• Grockit

  Participated · Equity · Dec 2012

  Grockit began as a video test-prep service in 2006 and relaunched as a social learning company offering gamified, personalized and adaptive study tools. Its core product strategy has shifted to Learnist, a platform that lets teachers and learners post and curate educational content on digital “learn boards.” The company reports Learnist’s user base has grown 400% to hundreds of thousands of users, and session length has increased from about 10 minutes to over 20 minutes. Grockit is dedicating roughly 90% of its resources to Learnist and is positioning the product for both K–12 and lifelong/casual learners. Recent product work includes a redesigned Learnist website and iPhone/iPad app updates that let users create and add content. The company is leveraging partnerships to scale reach and distribution through media channels tied to its investors. Grockit builds online social learning services that connect students, teachers, and tutors to ask and answer educational questions. It began with test-prep for the SAT, GMAT, and LSAT and expanded into high school AP classes. Its latest product, Grockit Answers, generates Q&A pages for YouTube videos, chaptering videos by when questions are asked or answered and allowing the community to supply answers. Grockit has collected 3,700 educational videos on its YouTube channel, which founder Farb Nivi says is more than Khan Academy. Operational metrics reported include about 1 million registered users, roughly 25,000–50,000 monthly active users, more than 10 million answered questions, and nearly 100 million chat messages. The company notes many students use the service to prepare for a test and then move on. Grockit is an online learning community that applies game mechanics to help high school students prepare for standardized tests such as the GMAT and SAT. The company has integrated and correlated its content and tags to over 1,000 YouTube EDU videos to surface relevant video lessons alongside text-based material. Grockit blends text lessons with video learning to cover individual academic standards and GMAT prep areas. The startup, which launched at TechCrunch50 in 2008, recently raised $7 million in funding. It is moving into general online education for high school and middle school students with the impending launch of Grockit Academy, an online destination where students can learn together and teach each other. The article notes YouTube EDU has grown to more than 65,000 videos and suggests Grockit could also source videos from Academic Earth. Grockit is developing a MMOLG (Massively Multi Player Online Learning Game) that lets people connect to learn from each other. The company has been operating in stealth and hopes to release its product this fall. Grockit originally launched in November 2006 as an online exam‑prep service competing with Kaplan and The Princeton Review, then pivoted in July 2007 to the current MMOLG plan. Founders Farbood Nivi and Michael Buffington bring exam‑prep teaching experience and Rails development expertise, respectively. Financially, Grockit has raised a total of $10.7M, including a recent $8M Series B, while the product remains unreleased. Grockit began by offering low-cost GMAT preparation classes delivered over Webex. The company has changed its model and is now building a new product called MMOL (Massive Multiplayer Online Learning) intended to leverage peer-to-peer learning rather than traditional teacher-student formats. Founder Farbood Nivi and technical co-founder Michael Buffington lead the company. Grockit says studies show people learn best from each other and plans to test that hypothesis with the new product, though it is not divulging product details. The company is based in San Francisco and has secured outside funding to support the shift. Financially, Grockit closed a $2.7 million financing to fund product development and expansion of its new approach.

No current team members are available.