Pearl’s software platform is used to facilitate academic tutoring, virtually or in person. The program includes a virtual classroom, reporting tools and planning. (Images courtesy of Pearl)
A local company that develops software for college tutors has secured a significant new batch of cash to help fill its roster as it takes on bigger new clients.
Shockoe Bottom-based technology company Pearl, formerly known as Trilogy Mentors, recently completed a $4.8 million capital raise, according to a recent SEC filing.
Pearl’s licensed software is used by tutoring companies, school districts, and state university systems to run their own tutoring programs, whether online or virtual. The software includes planning and reporting tools as well as individual and small group virtual classrooms.
John Failla
CEO and Founder John Failla said the company recently secured the $2 million second half of the $4.8 million overall round and the newly acquired capital will be used to grow the company as it grows. established as a software provider for large tutoring companies and state university systems. .
“The second installment is more focused on what we’re doing today with businesses and state agencies,” Failla said. “People are use here. We have many deals that we need to make sure we can sustain.
Pearl plans to use the funding to hire more employees, such as designers and developers, to further improve the software. The company currently has 14 full-time employees, two of whom were recently hired, and plans to add up to four more full-time by the end of the year, Failla said.
Pearl recently began targeting large tutoring companies and government entities during a tutoring boom. The 2021 US bailout earmarked funds for tutoring to help address student learning loss due to the pandemic.
“Overnight, we went from working with tutoring companies that had five to 20 tutors in their company to supporting states and corporate tutoring organizations that were looking for those huge state contracts and district,” Failla said.
The company signed a licensing agreement in 2021 with a system of state universities that established a tutoring program in which students teach children who attend school districts in the state. Failla declined to name the state.
Failla said Pearl added another university system to its customer base this year and plans to add two more US state agencies in the fall.
Blu Venture Investors in Vienna was the main investor in the capital increase. New York-based Fidi Ventures also participated in the raise, as did CAV Angels, a UVA-affiliated angel investor group, and 757 Angels in Hampton Roads, Failla said.
Pearl launched as Trilogy Mentors in 2015 and changed its name in 2021. Originally the company matched local tutors with local students, but focused on developing licensed software in 2019.
A business with up to 49 Tutors pays a licensing fee of $40 per month plus $10 per additional Tutor, according to Pearl’s website.
Failla said Pearl has yet to achieve profitability.
The company is headquartered in the 1717 Innovation Center.
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