Online education site snares new funding.
Sympoz, an online education company focused on the crafting space, has raised $15 million in new venture capital funding. Tiger Global Management led the round, while existing shareholders Foundry Group, Harrison Metal and Access Venture Partners also participated.
The Denver-based company was founded two years ago by a group of eBay and ServiceMagic veterans, and is focused on producing high-quality educational videos that sell for between $30 and $60 each.
To do so, it identifies a topic and then seeks out talented instructors who may already be known to niche communities via trade show appearances or blogs. It then flies them out to Denver to produce the videos, and keeps them involved by having them respond to student questions (which can be left at specific minute marks within the video — with all students also being able to see and respond).
So far, Sympoz has sold approximately 142,000 videos.
The company’s initial focus is on crafting — videos on quilting, knitting, etc. — via a vertical called Craftsy. It also is beginning to branch into other areas like cooking and gardening, although it’s unclear if a second vertical is planned. There also is an e-commerce piece, although it is secondary to the videos.
Sympoz previously raised around $6 million. Some of the new funding will be used to increase headcount to from 50 to between 75 and 80.
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