Outschool raises $45 million Series B led by Lightspeed

Outschool, a San Francisco marketplace for live online classes aimed at school-age children, announced a $45 million Series B round on September 18, 2020. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the investment.

Reach Capital, Union Square Ventures, SV Angel, FundersClub and Y Combinator also took part, and EdSurge reported that the round lifted the company's total funding to $55 million. Outschool said its catalog had passed 50,000 classes and that bookings in August 2020 were more than 2,000 percent higher than a year earlier. It also reported adding over 5,000 teachers since March 2020. The company planned to use the money for hiring and product development, for partnerships with schools and learning centers, and for expansion outside the United States.

Founded in 2015, Outschool connects independent teachers with families for small-group video classes covering academic subjects and enrichment topics. Demand rose sharply during 2020 as school closures pushed families toward online options. Alongside the funding, the company pointed to recent additions such as semester-long courses, a planning tool for parents, private group classes and Outschool.org, a program meant to widen access for underserved families.