BenchPrep Doubles its Interactive Course Offerings with New Publisher Partnerships
By Michael Carney
On August 16, 2012
Six weeks after closing a $6 million series B round, and with an already impressive quarter million students spending an average of nine hours monthly in its content library, interactive learning platform BenchPrep has no intentions of slowing down.
The startup is putting its new capital to work in a big way, by beefing up its content catalog. The company is announcing several real deal publisher partnerships that more than double its current course offering to over 200 — well on its way to the year end goal of 500 course goal set during the financing. New partners include Pearson Education, O’Reilly Media, Microsoft Press, Archipelago Learning (now part of Plato Learning), A.D. Banker & Co., 20 Million Minds, and Allen Resources.
“The new set of partnerships is a testament to our brand in the publishing community and publishers’ confidence in our ability to create engaging learning experiences around their content,” says BenchPrep co-founder Ashish Rangnekar. “These partnerships would further boost our core high school and higher education offerings while giving us access to largely underserved markets like GED, finance and insurance education.”
There are a number of companies looking to enter the interactive learning space, but few are doing it as well or as quickly as BenchPrep. Students using the company’s platform can can study and sync their learning performance across the web, mobile and tablet devices including iPhone, iPad, and Android. The company combines traditional text-based ebooks with video and audio lectures, question banks, and personalized analytics to offer a more engaging and well rounded study experience.
Among the newly added courses, BenchPrep has expanded its offerings into the areas of finance, insurance, IT certifications, nursing and health, and additional core college courses. In addition to the newly publisher partners, BenchPrep continues to work with McGraw Hill, Princeton Review, John Wiley, Cengage Learning, and Sourcebooks to offer content related to college coursework, professional certifications, and academic test preparations.
In its official announcement, BenchPrep highlighted the following areas of study:
- College Courses: Algebra, Biology, Calculus, Chemistry, Geometry, Physics, Pre-Calculus, Trigonometry and U.S. History ….
- High School: GED, Developmental Math, Reading, Writing …
- Allied Health: Medical Assistant, Pharmacy Technician, Surgical Technologist…
- IT Certifications: CompTIA Net +, Security+, A+, Windows Server & Enterprise …
- Finance & Insurance: Life Insurance, Health Insurance, Property & Casualty Insurance, Personal Line Insurance, CFA, FINRA Series 6, 7, 63, 65, 66 … and more
“Publishers are beginning to view us as their direct-to-consumer-distribution channel,” says Rangnekar. “Students, on the other hand, are loving the power and convenience of aggregating all courses on a single platform, with an engaging interface and personalized learning.”
According to founder, his company differentiates itself by focused on the needs of the students, rather than the bureaucracies of academia.
BenchPrep makes all of its content is available across devices, including accessing all notes and previous test results, meaning a student can pick up on desktop where they left off on their tablet. Courses are priced comparably to physical textbooks, ranging from $50 to $300 depending on subject matter. Additionally, the app helps students analyze their performance shortcomings through personalized analytics.
One step at a time, BenchPrep is eliminating the age old ritual of flipping through dusty old textbooks textbooks and study guides with earmarked pages and generations of highlights and notes.
Michael Carney has spent his career exploring the world of early stage technology as an investor and entrepreneur and has participated in building companies in multiple countries within North and South America and Asia. Ultimately, he is an enthusiast of all things shiny and electronic and is inspired by those who build businesses and regularly tackle difficult problems. You can follow Michael on Twitter @mcarney.
