Knewton

Knewton was founded in 2008 by former Kaplan executive Jose Ferreira and became one of edtech's best-funded bets, raising more than 180 million dollars on the promise that its adaptive engine could tailor coursework to each student in real time. The technology was endlessly demonstrated and never quite turned into a business, and a late pivot to its own Alta courseware did not save it. In May 2019 the textbook publisher Wiley bought Knewton's assets in what observers called a fire sale, with the price reported in the low tens of millions, a fraction of what had gone in. Knewton ceased to exist as an independent company, and Alta was folded into Wiley's higher-education catalog. It remains a reference point for how much money personalized learning could absorb without producing a durable product.

Founded

2008-01

Shut down

2019-05-31

Funding raised

$180M

Years alive

11

Founders

Jose Ferreira