Ranku

Ranku operated as a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company in the education technology sector, providing a recruitment and analytics platform for higher education institutions. The company was founded in 2013 by childhood friends Kim Taylor, who served as CEO, and Cecilia Retelle Zywicki, who was the COO. The founders identified a need to help non-profit universities with online degree programs compete against larger for-profit institutions that dominated online search results. Taylor's background includes experience in online education sales and a notable appearance on the reality TV show "Start-ups: Silicon Valley," where she pivoted from a fashion startup to pursue her long-held idea for Ranku. Retelle Zywicki brought a background in education policy from her time at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The company originated from the Kaplan EdTech Accelerator, a partnership between Kaplan, Inc. and Techstars, in New York City. It secured initial seed funding of $500,000 led by prominent investor Mark Cuban, along with GSV and Microsoft Ventures. Initially conceived as a consumer-facing search engine for students, Ranku shifted its business model to license its software directly to universities. Its primary clients were universities, community colleges, and state systems looking to increase enrollment in their online degree programs. Revenue was generated by licensing its proprietary marketing and analytics technology to these institutions.

Ranku's platform served as middleware, integrating with schools' existing technology stacks to provide a comprehensive solution for managing and marketing online programs. The software offered features like real-time market research to help universities decide which new curricula to develop based on student demand and labor market needs. It also used predictive analytics to enhance student recruitment and provided tools to optimize a university's web presence and application processes, including an application feature built using LinkedIn's API. By 2016, Ranku had partnered with over 1,000 online undergraduate and graduate programs. In September 2016, John Wiley & Sons acquired Ranku for an undisclosed amount, integrating it into its Wiley Education Services division to complement its existing suite of services for university partners.

Keywords: edtech, higher education, student recruitment, enrollment management, predictive analytics, online degree programs, Kim Taylor, Cecilia Retelle Zywicki, Mark Cuban, Wiley Education Services, Kaplan EdTech Accelerator, university marketing, SaaS, curriculum forecasting, online learning, non-profit universities, college search, education analytics, lead generation, higher-ed technology