Nearpod (acquired by Renaissance)

Founded in 2012, Nearpod is a dynamic media and assessment platform that allows educators to build interactive multimedia presentations or select from a library of more than 8,500 interactive lessons and videos. Educators can also access a range of virtual reality programs, quizzes, and student insight tools.

In 2019, the company acquired Flocabulary, a platform promoting literacy through K-12 curriculum-based hip hop-themed videos, activities, and creativity tools. After reaching a user base of around 7 million K-12 students, Nearpod expanded into the higher education space in October 2019 with the launch of “Nearpod for Higher Education”. The platform allows faculty and instructors to create and upload lessons, presentations, assessments, polls, and quizzes—all of which can then be accessed by students on their own devices.

In February 2021, Nearpod was acquired by Renaissance, a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and learning analytics company that develops cloud-based, pre-K-12 educational software and adaptive assessments, for ~USD 650 million. The Nearpod brand will be retained and managed by Nearpod CEO, Pep Carrera. The acquisition expands Renaissance’s portfolio to include a lesson delivery and teacher engagement tool.

Key customers and partnerships

In January 2021, Next Gen Personal Finance (NGPF), a provider of K-12 financial education, partnered with Nearpod to provide 1,500 personal finance teachers and more than 1.5 million students access to the platform. NGPF also converted two of its personal finance courses into Nearpod lessons. As of February 2021, the Nearpod and Flocabulary brands have reached educators in the 100 largest US school districts.

Funding and financials

Nearpod’s most recent funding round was a USD 21 million Series B in 2017 that went towards further expansion.