The Venture Codex

Led · Series B · Mar 2014

Smart Sparrow provides an instructional design and courseware platform used by instructors to create course content that incorporates simulations and adaptive tutorials to boost student engagement. The platform gives faculty and instructional designers real-time insight into student progress and helps identify areas for course improvement. The company is led by founder and CEO Dror Ben-Naim, Ph.D. Smart Sparrow has been used by over 8,000 educators worldwide to create more than 20,000 simulations, digital lessons, and blended courses. It previously received a $4.5m grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and additional support from NASA and the Department of Defense. The company intends to use the newly raised funds to expand adoption of its platform. Smart Sparrow provides an adaptive eLearning platform that lets educators of science, medicine and engineering create interactive, adaptive learning experiences while preserving academic control. Its solution includes an authoring tool for professors to build and deploy learning experiences and a learning-analytics dashboard that analyzes student learning and recommends content improvements. The platform is already used by academics at more than 400 educational institutions worldwide. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate development of its software platform and to expand in the USA. Smart Sparrow is based in Sydney, Australia and San Francisco, CA. Founded in 2011 by Dr. Dror Ben-Naim, the company reported this fundraising to support product development and U.S. expansion.