Jeff Bezos and Eric Schmidt Renew Investment in Online Education Engine EverFi

EverFi, Inc., a SaaS platform for online learning, announced today that it has raised $40 million in Series C funding. The round was led by prominent existing investors, including Bezos Expeditions, the personal venture capital arm of Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, and Tomorrow Ventures, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt’s investment firm.

Founded in 2008 by Tom Davidson, Ray Martinez and Jon Chapman, EverFi provides subscription-based courses for K-12, as well as higher education and adult courses for those seeking essential skills. Course subjects range from financial literacy, diversity and inclusion, entrepreneurship and character-building to health and wellness. Using its proprietary technology platform, dubbed Foundry, EverFi aims to deliver immersive digital learning experiences via rich media, 3D simulations, and a data engine that tracks students’ progress.

EverFi is used by more than 12,000 K-12 schools and millions of students who access the system free of charge, thanks to the education technology provider’s partnerships with private companies, nonprofits and foundations. EverFi offers licensing options to corporate partners, some of which use EverFi’s platform to design courses relevant to their industries. American Express, for example, created a Financial Scholars Program for school-age children in an isolated rural school in Montezuma Creek, Utah.

“EverFi has created one of the most powerful and innovative models in the education space,” EverFi Founder and CEO Tom Davidson said in the press release announcing the funding. “Our goal is to be the learning engine of every major corporation, university, and school district around these critical topic areas.”

Schmidt’s Tomorrow Ventures had previously invested in EverFi’s $11 million Series A financing round in 2010, as well as $10 million in its 2012 Series B funding. Jeff Bezos first participated in the company’s Series B.