FB EDucator

According to Y Combinator’s estimates, today, there are more than 100 startup accelerators in the U.S., which is almost awe-inspiring considering that there were only four as recently as 2007. While the number of accelerators and incubators continues to rise, popping up in nearly every vertical, Education has been slower to get the memo.

However, with early-stage capital beginning to pile into the EdTech space, it happens to be an excellent time to start an education company. Of course, it’s not as easy to start an EdTech company as “wanting to change the world.” Luckily, over the last year, we’ve seen a reversal of the trend, with a handful of education-focused accelerators opening their doors. Even the 70-year-old Kaplan and publishing giants like Pearson have hopped on the train.

Today, one of the veteran EdTech accelerators is adding significantly more fuel to the fire, with its very own Start Fund. Taking a page out of the TechStars and Y Combinator incubation texts, Imagine K12 launched in 2011 to offer support to education-focused founders with a little seed capital — $14K to $20K in exchange for six percent equity — along with mentorship, coaching and workspace. Now it’s bringing funding for each startup to $100K.

Initially, as we wrote last year, founders Geoff Ralston, Tim Brady and Alan Louie weren’t sure that the accelerator model would jive with education. But, in spite of their early reservations, Imagine K12 received 100 applications for its first batch, and continued to scale from there.

In October, Imagine K12 graduated its third cohort of startups, bringing it to 30 companies in all, with 9 more set to join its fourth batch. The founders tell us that, today, its startups have raised more than $30 million collectively and product created by Imagine K12 grads are now in use in more than 400K classrooms. The accelerator has produced startups like ClassDojo and Educreations, which up until recently had been its two “most successful incubations,” with ClassDojo reaching over 4 million teachers and raising $1.5 million from Paul Graham, Ron Conway, Jeff Clavier, Flixter CEO Joe Greenstein, OpenFeint Founder Jason Citron, Start Fund and General Catalyst — to name a few.

Educreations, in kind, has taken its whiteboard tutorial creator to over 12,000 schools in 117 countries and has raised $2.2 million from Accel and NewSchools Ventures, among others.

Today, Imagine K12 is looking to make these startups the norm rather than the exception. And, for better and for worse, that starts with seed capital. Going forward, each Imagine K12 startup will receive $100,000 upon acceptance into its program — an $80K to $88K hike when compared to the seed capital behind its first three batches.

The new capital comes out of Imagine K12 Start Fund, a new fund launched recently by the accelerator’s founders, which includes investors like Paul Graham, Yahoo co-founder David Filo, Angela Filo, LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner, Chegg CEO Dan Rosensweig, NewSchools Venture Fund and GSV Asset Management.

Each Imagine K12 company will not receive up to $20K from Imagine K12 and a convertible note for $80K from its Start Fund, which the founders said is a “testament to the early success of its graduates.”

“Imagine K12 companies have invented products that are now used by over 10 percent of US teachers,” Brady says, and the additional funds will give companies a longer runway to build out their products, partner with teachers and try to overturn the legacy, broken infrastructure that still runs rampant in education today.