Beanstack announced they have raised $1.5 million in capital led by Riverside Acceleration Capital and Evoce Capital with additional investment from Mark Cuban, Kapor Capital, Militello Capital, and the founders and their family as a strategic raise. And the former Shark Tank company will utilize the funding to accelerate its repeatable growth model and to invest in its Reading Culture Trailblazer client marketing program. The company also seeks to raise an additional $500K under the same convertible note terms through March 31st.
Beanstack was created as a book-of-the-month business focusing on non-traditional genres and interests and quickly found many supportive and enthusiastic backers—including Mark Cuban after a “Shark Tank” appearance. Shortly after, they reimagined their business model as a platform to empower libraries and schools to build a culture of reading through reading challenges and motivation tools for readers of all ages.
This product differs from what Beanstack offers today, but its mission, purpose, and goals remain the same. And Beanstack for Schools utilizes proven gamification principles to motivate students to read without relying on quizzes. The product is licensed by 15,000+ libraries and schools worldwide. Collectively, Beanstack readers have logged over seven billion minutes of reading.
Beanstack was created by husband-and-wife team Felix Brandon Lloyd, a former Washington, D.C. “Teacher of the Year” and Jordan Lloyd Bookey, Google’s previous head of K-12 education outreach. And in 2014, the couple received a $250,000 investment from Mark Cuban during the fifth season of “Shark Tank.”
Now, the education technology company is growing significantly year over year and has received additional funding from Cuban as part of this ongoing fundraising round, as well as from Riverside Acceleration Capital, Kapor Center Investments, Evoce Capital, and Miltello Capital.
