Black-Owned Community College Startup Raises $46M Series B

Campus, an online community college, has announced a $46 million Series B investment, bringing its total amount raised to over $100 million.

The community college offers students live classes with highly regarded professors who have backgrounds from colleges and universities such as Stanford, UCLA, and Howard. Additionally, students receive wraparound support such as on-demand tutoring and personal success coaching, as stated in a press release.

Who founded Campus?

Before there was Campus, there was Campuswire, an online learning software Tade Oyerinde founded in 2016. In 2018, Oyerinde conceived the idea for Campus after meeting an adjunct professor who was so broke he had to sleep on the floor of his UCLA office. Oyerinde envisioned a higher education model that addressed the financial hardships faced by both students and professors.

The startup’s first investors were OpenAI founder Sam Altman and Discord founder Jason Citron, who understood Oyerinde’s vision for campus as they both spent time in community colleges. The Series A funding round secured $29 million.

Last year, it raised $23 million in a Series A extension round led by the Founders Fund, with participation from 8VC.

$46 million Series B Round led by General Catalyst

The $46 million series b funding was led by General Catalyst, a global investment and transformation company that works with highly driven entrepreneurs to drive resilience and applied AI. 

“Campus has created a model that is rooted in the rigor and legacy of American higher education with the benefit of technology and innovation that students will require to thrive in an increasingly competitive global economy,”  Ken Chenault, Chairman & Managing Director, General Catalyst, said.

Image: Malike Sidibe