FIRST CLASS: Pearson's in-house edtech accelerator, Catalyst, wrapped up its inaugural three-month program and "graduated" the five startups that were selected from an applicant pool of over 200 companies around the world:
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Ace Learning: publisher platform that includes a search and recommendation engine for content
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Actively Learn: online e-reader with embeddable content and assessments
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ClassOwl: social academic platform that helps students plan coursework and study
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Spongelab: science education website with a free online collection of multimedia content
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VLinks Media: course delivery and publishing platform
Another startup, Full Stack Data Science, was also accepted in the program. But according to a Pearson rep, "after exploring the challenge further with them, it became apparent that it was too big to tackle in the envisioned form." Full Stack Data Science is no longer in the program.
Moving forward, the five graduates will continue exploring opportunities to form product and business partnerships with the publisher. (Two are already in the works.) More details about the startups and their "biggest achievements" in the program are available in the press release.
