Connect with us

Technology

College Contact Wins Career Pathways EdTech Product of the Year

Published

on

SAN DIEGO, Oct. 25, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — College Contact, a fast-growing edtech startup based in Austin Texas, won first place in the highly competitive “Navigating Career Pathways” category at the 2024 EDTECH WEEK Shark Tanks last week. The category focused on sourcing innovative tools and tech platforms that help K-12 & higher education learners explore and succeed in their college & career journeys through mentorship, pathfinding, and skills alignment. The judges, composed of global EdTech investors from WGU Labs, JFF Ventures and EduLabs Capital Partners, selected College Contact from a pool of hundreds of promising startups in the space.

The Shark Tanks @ EDTECH WEEK event is a prestigious competition for startups and Series A companies in the EdTech space. Finalists in the 2024 category included REACH Pathways, (gamified content for HiPURS), Hellohive (talent building for companies), Prentus (AI-powered data analytics for tracking job outcomes), and GoPursue (career access platform).

College Contact’s win underscores the importance of its near-peer mentorship model, which matches high school students with upskilled undergraduate mentors for postsecondary pathway advising, offering real-time support on everything from essay writing to navigating financial aid. The platform’s ability to provide personalized, relatable, and authentic advising at scale stood out to the panel of investors, considering the startup has had extremely high student engagement and adoption metrics since its organic inception from a TikTok video.

Founded in 2019 in Sophie Smith’s college dorm room, College Contact was born out of universal frustration with the current postsecondary advising landscape. High schoolers and their parents found Sophie’s authentic content on TikTok, and joined a waitlist for support from the then 19-year old. The onslaught of original demand was driven by exorbitant costs of private college counselors and the lack of 1:1 time students receive in school due to high counselor caseloads. In an effort to democratize access to higher education for these families, Sophie threw together a duct-tape and glue solution – matching students on the waitlist to competent undergraduate students in her network.

After Sophie and her cofounder Leah Guesman graduated from the University of Virginia in 2023, the pair began exploring if their solution could be sold directly to public school counseling departments. As they entered the K-12 market, their solution caught fire for a second time.

Kyle Seipp, the Director of Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness at E3 Alliance remarked, “There are 5.5 million students in Texas, which means there are 5.5 million different college & career pathways to success in this state alone. College Contact can bring personalized 1:1 support to every student. This is a revolutionary idea to support overwhelmed counseling departments with high caseloads.”

“We are thrilled to have won this competition,” said Sophie Smith, CEO of College Contact. “It’s a powerful validation of our near-peer model and our mission to provide accessible college & career advising for every student, regardless of their background. We are especially excited about the inbound demand we have received from counseling departments, who see our solution as a valuable resource for their large student bodies.”

Leah Guesman, COO of College Contact, added, “This win is a testament to the power of mentorship. By connecting students with peers who have recently gone through critical college and career decisions, we give them both the support and confidence they need to make informed decisions about their futures. This recognition from the broader EdTech community is already helping us expand our reach and continue to scale our impact.”

Since its founding, College Contact has helped over 5,000 students gain admission to more than 150 universities, with 86% of them securing a spot at their top-choice school. Beyond their growing partnerships with districts in California, Texas and Florida, the platform is gaining attention for its affordability from individual families, offering near-peer mentorship services for as little as $60 per month—a fraction of what traditional private college counselors charge.

College Contact’s focus on providing accessible, tailored guidance to students of all backgrounds aligns with the broader movement to make higher education more equitable and attainable. Learn more at College Contact’s website here.

About College Contact

College Contact is a Texas-based, female-founded college and career readiness platform that connects high school students with near-peer mentors. With a historical 100% university acceptance rate and an 86% placement rate into students’ first-choice universities, College Contact has helped thousands of students nationwide. The platform’s innovative model, combined with comprehensive resources and personalized support, empowers students to achieve their academic and career goals, while simultaneously helping school districts scale 1:1, personalized postsecondary advising.

Media Contact:
Grayson Turley
info@yourcollegecontact.com

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/college-contact-wins-career-pathways-edtech-product-of-the-year-302286391.html

SOURCE College Contact

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Technology

Trepp and Commercial Real Estate Direct Release the Q3 2024 Quarterly Data Review, Analyzing Data that Shows Persistent Turbulence in the Office Sector

Published

on

By

Trepp and Commercial Real Estate Direct released the Q3 2024 edition of the Quarterly Data Review (QDR), offering in-depth analysis and insights into the commercial real estate and CMBS markets, as office troubles persist and distress continues to impact the broader market.

