You might hear stories that TechCrunch favors venture-backed companies, or will only write about startups that have raised from certain VCs. Well, I can tell you that is totally untrue. In fact, it couldn’t be further from the truth. Speaking for myself, I really enjoy talking to successful bootstrapped companies. Raising money can be a […]
View More Online learning startup Skill-Lync promises India’s mechanical engineers a job, or their money backCategory: online education
Sebastian Thrun initiates aggressive plan to transform Udacity
“I’m a fighter. I believe in our people, I believe in our mission, and I believe that it should exist and must exist.” Sebastian Thrun is talking animatedly about Udacity, the $1 billion online education startup that he co-founded nearly eight years ago. His tone is buoyant and hopeful. He’s encouraged, he says over an occasionally […]
View More Sebastian Thrun initiates aggressive plan to transform UdacityByju’s buys Osmo for $120M to add blended learning to its $4B digital education business
Weeks after it raised a massive $540 million funding round, Indian education unicorn Byju’s is on the M&A path. The company announced today it has snapped up U.S-based Osmo, a startup that develops apps for kids that use offline input, in a deal worth $120 million. Osmo has raised over $30 million from investors that […]
View More Byju’s buys Osmo for $120M to add blended learning to its $4B digital education businessEdtech unicorn Udacity lays off 125 people in global strategy shift
Learning platform Udacity is to axe a big chunk of its workforce — which looks to be between a fifth and a quarter — as part of a global reorganization effort, according to VentureBeat. It reports the company is cutting 125 staff from now through early 2019. We’ve also heard from a source that around 100 Udacity […]
View More Edtech unicorn Udacity lays off 125 people in global strategy shiftApoll01 wants to remake education by decentralizing the diploma
Dan Genduso spent nearly a decade working in consulting before landing on the Disrupt Berlin stage to launch his first startup, Apoll01 — a small company with a big idea about how to solve America’s expanding education crisis. First at Accenture and then at Slalom Consulting in San Francisco, Genduso focused on building out customer […]
View More Apoll01 wants to remake education by decentralizing the diplomaVishal Makhijani steps down as chief executive of Udacity
Vishal Makhijani, the long time chief executive of online education company Udacity, is stepping down as its chief executive officer, TechCrunch has learned. Makhijani first joined the company in 2013 as chief operating officer under Sebastian Thrun, the company’s founder and chief executive at the time. In 2016, Thrun, the original architect of Alphabet’s self-driving […]
View More Vishal Makhijani steps down as chief executive of UdacityY Combinator to give $10K to 100 grads of its online Startup School
Y Combinator wants to lure more companies into the funnel for its accelerator while democratizing free access to startup knowledge. It’s simultaneously moving up and down market to conquer the acceleration space, with both its recent Series A program for more mature startups, and $1 million in grants for high potential founders extra-early stage online course. […]
View More Y Combinator to give $10K to 100 grads of its online Startup SchoolUdacity tackles cybersecurity with its latest nanodegree
Responding to the talent shortage and increasing demand facing the cybersecurity industry, Udacity said that it is now developing a new nanodegree focused on security. Launched at the security industry’s RSA Conference, details about the new program (including potential partners) are still sketchy (there’s little available on the information page on the Udacity’s website about the program). […]
View More Udacity tackles cybersecurity with its latest nanodegreeEquity podcast: Coinbase buys a startup, Discord’s a unicorn and Netflix soars
Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. This week TechCrunch’s Katie Roof and Crunchbase News’s Alex Wilhelm sat down with Science Inc’s Michael Jones to dig through the latest in the world of technology and money. And goddamn was there some stuff to get through. On […]
View More Equity podcast: Coinbase buys a startup, Discord’s a unicorn and Netflix soarsUdacity introduces real robots and virtual worlds to help students build skills
Udacity is hosting its annual Intersect conference this week, and the online learning platform is introducing some new programs and features for students at the event. Those include two new ways for students to practice and hone their practical skills – in both real and virtual worlds. For robotics education, Udacity is teaming up with […]
View More Udacity introduces real robots and virtual worlds to help students build skillsUdacity debuts a dedicated School of AI with three new nanodegrees
Udacity is intruding three dedicated new nanodegrees (its own accelerated learning program) in the field of artificial intelligence, which will become part of its new School of AI. AI has been a subject Udacity has taught nearly since its inception, beginning over five years ago, and the field has changed a lot since. It’s seen […]
View More Udacity debuts a dedicated School of AI with three new nanodegreesEdTech is having a renaissance, powered by the emerging world
So-called ‘EdTech’ has seen many false dawns over the years. After being lauded as the teaching platforms of the future, most MOOCs (Massive Open Online Course platforms) have not quite lived up to the superlatives made for them, and the sector has had trouble coming up with more innovative ideas for a while. But that […]
View More EdTech is having a renaissance, powered by the emerging world