Israel startup Jolt has been operating a study campus in Tel Aviv for the past year designed to enable managers and high-tech professionals to acquire or reinforce expertise needed to further their career in management. Jolt, which today completed a $7 million A financing round, will use the money it raised to open its first campus in London in January 2019.
The round was led by Octopus Ventures, a London fund involved in the expansion of Jolt's business to the UK. Other participants included Jerusalem-based Pico Partners and previous investor Hillsven Capital from Silicon Valley. Following $3 million previously raised by Jolt, it has now raised a total of $10 million.
Jolt was founded in 2015 by CEO Roei Deutsch, CTO Nadav Leshem, and CRO Nitzan Cohen Arazi, all of whom have backgrounds in training. Jolt began as a marketplace for lectures, but the company founded its first campus in Tel Aviv a year ago, and began offering regular study programs. Jolt now operates two micro-campuses in Tel Aviv, and plans to open three in London in 2019.
The campus operates on a fitness room model, with a subscription giving unrestricted access to the various lessons. The lessons ware held in futuristically designed classrooms on small campuses opened in city centers. The content is broadcast live by international experts in their field from companies such as Google, Amazon, and Netflix to small groups of 14 students.
"Jolt's basic insight is that it is impossible to learn one thing and one time, because most people change jobs every 12-24 months, and because the industry is constantly progressing," Deutsch says. "Although everyone understands this, studies don't fit into everyone's daily routine, so the idea was to generate a learning experience that people will want to consume regularly as part of their regular careers."
"The ultimate learning experience, as we have developed it, is in conversational in groups with professional people like you. The lesson is built as a dialogue with a study group and the expert. The idea is that the teacher joins a group of people, the class, not the other way around," Deutsch explains. "The study program is built cumulatively; instead of a structured study program, every professional can devise a course of studies that suits him or her, up to the level of an individual lesson."
Deutsch says that the selection of London is linked to the trend called "clicks and bricks." "London is the capital of the trend towards connecting the physical world to the digital world, with the idea that not much innovation can be accomplished with just apps. You register for lesson through an app and join a lesson with a lecturer on a live video broadcast, which brings the digital to the physical world," he explains.
Founded: 2015
Founders: Roei Deutsch, Nadav Leshem, and Nitzan Cohen Arazi
Offices: Tel Aviv and London
Employees: 32
Financing rounds: $10 million in two rounds
Prominent investors: Octopus Ventures, Pico Partners, and Hillsven Capital
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on October 16, 2018
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