Q&A with Andrew Hill of LiftEd
We are excited to announce the recent success of one of our portfolio companies, LiftEd!
Despite challenges brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, LiftEd, a K12 Edtech enterprise SaaS startup, closed on a $1.4M seed round, led by Camelback Ventures with participation from ONEWORLD. LiftEd answered the call to support the over nearly 8 million students with learning disabilities or differences from birth thru grade 12, receiving Special Education instruction/services in Evolving Hybrid Educational Environments. Part of the round includes grants for $100,000 from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, $250,00 from AT&T's COVID-19 Impact Fund, $10,000 from Collab Capital and $10,000 from WeWork's Black Founder's Initiative, all to directly support the new LiftEd for Families, parent engagement module. LiftEd also partnered with WESTAT, a national leader in K12 education research, to evaluate effectiveness of a 2-way secure messaging & file sharing hub to help educators proactively engage parents of students with moderate to severe learning disabilities. We at ONE WORLD are also thrilled to have contributed through our recent follow on investment with LiftEd.
Andrew Hill, Co-founder & CEO
As schools embark on the 2020-21 school year, LiftEd remains committed to supporting the 1 in 5 students who learn differently, from birth to grade 12. Now as schools struggle to support students with unique needs in blending online and in-person environments, LiftEd has stepped up to the challenge! Their cloud software provides instructional planning, classroom management and data collection + analysis tools all-in-one place, designed specifically for school-based teachers, therapists, specialized support staff, and Special Education administrators in schools. LiftEd syncs all relevant student information, and provides a suite of intuitive tools for school teams centered around student data, team collaboration, and parent engagement.
The story behind creating LiftEd
Co-founder and CEO, Andrew Hill, launched LiftEd in 2016 with Dr. Joanne Hill Powell , after noticing the lack of centralized data in the field of special education, thus inhibiting students educational outcomes and causing teachers to spend more time sorting through materials across different platforms, rather than focusing on individual students needs. “Joanne and I combined our prior backgrounds, mine in tech, hers in education, to create LiftEd. We are a mobile app that is used by special education teachers, related service providers. school administrators and then, ultimately, the parents,” said Hill, when asked the story behind LiftEd.
How has your vision of LiftedEd changed due to the current pandemic?
“When the pandemic forced school closures and a rapid transition to remote school operations, it posed tremendous challenges for educators, families, administrators, and students alike but was especially detrimental to our most vulnerable learners. For the 8 Million+ children and youth with special learning needs across the U.S., their parents have and continue to be left with a daunting question: How is my child supposed to sit for eight hours a day at a computer? Without in-person classes, will my child regress and fail to thrive? What about my job?
The shift to online, and now hybrid learning has exacerbated the disparities imposed by race and class for eligible children with Individualized Education Plans, or IEPs, designed to tailor their public education and classes to improve self-sufficiency, community-based skills and succeed in social environments.
We have always been on a mission to provide tools for all stakeholders that support students who learn differently, starting with school interdisciplinary teams & administrators. The pandemic has accelerated the solutions we had on our product roadmap to empower parent engagement, as support agents but now also as instructional aides as their children learn at home.”
What advice would you give investors looking to invest in the ed tech industry? (particularly at this time given that Covid-19 has greatly expanded the need for various ed tech platforms)
"’Edtech is no longer optional’ and the recent boom due to COVID-19 has led to a surge in K12 market interest, historically at higher levels than ever before. Before jumping into the next promised answer for distance/remote learning solutions, do the "homework" (pun intended) — the most prominent and successful Edtech VCs are speaking loudly and consistently about how to strategize new appetite for Edtech investments. Alliances have been formed by long standing national nonprofits and advocacy organizations focused on reforming education that are leading the charge.”