LiveSchool is an education technology company that allows teachers to track classroom behavior, communicate with parents, and manage rewards and incentives through a user-friendly web-based application. LiveSchool’s founder and CEO, Matt Rubinstein, is a passionate educator who founded the company while working as a teaching fellow at KIPP Academy Nashville.
LiveSchool initially connected with NCN by submitting a company overview through NCN’s online submission form in the fall of 2011. While the opportunity was not a fit for NCN’s partners at that time, NCN provided feedback on the business plan and suggestions for alternative means of financing. Matt and his team continued to build the business while taking NCN’s feedback into consideration. In 2012, LiveSchool contacted NCN again after having made significant progress in both product development and customer acquisition. At that point, LiveSchool had signed approximately 40 schools as customers and was looking for capital to accelerate its growth and add new features.
LiveSchool’s unique solution and the team’s ability to achieve early traction caught the attention of two angel investors with experience in the education industry. One of NCN’s co-investment funds, the Tennessee Angel Fund, also became interested and collaborated with the angel investors to run a formal and thorough investment process. The group leveraged the industry knowledge and contacts of the two lead angels while NCN provided support in structuring, negotiating, and executing the transaction. As the deal came together, NCN arranged for LiveSchool to present the opportunity to the entire NCN Angel Group. This meeting led to multiple new angels with connections in the education space becoming involved. In the end, LiveSchool raised a $1.65 million Series A round from a varied and strategic group of angel investors and the Tennessee Angel Fund.
Since closing its Series A round, LiveSchool has been busy improving its product features and infrastructure. LiveSchool is also having success leveraging its investor group to accelerate business development and forge new partnerships.