Seed funding
SchoolMint, which provides mobile and online enrolment systems for schools, has raised $2.2 million in seed funding, in a round led by New School Ventures Fund, Runa Capital and Crosslink Capital. Kapor Capital, Imagine K12, Romulus Capital, Fresco Capital and EdMentor VC, as well as other angel investors, also participated. The company will use the funds to further expand its team and increase its reach across schools in the U.S. Since launching in 2013, SchoolMint has been adopted by hundreds of school in more than 21 cities, according to a company statement. “Once we went through the never-ending paper trail to enroll our own daughter in kindergarten, we realized all K-12 schools are in dire need of an automated system to handle their admission process. Schools are resource-strapped and administrators are clamoring for a technology tool that they can customize and implement seamlessly. Our platform enables schools to spend their time and financial resources on what really matters – educating children,” said Jinal Jhaveri, co-founder SchoolMint.
DroneDeploy, which aims to provide software that makes drones easy to deploy, has raised $2 million in seed funding, in a round led by SoftTech VC. The round also attracted from participation from DataCollective, Redpoint, DFJ and Angelpad, where the company was incubated. DroneDeploy also announced the launch of its 4G powered drone control product out of beta, meaning it is now available to commercial customers.
Series B
PrecisionHawk, which uses drones and cloud-based software for aerial data analytics, has closed a Series B financing round worth $10 million led by Millennium Technology Value Partners. Existing investors Bob Young, co-founder of RedHat, and the Innovate Indiana Fund also participated. PrecisionHawk will use the funds to support growth and expand its sales and marketing. “Our firm believes that substantial value is being created by the transformative effect of UAV technology,” said Samuel Schwerin, founder and Managing Partner of Millennium Technology Value Partners. “PrecisionHawk envisions a world, as we do, where businesses across a wide variety of industries can access aerial information and gain actionable insights in an affordable, turnkey manner. This investment is a way to accelerate the development of an open platform for many innovative applications to be built upon.”
Series C
KIN, a digital media company, has closed a $12 million Series C round of funding. Corus Entertainment led the round, with participation from Emil Capital and existing investors Mayfield Fund, General Catalyst Partners and Rustic Canyon Partners. KIN is the owner of KIN Community, a female-focused YouTube network. “This new round of funding will further accelerate our vision to be the global leader in lifestyle by empowering the best lifestyle creators,” said Michael Wayne, Co-Founder and CEO of KIN. “We’re thrilled that Corus recognizes the unique value KIN Community brings creators, brands and consumers as a lifestyle platform, and we are looking forward to working with them as a partner.”