evening’s meet-up to meet Manish, Ketan and Adam and share best practices around building Edmodo apps. Following is a list of all Edmodo’s SXSWedu events:

• “Digital Content in the 21st Century Classroom” panel moderated by Crystal Hutter, Chief Operations Officer of Edmodo on Tuesday, Mar. 5 from 1:30-2:30 p.m.
• Hosted Meet-Up on Tuesday, Mar. 5 from 5:30-7:30 p.m.
• BBQ closing event on Thursday, Mar. 7 from 11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m.

About Edmodo

Edmodo’s mission is to connect all learners with the people and resources they need to reach their full potential. On Edmodo, teachers are at the center of a powerful network that connects them to students, administrators, and parents. This network surfaces the world’s best resources and tools, providing the building blocks of a high quality education. In Edmodo’s secure environment, teachers and students can collaborate, share content, and use educational apps to augment in-classroom learning. These powerful capabilities enable teachers to personalize learning for every student. Edmodo is free for teachers and students and always will be. The company is headquartered in San Mateo, Calif. Learn more at www.edmodo.com.