Schoold

Schoold, Inc. operates as a private education technology company, providing a mobile-first platform designed to assist students and their families in navigating the complexities of college and career planning. Founded in March 2015 by Sourabh Ahuja, who also serves as the CEO, the company is headquartered in San Francisco, California. Ahuja's vision was to simplify the confusing college selection process by creating a customized, intuitive application driven by data science.

The company's core offering is the Schoold app, a mobile marketplace for higher education that empowers students with personalized information and data-driven insights. The platform aggregates hard-to-find data for thousands of colleges, covering aspects like program offerings, graduation rates, and salary projections specific to different fields of study at each institution. This allows students to receive objective information regarding the cost of attendance and their likelihood of admission, enabling more informed decision-making. The app was launched in early 2016 and saw rapid adoption, surpassing 500,000 downloads within its first month on both Google Play and the iOS App Store.

Schoold's business model is centered on its free-to-use mobile application for students and parents. The company's financial backing was solidified in April 2016 when it successfully closed a seed funding round of approximately $4.5 million. This capital injection, from investors including FastForward and serial entrepreneur Lorne Abony, was earmarked for enhancing the app's core functionality and expanding the engineering and marketing teams. At the time of funding, the company also appointed Joe E. Ross, an expert in education technology, as its President and COO to support its growth trajectory.

Keywords: college planning, career planning, higher education, EdTech, mobile application, college search, data science, student guidance, education marketplace, university data