FreshGrade Raise $11.6 Million to Connect Teachers, Parents, and Students

FreshGrade, an education platforms for teachers, parents and students, has finalized an $11.6 million Series A round.

The round was led by Relay Ventures.

“We truly believe in the mission of FreshGrade and are proud to continue our support for them,” said Jennifer Carolan, co- founder and general partner at Reach Capital.

The round brings FreshGrade’s total funding to $15.9 million.


With FreshGrade, teachers and students can capture learning artifacts from the classroom—including videos, pic- tures, audio recordings, links, documents and notes—and upload them to an online portfolio where parents, students and other teachers can access them.

FreshGrade was co-founded in 2011 by Lane Merrifield and Steve Wandler. Merrifield also co-founded Club Penguin, which sold to Disney for $350 million in 2007.

“Despite the advances in technology, we noticed that teachers and districts struggled with a lack of awareness and en- gagement among parents and the issue of impactful engagement remained unsolved,” said Merrifield. “FreshGrade is the solution, as it presents the opportunity for teachers, parents, and students to move beyond simple report cards and truly follow and understand throughout the year how the child is developing and improving.”

FreshGrade is used by more than one million teachers, parents and students in 70 countries worldwide.