NEW YORK, Oct. 25, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Trepp, a leading provider of data, insights, and technology solutions to the structured finance, commercial real estate (CRE), and banking markets, and Commercial Real Estate Direct, a publication that brings high-end news and information to CRE professionals, released the Q3 2024 edition of the Quarterly Data Review (QDR). This magazine provides a comprehensive overview of the data, trends, and activity in the CRE finance markets. Access the QDR magazine here: https://www.trepp.com/q3-2024-quarterly-data-review

“The office sector is arguably woefully overdeveloped. That has spelled headaches for holders of loans against them,” said Orest Mandzy, Managing Editor of CRE Direct.

The QDR magazine leverages data and insights from Trepp and Commercial Real Estate Direct to reveal trends in the CRE market. This comprehensive resource compiles all relevant data from the third quarter in one place.

Since the global pandemic, most of the attention in the CRE industry has been aimed at the office sector. As of the third quarter of 2024, $20.39 billion of office loans, or 12.58% of that cohort, were with special servicers. That is up more than 45% since the start of the year.

“The office sector is arguably woefully overdeveloped. That has spelled headaches for holders of loans against them. We’ve spelled out the issues,” said Orest Mandzy, Managing Editor of CRE Direct. “But office isn’t the only property type in CRE. The fickle hotel sector and the apartment sector are both facing certain challenges.”

The magazine also explores topics including increases in delinquency and special servicing volumes, office and hotel REIT performance, and a recap of CMBS issuance which has been performing strongly this year.

Access The Q3 2024 QDR Magazine here: https://www.trepp.com/q3-2024-quarterly-data-review

For more information on the QDR Magazine or any of the analyses, email press@trepp.com or visit https://www.Trepp.com. Follow @TreppWire and @crenewstweets on Twitter for daily CRE and CMBS market updates.

About Trepp

Trepp, founded in 1979, is the leading provider of data, insights, and technology solutions to the structured finance, commercial real estate, and banking markets. Trepp provides primary and secondary market participants with the solutions and analytics they need to increase operational efficiencies, information transparency, and investment performance. From its offices in New York, Dallas, and London, Trepp serves its clients with products and services to support trading, research, risk management, surveillance, and portfolio management. Trepp subsidiary, Commercial Real Estate Direct, is a daily news source covering the commercial real estate capital markets. Trepp is owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT).

About Commercial Real Estate Direct

Commercial Real Estate Direct, founded in 1999 and a subsidiary of Trepp, is a daily news source covering the commercial real estate capital markets. Each day, its seasoned staff of editors and real estate journalists delivers up-to-date market intelligence on the mortgage business, equity raising, investment sales, and CMBS. CRE Direct also provides its readers with actionable data through its Property Sales Database, which details more than 25,500 large property transactions, CMBS Pricing Matrix, the industry’s only weekly pricing survey, and the CMBS Pipeline, a calendar of upcoming transactions with historical pricing information.

Media Contact

Ennys Soydas, Trepp, Inc., 2127541010, press@trepp.com, www.trepp.com

Twitter

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prweb.com/releases/trepp-and-commercial-real-estate-direct-release-the-q3-2024-quarterly-data-review-analyzing-data-that-shows-persistent-turbulence-in-the-office-sector-302287348.html

SOURCE Trepp, Inc.

Continue Reading

Technology

Persona Positioned Highest for Ability to Execute in the Inaugural Gartner Magic Quadrant™ for Identity Verification

Published

on

By

Persona Ranked First Across All Use Cases in Critical Capabilities Report and Positioned Highest for Ability to Execute in Identity Verification Magic Quadrant™

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 25, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Persona, a global leader in digital identity verification, is positioned highest out of 11 vendors for Ability to Execute in the 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Identity Verification. In addition, Persona was ranked first across all evaluated Use Cases: Know Your Customer (KYC), Fraud Detection, Account Recovery, and Sensitive or Regulated scenarios in the Gartner Critical Capabilities report.

Persona Ranked 1st Across All Use Cases, Including Fraud Detection

As bad actors begin using generative AI tools like deepfakes to conduct sophisticated attacks at scale, organizations need to take a multi-layered approach to mitigate fraud and get a more holistic picture of users.

Persona has heavily invested in understanding how bad actors pull off injection attacks in order to build a platform that can mitigate current and future fraud. Today, Persona’s advanced identity verification platform stands as a critical defense that provides granular fraud and risk controls that prioritize configurability and explainability to help organizations stay ahead of increasingly sophisticated forms of digital fraud and safeguard both their business and customers.

