Minerva Project provides higher education offerings via the Minerva Schools at KGI and other educational partners, using a scaffolded curriculum that equips students with cognitive tools and core competencies across disciplines. Its methodology is based on research on the science of learning and is enhanced by proprietary active-learning technology. The Minerva Forum was built to facilitate interaction via live video, enabling professors to conduct intensive, engaged classroom experiences and provide relevant feedback to ensure progress against student learning outcomes. The company will use the Series C capital to accelerate access to its learning experiences through partnerships with universities and corporations. In the financing Minerva raised $57M, bringing total capital raised to date to in excess of $128M. The company emphasizes proven pedagogical practices and tools to support partner institutions' delivery of its curriculum. Minerva Project operates the Minerva Schools at Keck Graduate Institute, a highly selective undergraduate program whose founding class commenced courses in September 2014 with students from 14 countries and territories. The curriculum emphasizes development of key habits of mind and foundational concepts rather than knowledge dissemination, with no introductory level classes and live interactive seminars of 19 students or fewer led by accomplished professors via a proprietary technology platform. Students live together in global student residences in major metropolitan cities, rotating up to seven times during their four years while classes are supplemented by cultural, social and civic experiences. Tuition is $10,000; the school received 2,464 applications from students in 96 countries and territories and accepted every student who passed its high admissions bar, resulting in a 2.8% acceptance rate. Led by founder, chairman and CEO Ben Nelson, Minerva intends to use new funds to scale operations. A representative from TAL Education Group will join Minerva's board as part of the financing. The Minerva Project is building an online liberal-arts university that emphasizes an “extraordinarily rigorous” curriculum and meritocratic admissions. It plans a four-year program delivered primarily online with small live, synchronous classes of 10–25 students and a global student body. First-year students study in their home countries; from the sophomore year onward students are encouraged to live in a new city each semester, and multilingual competency is expected by graduation. Founder and CEO Ben Nelson (former Snapfish CEO) says tuition will be about half that of top colleges, and the school intends to incentivize top professors via a “Nobel Prize for teaching” while hiring Ph.D. educators focused on teaching. The project promises post-graduation support and lifelong networks rather than a traditional alumni fundraising model. Financially, it has secured major startup funding to support launch and operations, and plans to accept its first class in 2014.

Total raised

$152M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Series C

Latest activity

Jul 2019