Coralville-based education startup Higher Learning Technologies (HLT) has secured $1 million in its first funding round. Investors in the said round include the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of a national tech firm, former CEO of testing firm ACT, and a popular local technologist, according to Des Moines Register.
Bruce Lehrman, the chief of Involta in Cedar Rapids is one of the contributors to HLT's first financing. ACT chief Dick Ferguson and Cramer Development's Josh Cramer also participated in the said round, the report detailed. More than the funds, Alec Whitters explains the value comes from the expertise of the investors.
"We know we are inexperienced," he said. "We are in it to learn as fast as we can because that's what we need to do. Sometimes, we don't know what we don't know."
The startup has made advanced test review apps for students who are getting ready to take board examinations in dentistry and nursing, the report explained. Whitters first realzied the need when he went to try and find a tool to assist him to take the dentistry examinations- there were no low-cost ways to prepare. He went on to create the education tool and since then the app has been downloaded 250,000 times.
HLT expects to build another 24 education apps within 2014 using the funds raised this round. This would include review apps for students preparing for entrance exams to medical, financial, and dental fields. The Iowa-based company currently has nine full-time workers in its team, Des Moines Register reported.
Whitter explains, "It's definitely been the ride of our lives so far and we know we are only part way through it," he said. "It feels like we accomplished so much but we're not nearly to where we want to be. There is a lot of work ahead."
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