SXSWedu Announces 2012 LAUNCHedu Finalists

SXSWedu Announces 2012 LAUNCHedu Finalists
Startups to showcase innovative educational products and business concepts
January 30, 2012, Austin, TX – SXSWedu® Conference today announced the finalists for the inaugural LAUNCHedu competition, a program that allows entrepreneurs to pitch their educational business concepts and educational products to a judging panel of venture capitalists, successful entrepreneurs and education practitioners.
The fast-paced competition will feature a full day of presentations in two separate categories – one for K-12 and one for Higher Education. It will take place during SXSWedu Conference on March 7, 2012 at the Hilton Austin Downtown in Austin, TX. The event is built upon the model of the successful Accelerator programs at SXSW® Interactive and SXSW Music Festivals.
“We were extremely impressed by the innovative education business ideas and products that startups submitted for the inaugural LAUNCHedu event,” said Ron Reed, principal, SXSWedu. “Competition was fierce and the LAUNCHedu event promises to be a compelling exhibition of some of the most creative concepts in education today.”
Finalists in the K-12 category are:
BloomBoard
Palo Alto, CA
bloomboard.com
BloomBoard brings the ideals of differentiated instruction to teacher development. We provide free observation and evaluation tools for districts, and use the data collected to build individualized learning plans for teachers. We then deliver personalized recommendations to each teacher from our open marketplace of professional development providers, resources, and workshops.
Chromatik
Long Beach, CA
chromatik.com
Chromatik is a music technology company redefining how people practice, perform, and teach music. Built as a learning platform for true musicians, Chromatik provides the tools needed to play music and collaborate with educators via mobile and web applications. Users already include musicians at American Idol, Juilliard, and UCLA.
KinderTown
Malvern, PA
kindertown.com
KinderTown’s educational app store and teaching guide helps busy parents mix learning into everyday play. Available as a free download on the App Store, KinderTown recommends only the best educational apps for preschoolers and young kids. With KinderTown, teachers put fun tools for learning directly into parents hands.
LearnBoost
San Francisco, CA
learnboost.com
LearnBoost empowers schools and classrooms with freemium administrative software. Track grades online, create and manage lesson plans, generate beautiful reports and analytics, and share progress with parents and students while integrating with Google Apps. Available in +12 languages and used by schools in over 20 countries.
Reading Kingdom
Los Angeles, CA
readingkingdom.com
Reading Kingdom is a groundbreaking, patented online reading program. It is based on the work of Dr. Marion Blank, the Director of the Light on Literacy program at Columbia University and one of the world’s top experts on reading.
Success Highways
Denver, CO
scholarcentric.com
Founded in 2006, ScholarCentric uses university research to address the socio-emotional skills that are scientifically linked to student engagement, academic achievement and graduation rates. The flagship suite, Success Highways, includes validated early-warning assessments, research-based curriculum, and capacity-building professional development.
Finalists in the Higher Education category are:
CollegiateChat
New York, NY
collegesolved.com
College search and admissions is miserable. CollegeSolved, the HubSpot of college admissions, is a marketing platform for colleges. Our products provide solutions to the key pain points for prospective students and enrollment officers. We help students with discovery and admissions and enrollment officers with identification and targeting of future students.
Doceri
San Francisco, CA
doceri.com
SP Controls has a strong innovation track record in AV control. When Apple announced the iPad, the potential for a simple, intuitive, mobile AV interface was clear. The result is Doceri – interactive whiteboard and content creation designed for today’s connected and distance learning classrooms at a fraction of the cost.
Einztein Knowledge Exchange
Santa Monica, CA
einztein.com
Einztein is the social learning network for higher education and lifelong learners. We bring the power of social networking to learning and enable anyone to create an online learning community for resource sharing, collaboration and discussion.
GYLO
Santa Monica, CA
gylo.com
GYLO is an educational software company with leading expertise in creating games & simulations embedded with stealth assessment. GYLO helps publishers facing 3 major challenges: rise of free content, transformation of paper-to-digital, and transition to Common Core Standards. Publishers license GYLO’s technologies for revenue sharing, consulting fees, and support contracts.
LearningJar
San Francisco, CA
learningjar.com
With LearningJar, add new skills to your life kit by following proven paths to validate your progress and share your success. learningjar.com | facebook/the learningjar | @learningjar
Matygo
Vancouver, BC
matygo.com
Two years ago a couple of university students wondered how the Internet would change education. Today, Matygo is driving that change by combining the best of real world classrooms with the latest thinking from education design into an online service that makes these innovations accessible worldwide.
Winners of LAUNCHedu will receive a modest cash stipend and a variety of consulting services from LAUNCHedu advisory board members and supporting organizations.
LAUNCHedu is overseen by an advisory board consisting of more than a dozen nationally recognized leaders within the educational business and educational technology fields. Members of this diverse, experienced group are Michael Crosno, founder, CEO and chairman, MyEdu; Jack Chorowsky, chief operating officer, KIPP New York; Tom Gilligan, dean, McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin; Gary June, chief marketing and business development officer, Pearson Education; Sergio Monsalve, principal, Norwest Venture Partners; John Mullen, vice president and general manager, Education, State & Local Government, Dell, Inc; Hugh Norwood, president, Trinity Education Group; Adam Dell, venture partner, Austin Ventures; Deborah Quazzo, co-founder, GSV Advisors; Greg Ratliff, senior program officer, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Drew Scheberle, senior vice president, Education & Talent, Austin Chamber of Commerce; Jeff Shelstad, CEO, Flatworld Knowledge; and Deepak Sindwani, principal, Bain Capital Ventures.