Funding enables leading College and Career Readiness (CCR) platform to expand growing suite of K-12 resources for school districts, students and families

October 21, 2024 09:30 AM Eastern Daylight Time

AUSTIN, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–SchooLinks, a leading software platform providing College and Career Readiness (CCR) resources for K-12 students across the U.S., today announced a minority growth investment led by Susquehanna Growth Equity (SGE), an entrepreneur-centric growth equity firm. Additional investors who participated in the funding round include Stephens Group, Strada and ASA. The new capital will help SchooLinks expand its growing suite of CCR offerings and accelerate its growing ecosystem of products that facilitate connectivity between K-12, higher education, and employers.

The precipitous drop in college and career readiness has been widely reported, with analysis of recent ACT scores showing only 1 in 5 high schoolers in the class of 2023 graduated ready to succeed in their core introductory classes in college. SchooLinks bridges this gap through a CCR platform with a curriculum designed to engage students and help them understand post-graduation interests. Programs include engaging assessments, gamified lessons that teach financial literacy, scholarship applications and interactive video, alongside individualized roadmaps for students and their families customized to their unique skills, interests, and goals for the future.

SchooLinks was founded in 2015 by Katie Fang, a Forbes 30 Under 30 entrepreneur, with a focus on democratizing access to important CCR resources and opportunities for students across the U.S. Today, SchooLinks operates across 40 states and has become the go-to platform for a growing number of public-school districts who are putting more emphasis on the resources they provide K-12 students to equip them for the future, well after graduation. The SchooLinks platform is a modern solution that has been architected and customized to the precise needs of administrators, counselors, CTE, families, students, and workforce. The platform also elevates student engagement beyond its peers in the space while seeking to advance the country’s workforce development at a deeper level than other CCR companies.

“I’m thrilled to be partnering with mission and vision-aligned investors in our latest funding round. SGE brings a significant amount of experience to the table, including deep experience in SaaS and the education industry,” said Katie Fang, Founder and CEO of SchooLinks. “We are constantly evolving our platform, including the additions of our workforce solutions, to aid school districts in ensuring that the experiences they provide students continue to be valuable after graduation. With these capabilities we are looking forward to expanding our impact from school districts to employers and this financing round will enable us to accelerate this evolution.”

“SchooLinks has emerged as the leader in the CCR space by bringing district departments together with its intuitive platform, perfectly aligning with our mission to support essential software solutions,” said Josh Elser, Managing Director of SGE. “They’ve not only achieved product-market fit but also redefined CCR with a bold, transformative approach unseen in the last 25 years. We are thrilled to support Katie and her team as they enter this next phase of growth.”

SchooLinks is growing rapidly, serving customers nationwide and positioning itself to be the most trustworthy and reliable platform for school districts. The platform, which today serves 15 times the number of districts and 10 times the number of students since its Series A funding round, has evolved exponentially in the last three years to ensure a true student-centric college and career planning experience.

“We laud the incredible execution made under Katie’s leadership that has led SchooLinks to explode in scale and impact while serving school districts, students, and organizations involved in workforce development, as well as an increasing number of employers. We think that the team’s execution skills and trajectory align with other SaaS businesses that have gone on to dominate their spaces. This financing round is a testament to the company’s exceptional progress to date and will enable SchooLinks to capitalize further on widespread interest in the CCR space. I am excited to continue to serve on the Board and follow the company’s impact and growth over the next few years,” said Krishna Srinivasan, Founding Partner of LiveOak Venture Partners.

Ryan Morrow, Managing Director of The Stephens Group, added, “We are pleased to collaborate with Katie and the SchooLinks team to support its next phase of growth. We believe SchooLinks is poised to continue its leading product innovation and best-in-class customer service that has made it the premier college and career readiness platform for K-12.”

About SchooLinks

SchooLinks is a modern college and career readiness platform that supports districts and students through all aspects of post-secondary planning: from career interest inventory to academic plan that aligns with student’s interests and goals. It also enhances early warning systems and boosts post-secondary outcomes to meet districts’ goals.

At a district level, SchooLinks streamlines back-office logistics, such as individual career and academic plans, academic planning, CTE pathway, endorsement tracking, etc., so that counselors and CTE teachers can spend meaningful in-person meeting time and handle large caseloads effectively. To learn more, please visit: www.schoolinks.com.

About Susquehanna Growth Equity

Susquehanna Growth Equity (“SGE”) is an entrepreneur-centric growth equity fund with flexible capital and time horizons. SGE is exclusively focused on growth-stage software, services, internet, and information services companies. The firm has invested over $4 billion in 100+ market-leading technology and services companies over the last 18 years and has portfolio companies across the US, Canada, Europe, and Israel. SGE is backed by a unique and patient source of capital, enabling the firm to give entrepreneurs and management teams freedom and flexibility to maximize growth. To learn more, please visit www.sgep.com.

Contacts

Media:
SchooLinks
marketing@schoolinks.com
(512) 710-9922

For Susquehanna Growth Equity:
Gasthalter & Co.
sge@gasthalter.com
(212) 257-4170

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