Thinkful Announces $9.6m Fundraise to Bring High-Growth Tech Careers Everywhere with 1-on-1 Learning
Thinkful, the school that brings high-growth careers to people everywhere, today announced a $9.6 million Series A funding to reach students and employers in up-and-coming tech hubs.
“The tech sector is fastest growing outside of America’s largest cities, but is slowed by a lack of world-class education that provides cutting edge skills to the workforce,” said Darrell Silver, Thinkful CEO. “We’re currently operating in six cities and seeing an incredible demand for high-tech workers in places outside of the coasts.”
TechHire reports there are over 531,000 open tech jobs, with the largest growth in the sector occurring mostly in small and midsize cities in the U.S. interior, according to CBS. Too often, geographic location, lack of finances, or exclusion from traditional degrees precludes talented and ambitious people from accessing better careers.
“To deliver on our commitments to our clients, we need the best talent,” noted John Tubert, Executive Technology Director at R/GA, an innovative full service digital agency with a global presence. “We recently hired our second front-end developer from Thinkful for our embedded team at Google and they both hit the ground running. I believe that Thinkful gave them the skills they need to be successful.”
Through its network of 300 software developers and data scientists Thinkful offers 1-on-1 education with a structured, online curriculum. It blends this online education with its local communities in Atlanta, D.C., Los Angeles, Portland, San Diego, and Phoenix.
“There’s a lot of noise in the adult education world, especially from colleges that offer degrees not outcomes,” said Amit Patel, partner at Owl Ventures, who led the round. “Thinkful worked for five years quietly building a sustainable, scalable model in education that’s affordable and transparent for students and that got us pretty excited.” The company, co-founded by Dan Friedman and Darrell Silver, became profitable in 2016 and had previously raised $6.5 million from Floodgate, RRE, Peter Thiel, Deborah Quazzo, among others.
Thinkful’s programs fit into a busy schedule with 60% of its students remaining employed while enrolled. 92% of its graduates land tech jobs within six months of graduation. The company pioneered this flexible pedagogy to dramatically lower students cost of changing careers. Thinkful is committed to student outcomes, introducing audited outcome reports and income-share agreements where students only pay once placed in a qualifying job.
“Education businesses take many years to build,” said Brian Hirsch, managing partner of Tribeca Venture Partners, who also participated in the round. “Thinkful has innovated in a crowded market and consistently shown the kind of long-term thinking required to deliver for both students and employment partners.”
About Thinkful
Thinkful is a new type of school that brings high-growth tech careers to ambitious people everywhere. The company provides 1-on-1 learning through its network of industry experts, hiring partners, and online platform to deliver a structured and flexible education. Thinkful offers programs in web development and data science, with in-person communities in up-and-coming tech hubs around the U.S. To join the Thinkful network visit thinkful.com.