Pathbrite, a San Francisco-based startup behind a “Portfolio Learning Platform,” has raised $3.7 million from some very peculiar investors. Leading the round is Cengage Learning, which just came out from bankruptcy after reaching an agreement to eliminate billions of dollars in debt. “It’s a good signal that a company that has been forced to change a lot of its strategy has chosen us as its first investment” after coming out of bankruptcy, Hiles tells EdSurge. As part of the this deal, Pathbrite will be made available to students who use MindTap, an online learning platform from Cengage that is used in over 750 colleges.
Pathbrite makes a tool that students can use to create web-based portfolios showing what they have learned. It seems to be working: More than 500 organizations, the vast majority of which are colleges, use Pathbrite to help their students create e-portfolios. And now the company has raised a new $3.7 million in capital from Cengage Learning, a Boston-based company that provides educational content, services, and technology. “In the simplest form, it’s like a really sexy digital resume,” explained Pathbrite spokesperson Deborah Veney. “Until now, a degree and the name of a person’s college have basically served as a proxy for what a person knows and what they can do. Employers are increasingly finding this is not working out so well for them.” Instead, colleges may purchase a site license for Pathbrite, giving teachers a tool that they can use to map out “learning paths” for students, showing the skills they need to master in order to reach particular goals. As the students complete those goals, their portfolio gets updated, so potential employers can see exactly what they’ve learned.
