KickUp Raises $705,000 to Improve K-12 Professional Learning

According to an SEC filing, edtech startup KickUp just closed $705,000 in debt financing. The company had previously raised $1.54 million in seed funding in May, 2016 from Ben Franklin Technology Partners in Southeastern Pennsylvania, Arcady Bay Partners, and Rittenhouse Ventures.

Founded in 2014, KickUp partners with K-12 organizations to coordinate professional learning efforts, improve decision-making, and ensure that great ideas translate into demonstrable classroom outcomes.

Credit: kickup.co

KickUp’s analytics platform pulls together real-time data from surveys, walkthroughs, and siloed spreadsheets to help professional development teams synthesize feedback, take action to support teachers, and report on impact over time. The platform also allows users to generate personalized reports that include everything from high-level district data to individual teacher information.

According to Lisa Highfill, technology coach at the Pleasanton, CA Unified School District, KickUp is bringing credibility to professional development for K-12 tech evangelists. “It’s challenging to be a ‘prophet in our own land,’ but having KickUp’s professional reports presented in clear and compelling ways instantly became a communication tool between our entire curriculum department, the district cabinet, and the school board,” she said.

The company’s C-suite team includes professionals who range from former teachers to technologists. Founder and CEO Jeremy Rogoff has been an educator in rural, urban, district, and charter schools; COO Victoria Kinzig is a former elementary school teacher; and CTO Eric Krupski is a Dartmouth graduate with more than 11 years of experience in full stack development and engineering leadership.