With Persona, customers have access to a wide array of passive, active, behavioral, and third-party signals — including information about the user’s device, location, and behavior — to truly understand the individuals and businesses wanting to use their platform and make informed decisions about users’ risk profiles. They can then use Persona’s link analysis tool, Graph, to quickly uncover other users with similar data and proactively block fraud rings.

Combined, these tools enable organizations to build custom multi-layered, holistic fraud processes that can expose and ward off sophisticated attacks even as bad actors continue to evolve their tactics.

Persona’s Comprehensive and Adaptable Approach to Identity

Persona is the first identity solution to offer a comprehensive platform that provides businesses with the building blocks to create customized identity experiences based on their industry and region, allowing them to not only fight emerging fraud but also build trust and adapt to ever-changing compliance requirements.

“We are honored to be ranked first across all Use Cases in the Gartner Critical Capabilities Report, as we feel it’s a testament to our commitment as a product-led organization,” said Rick Song, CEO of Persona. “We believe this achievement highlights our relentless focus on developing a product that addresses both current and future identity challenges.”

Today, leading organizations, including LinkedIn, Twilio, Square, OpenAI, Travelex, and Etsy trust Persona to verify customers, quickly adapt to evolving fraud vectors, and meet regulatory requirements.

For more information about Persona’s unified identity platform and to access the full Gartner reports, visit https://withpersona.com/gartner-magic-quadrant.

Gartner disclaimer

Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Identity Verification, Akif Khan, James Hoover, Nayara Sangiorgio, 21 October 2024

Gartner, Critical Capabilities for Identity Verification, James Hoover, Akif Khan, Nayara Sangiorgio, 23 October 2024

GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally, MAGIC QUADRANT is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

About Persona
Persona offers a unified identity platform that offers businesses the building blocks they need to securely collect, verify, manage, and make decisions about individuals’ and businesses’ identities — along with automation and orchestration tools to streamline the entire process from end to end.

Founded in 2018, Persona is headquartered in San Francisco and is available in 200+ countries and territories and 20 different languages. Persona serves any business that needs to verify the real identities of people or businesses, including retail, fintech, marketplace, delivery services, real estate and hospitality, HR, edtech, legal services, home and childcare services, and more. For additional information, please visit https://withpersona.com/.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/persona-positioned-highest-for-ability-to-execute-in-the-inaugural-gartner-magic-quadrant-for-identity-verification-302287487.html

SOURCE Persona

Continue Reading

Technology

Spark Real Estate Software Expands Product Offering with Strategic Acquisition of Juniper Homeowner Care

Published

on

By

The acquisition expands Spark’s value proposition beyond the marketing & sales enablement of New Development homes.

VANCOUVER, BC, Oct. 24, 2024 /CNW/ – Spark Real Estate Software is pleased to announce the acquisition of Juniper, a modern homeowner care and warranty service platform for residential developers. The acquisition of Juniper extends the Spark offering beyond the sales and marketing timeline, and into completion, warranty management and homeowner care, covering more of the real estate development journey.

“We have been working alongside Juniper’s Founder, Chris Miller, for many years, with a number of mutual customers,” said Cody Curley, President and Co-Founder of Spark. “We had a shared vision in that we see huge opportunities to transform the New Development real estate industry through technology and create incredible experiences for builders and homebuyers – that at its core is what drives us both. Their product begins where ours ends and when enough people tell you to combine the two companies, it’s time to start listening. It just made perfect sense.”

Since launching in 2019, Juniper has grown rapidly to provide homeowner care for more than 12,000 units and 60 projects from Canada’s top developers.

“The acquisition will provide a more seamless experience for homeowners as well as Spark customers. Spark is doubling down on its commitment to offer the most advanced platform for New Development management, encompassing marketing, sales, and customer care. This addition of Juniper further emphasizes the compounding benefit of having all of the tools developers need to access in one place.”

Chris Miller is an experienced operator and entrepreneur with over 25 years of building and launching numerous digital products and 10 years of working within the proptech space.

“The post purchase, completion and warranty stage is often an overlooked part of the presale customer journey,” says Miller. “Juniper provides the tools for developers to deliver a superior customer experience in order to mitigate areas of risk and enhance their brand reputation. Our goal is to make the final part of the process the best one.”

Spark and Juniper will continue to focus on delivering superior tools that meet the evolving needs of the real estate industry. 

SOURCE Spark

Continue Reading

Trending