- Audio learning company Knowable recently announced that it raised $4 million in a seed round of funding led by Andreessen Horowitz
Knowable — an audio learning company — announced recently that it raised $4 million in a seed round of funding led by Andreessen Horowitz with participation from Upfront Ventures, Initialized Capital, and First Round Capital. The company also revealed it launched three original audio courses.
The company unites renowned experts and storytellers for creating immersive audio courses for people who want to get inspired, learn new things, and accomplish their goals. And the courses include hours of long-form audio instruction, detailed lesson summaries, useful learning tools, a downloadable e-textbook, access to private student communities, and etc. All of these resources are offered through proprietary iOS, Android, and web apps.
“Our mission is to make education more modern and accessible for people around the world—we want to help people accelerate their path to self-actualization, regardless of their background. With today’s launch of the Knowable platform and our pilot courses, we’re taking a big step towards achieving this goal by providing our members with a premium, audio-first educational experience that allows them to learn on the go,” said Warren Shaeffer, Co-founder and CEO of Knowable.
Knowable’s creative team have experience working at NPR, Washington Post, and MasterClass. The pilot releases offered include
– Launch a Startup featuring Initialized Capital co-founder Alexis Ohanian Sr., Everyone founder and CEO Michael Pressman, Chewse CEO Tracy Lawrence, and GOAT cofounder Eddy Lu.
– Start a Podcast featuring actor Paul Scheer, director of broadcast and media operations at American Public Media Group Rob Byers, and Vox senior audio producer Jillian Weinberger
– Sleep Better Tonight featuring W. Christopher Winter, MD
(author of The Sleep Solution), Stanford Health Care Director of Sleep & Circadian Health Fiona Barwick, PhD, and Russell Foster of the Oxford Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute.
“Despite the explosive growth of podcasts, we haven’t seen much innovation in how people listen to audio. It’s still a static, one-way experience like radio, which is over 100 years old. We’re excited about developing more interactive and personalized ways to learn through audio,” explained Alex Benzer, Co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Knowable.
There are 90 million Americans who listen to podcasts monthly, according to Edison Research. This is up from 26% in 2018. And Statista pointed out that 50% of Americans have listened to an audiobook, which is up from 44% last year. One notable statistic is that 74% of podcast listeners cite the desire to learn new things as one of the primary reasons why they tune in.
“The market is ready for a company like Knowable. Their timing is right and their team possesses the rare combination of product expertise and creative media experience necessary to win. That’s why I’m not just hosting Knowable’s first course, Launch a Startup, we’re also one of the earliest investors in the company,” added Ohanian.
