- Paper recently announced it raised $270 million in Series D funding. These are the details.
Paper – a leading software provider of unlimited, 24/7 academic support – recently announced the closing of a $270 million USD Series D, featuring both a primary and secondary offering. This funding round was led by Sapphire and Softbank Vision Fund 2, with support from returning investors IVP, Salesforce Ventures, Framework Venture Partners, Bullpen Capital, Reach Capital, BDC Capital, and Red House Education.
The funding round follows a year of unprecedented growth for Paper, which currently serves close to 2 million students — a significant bump from the one million mark following its Series C round. And since then, Paper has expanded its reach to nearly 30 states nationwide, grown its world-class team by over 300%, and partnered with some of the nation’s largest and most prominent school districts.
Since 2014, the education company is striving to empower all students to achieve success with equitable access to academic support. In many school districts, the students with the means to afford private tutoring get ahead, while the vast majority struggle to afford it. And by partnering with school districts instead of families, Paper puts personalized academic support within every student’s reach.
As schools around the country continue to grapple with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Paper is a community solution helping leaders support students as well as tackle staffing challenges and teacher burnout—a long-existing issue that’s only worsened in recent years. Teachers cannot—and should not—be on call 24/7 to meet the needs of every student. With Paper, tutors are ubiquitous, so teachers don’t have to be.
Paper is addressing the greatest challenges school districts face in implementing effective tutoring: cost, equity, and scale. And school districts contract with Paper for a fixed price, unlimited usage model that uplifts their entire school community: students and families get equitable, on-demand support from multi-lingual tutors; teachers get the help of 24/7 online assistants to track student progress and personalize instruction; and administrators get the opportunity to deliver on critical strategic objectives.
KEY QUOTES:
“Remote learning during lockdowns accelerated digital adoption of education tools but also exposed a glaring divide in the experience for many students> Paper is helping to support stretched public school systems to improve student outcomes by widening access to critical tutoring resources. We’re delighted to be partnering with Philip Cutler and the team to build an enduring solution providing every student with an equal opportunity to excel academically.”
– Ram Trichur, Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers
“Every student deserves a quality education, but unfortunately the majority of schools lack the resources to meet the needs of all of their students. Since the onset of the pandemic, the issue has been magnified by prolonged remote education, resulting in unfinished learning and a decline in academic performance. Sapphire is proud to partner with Paper, a mission-driven company that’s helping all students have access to high quality academic support whenever they need it, making education more equitable for everyone.”
– Rajeev Dham, Partner at Sapphire
“In a diverse district of our size, many learners simply do not have access to individualized tutoring on demand. Paper places knowledge directly into the hands of students—and at no cost to our families. Educational equity continues to be at the heart of everything we do in Hillsborough County Public Schools, and Paper strongly supports us in that mission.”
– Addison Davis, Superintendent of Hillsborough County Public Schools, FL, the seventh-largest school district in the nation
“I am humbled to have the support of our educational partners, our team, and our new and returning investors to propel Paper’s mission of democratizing academic support> Every part of this investment will fuel the transformation of education at a systemic level. We look forward to partnering with more and more innovative school systems to level the playing field for all learners.”
– Philip Cutler, CEO and Co-founder of Paper
