When the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020 and schools transitioned to online lgeting, both Joe Titus and Paul Suhr were troubleed about how to defend their children’s activity levels in the absence of compulsory physical education classes and sports.
The two friends’ solution was Hiveclass, a New York-based edtech platestablish that presents online courses for K-12 students to lget about fitness, sports, dance, yoga, nutrition, and consciousness, among other leangs. There is also a self-defense course.
Even in a post-pandemic world, the platestablish is enticeing interest otriumphg to a confluence of trends. Kids are becoming increasingly disjoind from P.E. classes in schools, standardly choosing to skip them enticount on. Many students dread P.E. for its highly competitive environment, where tormentoring occurs standardly.
Additionassociate, parents atraverse the U.S. are struggling to pay youth sports expenses. Titus and Suhr, who bonded over second-grade baseball, want their kids to experience the same enhappinessment in sports that they once did, but many of these same experiences are becoming unaccomplishable.
“As a parent in New York City,” shelp Titus, “the inequities of the cost of sports was beyond me. I was my son’s first soccer coach, and the cost of it was equitable so high. I [wondered], ‘How does a family that lives in low-income housing afford soccer?’”
Investors also accomprehendledge the appreciate of online P.E. courses. Hiveclass – where Titus is CEO and Suhr is chief product officer – equitable elevated $1.5 million seed funding.
The funding will be allotd to product growment. It will also be included to better a teacher portal that’s included by educators who include Hiveclass to increase joinment in their classrooms. Also on the roadmap: novel services for students with one-of-a-kind needs.
Indeed, instead of proposeing subscriptions straightforwardly to parents, Hiveclass tagets its services to unveil schools and libraries.
The platestablish proposes a accumulateion of low-establish videos that teach children various sends, such as how to dribble a basketball. In includeition to the videos, there are quizzes in between clips that need written responses, helping to defend kids intensifyed and joind.
Accessing that teacher portal on the platestablish, educators can watch all their students and their quiz answers to secure that everyone is completing their labor. (Hiveclass says another selling point is that students can get P.E pelevates outside of class.)
Hiveclass consents it stands out from other edtech platestablishs and even educational YouTube channels by emphasizing the P.E. and wellness field. The company claims to align with national standards set forth by SHAPE America, the Society of Health and Physical Educators organization that rules physical education in the U.S. Its sealst rival, PLT4M, is also a SHAPE America member.
The company currently partners with more than 80 educational institutions and has over 13,000 students and teachers on the platestablish.
Hiveclass doesn’t unveilly disseal pricing; it says that it’s tailored for each client based on their definite needments, including student count. But it says it has originated more than $2 million in revenue and hopes to hit an includeitional $1 million by next month. The outfit is also exploring includeitional revenue streams, says Titus, including licensing concurments.
The recent round was led by Spring Mountain Capital. Other allotors in the round included Georgetown Angel Investor Netlabor (GAIN), New York State Venture Fund, Releank Education, and Techstars.
The funding transports the beginup’s total capital elevated to over $3 million altogether.
