PORTLAND, OR--(Marketwired - Apr 9, 2013) - Treehouse Island, Inc., the online coding education platform, today announced they closed their Series B Preferred financing round for a total of $7 million dollars, led by Kaplan Ventures, with The Social+Capital Partnership also participating in the round.
"At Treehouse we're thrilled to be able to wake up every day and work to change lives by making technology education affordable and accessible to everyone in the world. Kaplan's 75 years of leadership in education and The Social+Capital Partnership's drive to change the world through innovation are truly inspiring to us, and we're excited to work with them to achieve our mission," stated Ryan Carson, Founder and CEO of Treehouse.
Treehouse reached the customer milestone of 25,000 active students, standing ahead of competitors by employing a full-time teaching staff made up of experienced professionals who develop proprietary, high quality instructional content rather than utilizing crowd-sourced methods. The company's platform has experienced rapid adoption and continues to grow its active student base. Subscribers are able to access a variety of compelling educational offerings, including virtual video teaching, coding live in the web browser with Treehouse Code Challenges, and learning by doing with Treehouse Console.
"Improving access to education and delivering outcomes-based learning are at the core of Kaplan's mission. We actively support companies like Treehouse that share in this mission. We believe that Treehouse has the market-leading offering for delivering targeted, in-demand technology skills training at a low cost, and we are thrilled to support their growth," said Kate Eberle Walker, Vice President for Corporate Investment and Strategy at Kaplan Ventures -- the investment arm of Kaplan, Inc. Ms. Walker will join the Board of Treehouse.
"Treehouse is already the biggest computer science school in the world and has the potential to be one of the most important," says Chamath Palihapitiya, founder and managing partner of The Social+Capital Partnership. "They're creating an education model that massively reduces debt, increases job readiness and drives value in today's economy. This is exactly what America needs right now."
About Kaplan
Kaplan, Inc. is a leading international provider of educational and career services for individuals, schools, and businesses. Kaplan serves students of all ages through a wide array of offerings including higher education, test preparation, professional training, and programs for kids in grades K through 12. Kaplan is a subsidiary of The Washington Post Company (NYSE: WPO) and its largest division. Kaplan operates an active venture capital fund, Kaplan Ventures, which invests in and supports early-stage education companies. For more information, please visit www.kaplanventures.com .
About The Social+Capital Partnership
The Social+Capital Partnership ("Social Capital") is a partnership of philanthropists, technologists and capitalists utilizing venture capital as a force to create value and change on a global scale. The Partnership is based in Palo Alto, California.
About Treehouse
Our mission is to bring affordable Technology education to people everywhere, in order to help them achieve their dreams and change the world. For more information, please visit www.teamtreehouse.com .
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