Articles

Coursedog Raises $17M to Break Down Barriers in Higher Education

In 2018 my co-founder Nick Diao and I were sitting in our university dining hall repeatedly refreshing our browsers as our class registration window approached. Determined to get into our required courses, we were disappointed to see multiple classes offered at conflicting times, and ‘join waitlist’ for our top-pick electives.

Difficulty registering for classes is an experience shared by many students, however less often talked about is the daunting puzzle administrators face each semester as they build the class schedule.

We set out to replace spreadsheets, email back-and-forth, and outdated technology with a streamlined, easy-to-use class scheduling software that would make the section scheduling process easier for administrators and help students get into the classes they need to graduate.

Three years later, Coursedog has evolved into modern academic operations software that empowers administrators and faculty to execute exceptional educational experiences and meet their strategic enrollment management goals through integrated academic and event scheduling, curriculum, catalog, and campus form tools.

We are thrilled to announce that Coursedog has raised a $17M Series A, led by Coatue, to scale our Integrated Academic Operations Platform. This funding will help us to continue to streamline the scheduling and curricular operations of our nearly 100 institutional partners, including the City University of New York System, Columbia University, and BYU, and that of other colleges and universities.

“We are proud to lead Coursedog’s Series A because we believe that Coursedog is a leader in digital transformation,” said David Schneider, a General Partner at Coatue, who is also joining the board. “Coursedog’s traction with colleges speaks for itself and we are excited to partner with them as they work to improve student and admin experiences and bring a forward thinking impact to the higher education marketplace.”

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Outdated Software is Hurting Higher Education Administrators and Students

Higher Education is in crisis. The cost of education is skyrocketing, while only 33% of students in the US graduate in four years and issues of equity and access are worsening.

At Coursedog, we believe Higher Ed's reliance on outdated software is the root of the problem. 75% of universities operate entirely on legacy, on-premise software, resulting in millions of frustrated students saddled with heaps of debt.

Coursedog's mission is to break down barriers in Higher Education. Our vision is to enable the $1T+ global Higher Education market to reach its highest ideals to facilitate upward mobility, equity and positive change.

To do so, we are building modern software for Higher Education: from supercharging the student scheduling experience to empowering administrators with analytics that graduate more students in less time.

Building Our Dream Team

Today, Coursedog is a remote-first, 60 person team with hundreds of years of collective Higher Ed experience. Many of our team members joined us from other EdTech companies, including Workday Student, Civitas, Courseleaf, and Digarc.

We’re excited to welcome our lead investor from Coatue and the former president of ServiceNow, David Schneider, to our Board of Directors. David brings with him a wealth of experience driving efficiencies and innovation in industries characterized by outdated technologies with modern, digital workflows.

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Join Us

We’re hiring! Our Series A is going to enable us to more than double our headcount in the next four quarters. If you’re looking for a mission-driven team that prioritizes transparency, ownership, and a growth mindset, check out our open roles and The Coursedog Brain, a guide to all things life at Coursedog.

This funding is an exciting milestone for our team, helping us to enable institutions to attract, retain, and graduate more students with our Integrated Academic Operations platform.