BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Arist, a text message learning platform used by organizations including DuPont, the Poynter Institute, and the State of California, today announced it has raised $1.9m from Acadian Ventures, Global Founders Capital and Craft Ventures, with additional participation from Y Combinator, Soma Capital, Emles Venture Partners, Hack VC, Rebel Fund, Liquid 2 Ventures, and angel investors Derek Schoettle (CEO of Cloudant) and Adam Goldstein (founder of Hipmunk), among others. Founded by Michael Ioffe, Ryan Laverty, and Maxine Anderson, Arist makes learning accessible and frictionless by delivering courses entirely via text message and WhatsApp.
Learning from Ioffe’s prior work improving access to learning in war-torn countries, the Arist team saw a different but critical need in the American workplace. The Arist platform makes it easier to create and simpler to access training. Organizations can create and launch text message courses in just minutes on any topic -- from diversity and inclusion, compliance and sales enablement to safety training. Arist is particularly well-suited for reaching frontline employees who may not have laptop or LMS access, and is currently trusted by more than 50 leading companies, universities and nonprofits.
“Digital learning is broken. This reality is especially problematic amidst the move toward remote work and mounting video fatigue, where companies -- and individuals -- suffer from lack of genuinely meaningful training, engagement and growth,” says co-founder Michael Ioffe. “Simply put, our mission at Arist is more important than ever. The ability to launch truly remote-friendly courses in minutes has immediate impact for thousands of people,” says co-founder Michael Ioffe. “The timing of the funding is perfect, and will help us support the growing need for better digital learning and training tools, while providing more robust learning opportunities to a wider range of audiences,” Ioffe added.
Video courses and learning apps are ineffective, time-consuming and inaccessible to those with limited internet. For training and learning leaders, video and app-based courses are too expensive and time-consuming to build. As a result, most organizations have no digital solution to quickly train frontline employees. Arist’s text message courses offer an effective solution: by breaking down subjects into easy digestible concepts and case studies, Arist makes learning easy and frictionless. Learning leaders can build courses seven times faster and far more cost effectively with Arist.
“Acadian Ventures is proud to support pioneering companies that are reshaping the future of work. Arist’s innovative text message learning platform is a brilliant solution to the current challenges of digital learning. As the landscape shifts predominantly to personalized learning at the fingertips of the employee, we couldn't be more excited to partner with Arist,” says Jason Corsello, General Partner at Acadian Ventures.
Arist was named a finalist in Fast Company’s 2019 World-Changing Ideas competition, placing it as one of the top 20 most remarkable education-focused innovations of the year.
About Arist
Arist is a learning platform that helps Fortune 500 companies and nonprofits rapidly teach and train their workforces via text message-based courses, which are remarkably accessible and frictionless. With use cases ranging from diversity and inclusion to compliance and safety training, Arist is the most effective way to train remote audiences at scale. Arist is based in Boston, MA. For more information, visit https://www.arist.co/ or on Twitter @learnarist.
